Greeting cards publisher gains the benefit of integrated ERP and EDI from K3

UK-based Riverdale Publishing, one of the players in the greeting cards market, has chosen a SYSPRO ERP system with an integrated electronic data interchange (EDI) system, to improve communications and to boost supply chain efficiencies, stretching from the UK to China.

The company, which used to be known as Kingsley Cards, selected SYSPRO with Crystal Reporting, coupled with a BACS purchase ledger system as the backbone of its management system. The ERP solution, spplied by K3, also utilises an integrated bar code tracking system to ensure that there is accuracy for picking and warehouse management, allowing instant stock data input for its products.

Interestingly, for a company that earns a living from consumers' need for paper-based greeting cards, Riverdale readily identified that it needed the opposite to written communications - an automated enterprise resource management system that would allow management to run a tight operation, with design, distribution and administration being managed in the UK and the majority of the production being outsourced to China.

The company's products are regarded as high quality and covers a range of well established brands e.g. Stepping Out, 'Ahh, that's cute', Kingsley, A Moment In Time and A Touch Of Class. It uses a large network of specialist distributors and retailers to ensure that its extensive range of cards - more than 58,000 product lines and growing by over 1,500 new designs a year - is always available to end customers worldwide.

According to Andy McGee, IT Manager for Riverdale Publishing, the type of operation they run means the company requires excellent levels of management data communications - input, output and analysis - to ensure everything runs smoothly, all of which is provided by a slick ERP system.

He speaks highly of SYSPRO and commented : "I have high hopes of Syspro with Crystal Reporting further improving efficiency within our organisation to electronically view and store reports, such as customer debtor balances, stock valuations, etc., as we are still printing out reams of paper for auditors at period end."

Any good management system requires quality data and Riverdale Publishing has grasped this concept well, implementing mobile data capture to boost the functionality and usefulness of the system. The company's sales representatives visit the retail outlets and use HP-Compaq IPAQ hand-held computers for communicating orders back to HQ. This information is fed into the fully integrated SYSPRO enterprise system to trigger distribution of product to the customer; and, when there is a need for replenishment, the system generates purchase orders to transmit to the manufacturing facility in China, which in turn initiates production.

Riverdale Publishing serves both the home market and is active in many other countries around the world. The company has its headquarters in Silsden, bordering the Yorkshire Dales, and operates a design studio in Milton Keynes. The company employs over 100 permanent staff and several freelance artists.