Case Study: Meridian Medical Ltd

In 2002 Meridian Medical replaced their previous MRP with 123insight after only five years, implementing and going live in just two weeks. A case study was written in 2004, citing 25% growth with the same admin staff level, reduction in stock inaccuracies and the Purchasing Manager's monthly workload reducing from four days to half a day. Paperwork also reduced and the system became the backbone for ISO13485 and ISO9001. This new case study, a part of our '10 years on' series, details how the business has grown, and what role 123insight has performed in its expansion.

Meridian Medical MRP software case study

In 2002 Meridian Medical replaced their previous MRP with 123insight after only five years, implementing and going live in just two weeks. A case study was written in 2004, citing 25% growth with the same admin staff level, reduction in stock inaccuracies and the Purchasing Manager's monthly workload reducing from four days to half a day. Paperwork also reduced and the system became the backbone for ISO13485 and ISO9001. This new case study, a part of our '10 years on' series, details how the business has grown, and what role 123insight has performed in its expansion.

Meridian Medical, based in Littlehampton, Sussex has seen their disposable medical products business increase by around 50% in the last 10 years, despite a double-dip recession. Spread over four sites, the company has expanded its product range and focussed on quality to grow the business, but have also seen a trend of business migrating back to the UK from overseas.  Technical Manager James Fenton explained; “We’re the same kind of business, structure and people as before - we’re just making more products. A lot of people are bringing manufacturing back to the UK, so that’s good. The software's been really good in the sense that it does manage the workload well. We've only increased the amount of staff to assemble the products. All the assembly areas, the clean room and the workshop have now got more staff, longer shifts, but we have the same amount of admin staff.”

ISO quality tracking

One initial reason for implementing 123insight was to have a single system as the basis for the company’s ISO13485 and ISO9001 quality accreditations. Regulations are significantly tighter than they were 10 years ago, but 123insight continues to deliver the information that Meridian Medical need. Said James; “ISO13485 has been ramped up significantly, so the amount of paperwork we have to produce is much higher. In terms of what 123insight does, it’s always worked well. The reports we need are available very quickly when we need them.”

Sage Accounts Integration

Meridian Medical are taking advantage of the AAI (Advanced Accounts Interface) to Sage 50, linking 123insight’s sales order processing and purchase order processing with the Sage 50 Accounts sales and purchase ledgers. James noted; “AAI does exactly what it's supposed to do. We've now got two separate computers running Sage with two AAI links working seamlessly with our 123insight database.”

Over the last decade James has seen the popularity of 123insight grow with suppliers and customers, often recognising documentation from other companies as being produced by 123insight. He has also assisted a new customer that recently implemented the system; “One of our customers set up their own manufacturing facility and implemented 123insight. They get on with it really well. We work quite closely with them and they phone us up and ask us questions about how things can work as we have exactly the same products and types of manufacturing .”

Special Interest Groups

Since Meridian Medical implemented 123insight there have been several Special Interest Group events and User Open Days which they have attended. James likes 123 Insight’s open approach, allowing customers to network with each other; “It's interesting to talk to other people and hear how everyone uses the software differently. They all have a different outlook on how to deal with alternative situations.”

If you’re in a situation where you have no system then this would be a very good business model to start off with... ...I don’t know what we’d do without it.

James Fenton - Technical Manager
James Fenton - Technical Manager

Benefits through upgrades

The company initially went live with version 3 and has seen several upgrades in the last decade, with each one delivering incremental benefits. James was most impressed with 123insight’s ability to associate documents; “The best thing about all the upgrades is the document attachments. It's a game changer. Now we can attach 15-20 different documents - purchase specifications, compatibility, material data - everything. It's very good.”  He was also satisfied with the option for upgrades to be performed by 123insight; “I'm happy with the upgrades in the way that it works. You can pay a small fee and the team just does it. I'm really busy and I don't want to take time out to do upgrades.”

Meridian Medical meets 123insight’s average of one call per customer to the Help Desk per month, and James noted that most calls were resolved immediately over the phone by knowledgeable staff.

The company plans to expand 123insights reach within the business by rolling out barcode stations across stores and production, taking advantage of the system’s built in Shopfloor Data Capture functionality.

After outgrowing their previous MRP system in just five years, Meridian Medical has now subscribed to 123insight since 2002. James still feels that the subscription model with no-obligation training is more cost-effective than the traditional approach of large up front fees, high maintenance and additional consultancy, which in the long term can still cost considerably more. Had they experienced similar issues as with their previous system over a similar period of time they would be on their third system by now. He concluded; “If you're in a situation where you have no system then this would be a very good business model to start off with. You can implement it for very little cost, and the fact that you train all the users risk-free at the start is really good. I was talking to my neighbour recently who’s just started his own manufacturing business and is using his account system. I told him to get a proper system! I don’t know what we’d do without it.”

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