Schneider Industry Ltd, the UK's largest manufacturer of LPG bulk vessels, has purchased Sage MMS accounting software from business software specialists CPiO. 

As a result of recently taking on a new senior management team, Schneider Industry is implementing the new accounting package to integrate all parts of its business, to deliver timely and accurate business & management information, and to form the basis for future innovation that will drive efficiency and cost savings. The Sage MMS solution will replace the organisation's existing Sage Line 50 finance and accounting systems as well as a mixture of bespoke invoicing packages across its four UK offices.

With a turnover in excess of £6 million, Schneider Industry has four sites in Airdrie, Stoney Stanton, Chepstow and Derby. Expansion in services through acquisition in recent years and the resulting business growth meant that the organisation was struggling with a lack of integrated business and management reporting.

"We needed accounting software that could deliver relevant and timely management reporting that was fully integrated across all of the sites, removing the need for all the disparate information systems," explains David Strain, Finance Manager at Schneider Industry.

He continues: "MMS provided us with this functionality, yet critically CPiO was also able to suggest ways in which the software could be used to contribute hugely to the business in areas other than maintaining cash flow and producing regular financial statements." 

For example, due to the nature of Schneider Industry's business, full stock traceability is very important. If a problem were to arise with a particular vessel, any other vessels that were made with the same batch of steel or the same heads would need to be traced. The Bill of Materials module within Sage MMS ensures the components that go into each vessel are recorded and given a unique serial number so that each component can be traced at any time.

Strain comments: "Our relationship with CPiO has been exceptional. They have visited all of the sites, understand our business requirements and I feel we have both worked hard on this project to ensure MMS will ultimately be used to its full capabilities."

Moving forward, Schneider Industry hopes to develop the paperless function of MMS, whereby branded invoices and other communication is created electronically. Indeed, CPiO is currently working with Schneider Industry to develop software that will enable sales invoices to be converted into a format that can be used in a card-based procurement system by one of Schneider's largest customers. This would mean that Schneider Industry would receive payment in five, rather than the current average of forty-five days.  This and other innovation, will speed up communication with suppliers and customers, eventually resulting in significant cost saving.

Strain concludes: "We have worked with CPiO previously and trust them as they have developed a good understanding of our business. CPiO has been responsive to our queries and indeed has gone beyond our expectations to create a bespoke programme that will provide us with huge scope for efficiency gains, which is something that we could not do with any other software system, and indeed very few other systems integrators."