LANSA’s multi-lingual support and strength in DBCS lets us offer eC-LINK in Chinese and English.
Pely Auto improves service and efficiency with eC-LINK and Visual LANSA
Pely Auto Aircon Parts Pte Ltd, headquartered in Singapore, is one of the largest automotive air conditioning parts distributors in the region. Pely has an annual turnover of S$45 million and serves the domestic market as well as OEMs overseas. Pely has improved customer service and internal efficiency with eC-LINK Enterprise Software-VL, a Visual LANSA-based multi-lingual Enterprise Resource Planning system from LANSA business partner eC-LINK.com Pte Ltd.
Ms Jessie Ting, Finance Manager, Pely Auto Aircon Parts, says, “The visual presentation of eC-LINK is very friendly and graphical and has boosted productivity. Tight integration between the eC-LINK modules and its easy integration with Windows has streamlined internal procedures and helped to improve customer service. We have a nearly paperless office environment. Improved productivity lets us grow our business without having to increase manpower resources. Parts delivery has accelerated from two days to immediate delivery, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and customer retention.”
Parts delivery has accelerated from two days to immediate delivery.
The Challenge
Before Pely implemented eC-LINK’s solution, the company relied on paper intensive manual procedures and a PC-based application that did not allow for integration of inventory, finance and customer service departments.
Ms Jessie Ting explains, “The software modules in our old PC system were not integrated. Processing an order took too long, as we had to duplicate paperwork and process the order in multiple system modules. As a result the numbers in our inventory system were not reliable and the credit position of our customers was often inaccurate or out of date.”
“We are a high volume and low margin business and tight control of credit limits and credit terms are crucial to our business.”
“The inefficient procedures also meant that lead times for delivery of parts was unnecessary lengthy. We could not service our customers as fast as we would like, and fast service and delivery is vital to our competitiveness.”
“The old system with its manual procedures and inaccuracies was counter-productive and a strain on our financial resources.”
Pely’s business was, and still is, growing rapidly and the company was looking for a scalable solution that would integrate both operations and financials for customer service, inventory management, their showroom retail business and shipments to overseas customers and OEMs.
“We assessed many ERP systems and selected eC-LINK’s solution. eC-LINK could cater for our current needs and also for the anticipated growth of our business. It offered a reliable integrated system infrastructure, not only for operations but also for accounting. We felt comfortable that that eC-LINK can be deployed on the stable and virus free IBM iSeries. In short, a one-stop secure, simple and cost effective solution.”
Tight control of credit limits and credit terms are crucial to our business.
The Solution
eC-LINK Enterprise Software-VL, is a Visual LANSA-based ERP solution, by LANSA business partner eC-LINK.com Pte Ltd in Singapore. EC-LINK includes modules for Sales & Customer Service, Distribution, Inventory & Warehouse management, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Financials, Warranties, Service and Electronic banking.
“eC-LINK provides us with flexibility, speed and accuracy. All information is available at our fingertips with a simple mouse click. We can view current and historic customer data, sales volumes and profit margins by multiple criteria and we can manage credit limits very easily,” says Ting.
The system’s multi-currency function allows for easy conversion of sales and purchase prices to and from any currency. This happens in real-time, so customer service staff can quote in any currency while the customer is on the phone or in the workshop.
The original customer order is scanned into the system and can be viewed on-line at any time by any department, avoiding the need for photocopying and searching through filing cabinets. When the order is accepted, the transaction flows automatically through the entire system, from sales, to inventory, to finance and sales analysis. All of Pely’s divisions work with the same up-to-date data.
The system triggers a warning if a customer is late in paying, providing management with an opportunity to settle any problems with customers immediately.
eC-LINK triggers a program to send an SMS (Short Message Services) to the mobile phone of the financial manager when an order would cause the customer to exceed its credit limit. The manager can authorize the order simply by replying to the message. There is no need for Internet access or other Wireless devices.
eC-LINK provides us with flexibility, speed and accuracy.
The Benefits
“The visual presentation of eC-LINK is very friendly and graphical and has boosted productivity. Tight integration between the eC-LINK modules and its easy integration with Windows has streamlined internal procedures and helped to improve customer service.”
“It is easy to export information to MS Excel, PDF and email. Multimedia attachments have become indispensable to us. We send our customers monthly statements of accounts via email in PDF format, saving on postal expenses and time. Quotations are sent in MS Excel files, providing better and more efficient customer service. We also scan engineering drawings into eC-LINK, as the drawings are really handy to have online for assembly and customer enquiries.”
“Because it is easier to manage payment terms and credit limits, we now have far fewer bad debt situations.”
“We can price our products better because the system allows us to monitor currency fluctuations, especially between the US dollars and Japanese Yen. Sharper pricing helps us to stay competitive.”
“And our inventory control has improved dramatically because we have a bird’s eye view of the real-time stock situation. We get daily reports of the demand pattern of items that need replenishment, together with the latest quotations from all suppliers for an item, so we can replenish inventory efficiently and effectively.”
“We have a clear overview of which products are in high or low demand, enabling us to stock-up fast moving parts and not tie up financial resources on slow moving products.”
“Sales staff can view real-time stock availability across all warehouses and branches. Being able to locate items promptly and replenish items quickly (in a timely fashion) has improved customer service tremendously. We have improved stock availability and can act promptly to every inventory situation.”
“eC-LINK has also streamlined purchase planning. We now consolidate all incoming purchase requests by product and identify the cost in foreign and local currency. Most importantly, having the information at our fingertips helps us to select the right supplier and meet volume discount quotas with preferred suppliers. The system suggests from which vendor to buy based on daily prices, but we can override this with our preferred supplier. Streamlining purchasing has helped to shorten delivery cycles.”
We have improved stock availability and can act promptly to every inventory situation.
Conclusion
“With the help of eC-LINK we have eliminated paperwork duplication and have a nearly paperless office environment. Improved productivity lets us grow our business without having to increase manpower resources. Parts delivery has accelerated from two days to immediate delivery, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and customer retention,” concludes Ting.
“We are committed to quality in our products and services and strive to consistently meet and exceed the requirements of our customers. EC-LINK helps us in our continual commitment to improve quality standards through self-examination and process perfection.”
“What is important is that eC-LINK has given our company the edge over our competitors. In our industry, service is the “BIG and BOLD” word and the Visual LANSA technology enables us to serve our customers better. There is only one answer, we need it.”
Fred Leow, President of eC-LINK.com Pte Ltd, adds, “With LANSA we have evolved our green-screen ERP system to a Windows and web-based solution. Customers can deploy eC-LINK in-house or in an ASP environment. Because of LANSA’s multi-lingual support and strength in DBCS, we offer eC-LINK in Chinese and English. In the ASP version LANSA’s concurrent Multi-Native Language Browser Support means that companies can operate their services from one local geographical location while servicing a global marketplace. This is a huge advantage for any solution provider.”
LANSA’s multi-lingual support and strength in DBCS lets us offer eC-LINK in Chinese and English.
Company and System Information
- Pely Auto Aircon Parts Pte Ltd, established in 1976, has an annual turnover of S$45 million and a staff of 35-40 employees. The company has consistently ranked in the top 500 Singapore Small and Medium Enterprises for the past 10 years and is an ISO 9002 certified company. Pely has two warehouses and a retail shop for walk-in customers in Singapore.
- Pely’s head office, two warehouses and a retail outlet are linked to Pely’s iSeries model 270.
- For more information visit: http://pelyauto.com
- eC-LINK.com Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based LANSA Solution Partner specializing in web and Windows-based ERP and supply chain management software. Its original ERP product, developed in LANSA for iSeries has been available since 1992, customers include Kao Soap, Omron Asia Pacific and Nippon Steel Chemical. The new generation of eC-LINK ERP system was developed in Visual LANSA and is available for in-house deployment or via an ASP service.