Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Counting the Gains at ICO Polymers
Overview
Country/Region:United Kingdom
Industry:Manufacturing
Customer Profile
ICO Polymers is the world's largest producer of compounded rotational moulding powders.
Business Situation
ICO needed to implement a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in all subsidiaries worldwide, starting with the United Kingdom, providing faster and more efficient access to financial data and reports for the company.
Solution
An entire year's worth of data from the United Kingdom's Sage 100 system was migrated, and all accounting functions are now run on the new system using Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains®which enables a direct link with head office.
Benefits
Faster reporting
Month-end close time halved
Reconciliations improved
Standardised processes
Greater flexibility / "Microsoft Great Plains is a critical tool we will use, and trust, to help improve the efficiency and profitability of the business."
Lyndon Wilson, Finance Director, ICO Polymers United Kingdom
With 19 locations in 10 countries and on five continents, ICO Polymers produces custom, engineered polymer powders for rotational moulding and other polymer markets, including textiles, metal coatings, and master batch. An entire year's worth of data from the United Kingdom's Sage 100 system was migrated, and all accounting functions are now run on the new system using Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains®(now part of Microsoft Dynamics™)which enables a direct link with head office.
Situation
ICO Polymers is the largest global producer of compounded rotational moulding powders. It provides competitive priced engineering resins for the industry, offering custom made powders for a variety of applications including toys, kayaks, boats, playground equipment, and decorative garden products.
In recent years the company has undergone rapid international expansion, and at present has 19 subsidiaries based in five continents. In 2002, the company took the decision to locate all its servers at its headquarters in Houston, U.S. This resolution, taken as part of a continuous business improvement review programme, would help to streamline business between the parent company and its satellites.
At the same time, ICO Polymers decided it would replace the various accounting packages used across its subsidiaries with a single, standard package that would fulfill the needs of both head office and subsidiary offices. The aim was to improve financial reporting and, through implementing a simpler and faster method of receiving data, leave regional managers more time to concentrate on the actual business. It would also enable each country to participate in best practice implementation strategies.
The company considered three different systems: JD Edwards, Sage, and Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains®. The final choice was driven in part because ICO Polymers was already using Microsoft products extensively, but also because many of ICO's senior managers had used Microsoft Great Plains successfully in the past.
Solution
The U.K. was one of two subsidiaries that were first charged with migrating to Microsoft Great Plains in order to understand and test the transition process. Employing 95 people and with a turnover of £15 million, this would be a crucial project for the U.K. branch. Lyndon Wilson, Finance Director, ICO Polymers U.K., says, "Our head office trusted us to know what we were doing, so we were told to find a suitable consulting company to work with us through the transition, and make sure it wasn't too expensive."
The company chose Tectura—a worldwide specialist in Microsoft implementation and a Microsoft Gold Certified Business Solutions Partner. Despite the complexity and time consuming nature of the task, the transition went smoothly and ICO Polymers is now considering expanding the system into order processing.
With just several months to undertake the transition, the U.K. office was tasked with migrating 126,000 transactions from its Sage 100 systems to the new system, before going live. One of the most complex aspects of the implementation was the data migration itself.
Tectura was responsible for analysing the requirements for ICO's U.K. business before configuring Microsoft Great Plains accordingly. The next challenge was to migrate the data and then train and support users during the 'go live' period. The data had to be sorted and manipulated into the correct format—if ICO Polymers U.K. was to maintain business continuity it was imperative that this data was imported accurately. The transition went smoothly, with the system successfully going live in August 2002.
Benefits
Month-end Close Time Halved
There were immediate and tangible advantages to the new system, Wilson explains, "When we left Sage we were closing month-end in around eight days. It is difficult to make a direct comparison between Sage and Microsoft Great Plains because they are very different propositions. But soon after our new system went live we were closing month-end in four to four and half days."
Reconciliations Improved
The automatic e-mail alerts facility for debtors has also helped to significantly reduce the amount of time spent on chasing up overdue payments, saving the credit controller valuable time while generating faster cash flow. And because the office is now running the same system as the U.S. office, all the financial data is quickly and easily sent across to them. This has saved time in piecing the data together, both initially and upon its arrival in Houston. "I can now get a report for each individual or debtor by department and when reports are sent to our people in Houston, they have all the data and can produce their own reports—so they don't need to refer further questions to me," continues Wilson.
Faster Reporting
The U.K. transition has served as a useful template for other countries. By rolling out Microsoft Great Plains across its global operations, ICO Polymers has been able to improve and increase its financial reporting. Now transactions can be posted to closed and future periods, something that was previously impossible. The platform is also highly stable, unlike the old system.
Standardised Processes
Aside from giving its managers more time to concentrate on the needs of the business instead of compiling data, the new system has opened up all the company's transactions to a new, more focussed degree of attention. Today, individuals and departments can be pinpointed and successes and failures more easily recognised. The simpler input of data has also made the company more efficient and the increased automation of tasks has helped the company to run faster and more profitably.
The software has been successfully implemented in ICO Polymers' offices around the world. By standardising business practices company-wide, ICO is now able to use market knowledge, processing expertise, and business practice in all their locations.
Wilson concludes, "Microsoft Great Plains is a critical business tool which ICO U.K. will use, and can trust, to help improve the efficiency and profitability of the business."
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship
and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to: