Customer: GFB Ventures Ltd
Location: Maldon, Essex
Industries: Diverse Manufacturing
Contact: Phil Stoneham, Production Manager
With their old system, GFB Ventures struggled to have shop floor visibility at a glance. Fitfactory’s solution allows the production manager to see an instant snapshot of the business processes from his desk.
Overview
GFB Ventures Ltd provides precision engineering services to a diverse clientèle that includes the defence, automotive, motorsport, food manufacturing and the drinks industry. GFB was founded five years ago but has already grown to an operation that employs 15 people with a turnover in excess of £2m per annum.
GFB is based in Maldon, Essex, in a 6,000 square foot facility which currently houses 8 CNC Mills and 3 CNC Lathes.
Like many engineering firms GFB relied upon a basic system prior to the introduction of Fitfactory's system. This did not enable management to identify what exactly was happening without a lot of physical chasing around the site. Therefore a new approach was needed to maintain company growth and progress.
Selection Process
Phil Stoneham, Production Manager for GFB stated, “We had to do something to improve and streamline our management and control capabilities in order to be able to compete more vigorously in today’s fast moving marketplace. We spent a number of weeks evaluating the systems that were available, initially through online research, until we arrived at a short-list of two contenders.
In reaching our final decision, we selected Fitfactory as they provided exactly what we needed, a strong and robust BOM (Bill of Materials) system that would enable us to control our production processes to a much higher level as well as being simple and easy to learn.”
Implementing the System
The implementation of the system was straightforward and the support we received from Fitfactory was excellent.
Their staff only took one day to install and customise all aspects for us from our logo through to reports… They obviously knew exactly what to do and we found the whole process easy to follow.
The training phase was a massive learning curve for all of us but the one thing that we all appreciated was the extremely high level of attention that they took. The technical support helpline is also excellent.
To further support the systems integration we were provided two further training days to cover software upgrades.
Impact on Business
Stoneham enthused, “Fantastic result! I can now review everything on the shop floor from my desk. We no longer need to run around the site as we are now able to obtain an instant snapshot of the business and costings through the solutions that Fitfactory have provided. This has completely streamlined the process.
I am very impressed with Fitfactory, their systems have supplied exactly what we needed and cover virtually all of our requirements. They are a very professional, organised company.”