OrderlineBOX Business Software Client Case Study

FastBox Ltd is a family–owned business based in Leeds, manufacturing cardboard boxes for an ever expanding customer base. Established in 1997 its rapid growth has meant that they have moved to larger premises to accommodate new machinery and increases in production capacity. With expansion came the need for greater efficiencies in the way they operate.

The customer is king in this industry and success relies on being able to respond quickly and efficiently to a myriad of different customer requirements. The complexity of providing quotes for a diverse range of specifications meant that they needed a system which would allow them to speed up the process of providing quotes to customers.

FastBox began using orderlineBOX to manage their sales ordering process in June 2009 and haven’t looked back since. FastBox used Onesys, a York and London based Software Company, to supply orderlineBOX. “We were using spreadsheet calculations to calculate material costs for differing size and quantities of boxes which was very labour intensive and time-consuming. It was impossible to keep track of current quotes and get back to previous quotes in our old system. There was a lot of duplication of effort” explained Managing Director, John Fuller. “OrderlineBOX has really simplified the process of quoting and handles the whole process efficiently, not only are we able to provide a much quicker turnaround on quotes to our customers, we can now get past history at the touch of a button and cut out any duplication of effort. The time savings have been fantastic. At the end of the day we are able to provide a better service to our customers.”

Moving to a new system can be challenging for any organisation. An important factor to take into consideration is always how easy it will be to install, train up staff and get it up and running without losing valuable history in the process. Explaining how the changeover in systems had gone at Fastbox, John said “OrderlineBOX is really easy to use and the initial swap over from our ‘heritage’ systems has been facilitated by the support offered by onesys. We employ up to 17 employees at any one time, and a big plus has been that we are no longer reliant on just one person being able to quote because the system is simple to use. We now have 4 users of the system and if we want to get back to a quote originally prepared by someone else, it‘s not a problem because all the information is there in orderlineBOX, so the whole quote process can be managed seamlessly as far as our customers are concerned.”

John adds “In many ways, the system has gone further in increasing efficiencies and productivity than we anticipated. We can now routinely incorporate information about machine limitations and machine routing, as well as changes in board costs, which means that we are improving production efficiencies. Even more importantly we were manually writing up job sheets for the factory floor which was prone to human error; it only took one figure to be wrong for the whole process to fail. Now we can produce job sheets within the system using the original order details, which means we can ensure orders for customers are right first time, every time.”

“We have also been able to customise the system and add in certain functionality to meet our particular business requirements by working in partnership with onesys to help refine the system. Admittedly it was a big investment for a company of our size but we couldn’t operate without it now.”

FastBox have been so impressed by orderlineBOX that they are now planning to go live with another software system supplied by Onesys. The Sage 50 accounting system will allow them to totally integrate processes from customer quote in orderlineBOX through to final invoicing. They will now be able to move away from sending invoices out exclusively by post to sending statements and invoices electronically to those customers who prefer to receive them this way.

“We were looking for even greater efficiency and cost–savings from a more sophisticated package than we use currently and the Sage 50 system will link in to orderlineBOX seamlessly. All the time we are making cost–savings and increasing efficiency which means we can offer a more competitive service to our customers and can continue to grow and expand,” said John Doran, Commercial Manager of FastBox.

NOTES:

Onesys is the major UK partner of Global Business Systems and Sage Professional Services Division and supplies orderlineBOX to a growing base of customers in the UK and Europe, offering a total service from installation to ongoing support and customisations.

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OrderlineBOX THE business software for corrugated box manufacturers and the cardboard industry.