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Westin Design extract serious benefits from
WinMan
system
WinMan
, anounced the following: Westin Design has extreme benefits from WinMan software. They increased productivity by over 100%, whilst achieving 99% on time delivery. WinMan is a powerful ERP Software solution focused specific at the manufacturing, distribution, retail and ecommerce sectors. Covering all aspects of Manufacturing, Distribution, CRM, Financials, ePOS, Web Sales and associated functions, WinMan has been developed from the start as an integrated business system for forward thinking enterprises.Celebrity chefs, lifestyle TV programmes and magazines have fuelled our demand for range cookers installed in an island, fireplace or against a wall, and integral to them is the removal of cooking odours and contaminants without losing heat, and possibly fitting into a whole house ventilation system. Westin Design of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, are manufacturers and suppliers of innovative and exclusive extraction solutions for high-end domestic range kitchens. This privately owned company sells to kitchen design studios, architects and developers for conversions, refurbishments and new builds across the UK and Ireland. Remarkably it has enjoyed a year-on-year growth in turnover throughout the last decade.
Westin Design provide complete turnkey, individual extraction solutions on short lead-times, encompassing standard or custom hoods and built-in units, panels and a variety of fan options: as manufacturers and not just distributors, they provide customers with security of supply and the reassurance of complete control over design, quality and delivery.
As a tool empowering Westin Design to increase their productivity twofold in four years, the company has been using a fully integrated ERP system – WinMan Version 7, for which it currently holds 15 licences. Indeed it was the first one to use WinMan’s Product Configurator, Production Scheduling and CRM/SRM facilities in an integrated form.
Mike Sharpe, Innovations and Technology Manager of Westin Design, remarks: “We have worked with the WinMan team for ten years now, and they have been most supportive and helpful from day one.”
His Managing Director Ian Sheppard declares: “Our WinMan ERP system allows me to directly and quickly access the management information I need to run the business – real-time reporting of key performance indicators such as operating efficiencies and deliveries. Vitally, more consistent pricing gives a truer margin on the work we perform.
“Meanwhile the system has supported our company’s strategy of investment for growth and its ability to meet delivery promises, hence strengthening its reputation in the marketplace as a reliable and trustworthy supplier. An accurate delivery date to the nearest day can now be assigned by our sales administration staff within half-an-hour of an order being placed. We proudly meet over 99% of those dates.”
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Product Configurator
Replacing previous data on spreadsheets, the Product Configurator facility is used internally to generate fast and consistent quotes for custom-made extractors. The framework Configurator provided within WinMan has been populated by Westin Design. It builds a complete product structure for manufacturing the finished product – with options selected going on to determine later choices and numerical entries sitting behind those options where applicable.
For instance, the values for materials of construction (such as grade, thickness and paint finishes for metals), electrical components and labour costs can be calculated automatically, based on the user’s selections and entries. Internal labour costs are related to the geometry of a product, and the major processes and durations (in standard minutes) required to produce it in a manufacturing cell are also added to the bill. Westin do not usually include sundries (such as screws and washers) in their product structures, focussing instead on major and critical path components, labour and processes that materially affect production and price.
So, having determined the category of customer, type of extraction (built-in, wall-mounted or island) and sub-types, the Product Configurator works through a series of prompts as appropriate to the enquiry. These can include questions for example regarding the chimney style, baseplate, ducting, types of fan and lighting, electronic and lighting control systems and their location, lighting power and transformer type and filters. Added to this will be such variables as packaging, transportation, product instruction and installation manuals – with most inputs being optional, having been populated with suggested answers automatically.
Meanwhile the WinMan team have aided Westin Design in importing their vital historical algorithms and design geometries, so that the wheel need not be reinvented for each new job.
The Customer Relationship and Supplier Relationship Management (CRM and SRM) system is a single access point for information relating to thousands of Westin Design customers and suppliers. The detailing and management of prospect, customer and supplier relationships have therefore become more streamlined, creating opportunities for increased sales and better communication up and down the supply chain.
As a hub, the WinMan CRM system assists the sales and administrative staff of Westin Design with internal communications and the administration of each customer account – up-to-date contacts, background, financials and order history. Sales visits, customer feedback, endorsements and unpaid invoices are, amongst other things, all faithfully recorded and reported.
In summary, as demand grows for luxury domestic kitchens, Westin Design will be able to meet the consequent requirement for extraction solutions, guided and supported each step of the way by their feature-rich, fully integrated ERP system WinMan. Their innovative, desirable, high-performance products, lean manufacturing culture and competitive advantages derived from WinMan are set to keep this highly progressive manufacturer well ahead of new entrants into the market for the foreseeable future.
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