Cim50 & Armagard

The Client

With over 30 years of experience, Armagard Ltd is a leading designer and manufacturer of waterproof enclosures for computers, printer enclosures, outdoor digital signage, and drive-thru menu boards.

Specialising in a range of IP/NEMA-rated solutions, Armagard protects electronic equipment in demanding environments, including hygienic washdown areas, industrial manufacturing, and high-traffic outdoor commercial spaces.
Based in Birmingham, Armagard is a globally recognised company with a strong presence across the UK, Europe, and the USA. The company has been involved in thousands of projects, working with major brands such as McDonald’s, Nestlé, GSK, Tata Steel, as well as independent businesses.
More information on Armagard can be found here

The Problem

Prior to using Cim50, Armagard were Sage 50 Manufacturing users. In October 2020 Sage announced that they were no longer developing or supporting Sage 50 Manufacturing from December 2021.
Onesys had a number of Sage 50 Manufacturing customers that needed to be migrated to a new platform. After a thorough selection process, Onesys partnered up with Cim for both their Cim50  and Cim200 applications. Sage UK now also officially recommend Cim50 as their preferred vendor for providing Sage 50 Manufacturing customers with a solution. One of the main plus points of Cim50 is that it has a similar user interface to Sage 50 Manufacturing, making user adoption straightforward.

In addition, when customers outgrow Sage 50 and Cim50 there is a seamless migration path so Sage 200 and Cim200.

When Sage Manufacturing came to the end of being supported Armagard did investigate an all-in-one cloud MRP solution, however after some testing that didn’t work out for them, they selected Cim50. There were also some issues with Sage 50 Manufacturing that they were finding that were unnecessarily time consuming, for example new product codes had to be set up in Sage 50 Accounts and then Sage 50 Manufacturing. They had to be careful about what information was entered into each system and in which order. They also lacked control over who could edit things and with no visibility on who had changed information, it could make issues difficult to track down.

The Solution

Armagard use Cim50 to manage their production mainly tracking stock levels, and informing them what components need to be purchased, planning which products need to be assembled and a reference for Bill of Materials for all of their products. Cim50 is also used, to a certain extent, for their Sales team to track the progress of orders and current stock levels and prices.

Cim50 works in a very similar way to Sage 50 Manufacturing alongside their Sage 50 Accounts. Although a lot more of their processes are now done solely in Cim50 (e.g. creating new stock items and despatch). The interface is clear and intuitive and as it has a similar layout and structure to Sage 50 Manufacturing it made it easy for the team to learn.

They also use the audit trails in Cim50 to track changes that have been made to stock and BOMs which as mentioned they couldn’t do in the previous system they used. The batch change tools are also used regularly in Cim50, saving them a considerable amount of time to when they used Sage 50 Manufacturing. They’re also able to archive old BOMs so they can no longer be used but still have access to the information if they need it.
Armagard also find the costing tools within Cim50 very useful, including the costing history. Being able to export cost breakdowns is very helpful for doing estimates for custom projects or new builds. They also use the Suppliers module for stock records and it’s really helpful that they are able to track price breaks easily.
Implementation was smooth and quick and as it was done over a weekend they experienced very little downtime. Training didn’t take too long because of the similarities between Cim50 and Sage 50 Manufacturing. The most important parts of the training were to advise on the differences between the two systems and this was made clear by the Onesys consultant. Being able to import all of their historical data was really helpful as they still need to occasionally refer back to old transactions and works orders and being able to do all of this within Cim50 saves time.

The Outcome

In summary, the main impact of using Cim50 for Armagard has been having a stable, reliable system that they know is supported. It’s also saved the business time in streamlining processes and giving them better visibility on their data.
Stronger integration between Cim50 and Sage 50 Accounts saves them time in certain elements of their work such as setting up new products’
Cim50 is trusted by over 500 SME Manufacturers in the UK and Ireland. Cim50 works whether you are just looking for enhanced Stock Control right through to those who are looking for a complete manufacturing package to control all aspects of their business.
Cim50 is a revolutionary product that gives you the control and confidence that you need from your business-critical software.

• Modular system:

  • Quotations

  • Stock Control

  • Bill of Materials

  • Planning

  • Works Orders

  • Shop Floor Data Capture

  • Graphical Scheduler

• Real-time integration with Sage 50 Accounts Professional

• Scalable solution suitable for businesses between 1 and 20 concurrent users
  
  
  Speak to one of our team today to find out how Onesys and Cim50 can help your business.