Specialist paper manufacturer boosts cash flow, makes better buying decisions with finance system from m-hance

Slater Harrison & Co, market-leading manufacturers of speciality card, papers and board products, is to transform its material requirements planning (MRP) processes by implementing a financial management system from m-hance. This new system will provide swifter access to more accurate financial information to enable Slater Harrison to improve cash flow and make better informed buying decisions in support of its future growth plans. The m-hance system will go-live in October 2012.

With price sensitive customers and increased competition, maintaining tight financial control over costs and margins is critical to Slater Harrison’s success. The organisation decided to replace the outdated system that it had been using for 14 years for a scalable solution with flexible long-term support options. After reviewing several systems including Access Accounts and Infor Syteline, Slater Harrison selected a financial management solution from m-hance to streamline its MRP processes and improve the accessibility and reporting of financial information.

Tim Hughes, Financial Director of Slater Harrison & Co Ltd, explains, “Our current system requires a significant amount of manual intervention to provide us with the standard financial information we need. We are often left to churn through large volumes of data as a basis to make key business decisions which no longer fulfils our requirements.”

Hughes continues, “We considered several suppliers but were impressed by the professionalism of the m-hance team combined with the company’s status as a major player in the UK software market. m-hance’s solution was the most user friendly of the systems we evaluated and is ideally suited to our needs as a manufacturer, without being very complex to run or administer which was a crucial requirement.”

m-hance’s system will automate and significantly streamline Slater Harrison’s back-office accounting processes by eliminating time-consuming manual procedures. The new solution’s advanced reporting capabilities will also provide more accurate and quicker access to financial information to improve Slater Harrison’s purchasing decisions in addition to giving it complete visibility and control over its stock to more efficiently meet demand.

Hughes comments, “m-hance’s solution will enable us to better plan our MRP routines so we provide the right products to our customers in line with their precise timescales. With business critical information at our fingertips, we’ll be able to make better informed buying decisions which will result in us having to hold less stock, thus improving our cash flow without jeopardising our service to customers.”

Hughes adds, “m-hance’s solution will provide a rapid return-on-investment and play a key part in helping to shape our future. With more accurate and comprehensive information to hand, we’ll be able to determine which of our products and markets are most profitable and where we should be placing our efforts to support our growth plans, and, most importantly remain ahead of our competition.”