Manufacturing
TERMATRAC
Stapylton, Queensland
Termatrac describes itself as a small business which designs, manufactures and distributes electronic detection units for the Pest Control industry. The company began when the founder, himself a pest control operator, wished he could discover termites through a wall like the fish finder radar on his boat could show him where there were fish under the water. He invented a device which uses a very low power microwave beam to detect the constant movement of termites through most common building materials.
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Background
Over the past 10 years, Termatrac has grown from a small family business to a multimillion dollar company with distributors in 7 countries and customers in more than 30 countries. Termatrac recently opened an office and distribution centre in the United States.
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Termatrac design and manufacture all of the electronics locally in Australia, and ship globally. “Inventory control is critical to our business”, said Amanda Doubikin, the company’s Financial Controller. “Many of the components have very long lead time and we want to ensure we have all the components we need when we have to do a production run”. “We also need to track every unit we ship, to ensure they come back for Calibration each year.”
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Termatrac were aware that they needed software more sophisticated than the typical small business accounting package.
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions and MYOB EXO Business
Termatrac were introduced to ABC Business Solutions by their bookkeeper during a period when they were having numerous issues with their software. “Our bookkeeper highly recommended ABC Business Solutions. She spoke highly of Carol Roberts and the company, and told us they would be the only ones capable of fixing our issues.”
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“We chose ABC Business Solutions as our software partner because they had the whole package. Not only accounting knowledge, but accounting knowledge with IT skills. ABC Business Solutions understand what we want and at the same time the compatibility of the software. It is a huge plus when you have a team of people who work together.”
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“ABC Business Solutions cost accounting knowledge is also important to us, as we are in manufacturing.” Termatrac sent two of their staff members on ABC Business Solutions MYOB EXO HeadStart Course. “I learnt a lot at the course. I was a beginner to EXO and had just joined the company. I was afraid of the software and was only doing basic things. This course taught me how to use EXO.”
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ABC Business Solutions also assisted in setting up new EXO files for Termatrac. “We had ABC Business Solutions set up new files for us. It was all very positive and all the time lines were met. It was a rushed time and ABC Business Solutions were very helpful with that.”
ABC Business Solutions also assisted with Termatrac’s EXO Payroll. “Every time I need help I always get a reply, and the issue is always sorted if not that day, in a timely fashion. I am always in the loop, ABC keeps us in the know and updated on issues. We never have to question her, she communicates well and that gives us confidence.”
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Amanda notices they now have a reduced number of systems being used everyday and also save time on researching different serial numbers, due to the way the software has been set up for them.
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“ABC sat down with me and shown me new things in EXO with the new update. She has shown me new tricks with the reporting, and it is now a lot quicker for me to organise reports for the board.”
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Future Directions
Termatrac have a five year plan and agree that ABC Business Solutions is assisting with the company moving forward, by being on call for them all the time.
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“ABC Business Solutions can continue to assist us with providing back up when needed. I know I can always call on them. I never have to think about the software, such as annual licences and updates, as I know ABC looks after it all for us. It’s reassuring and keeps us confident.” Amanda Doubikin, Accounts, Termatrac
Premier Rock & PlantMech
Willawong, Queensland Australia
Company Background
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Premier Rock Machinery selects only the very best manufacturing brands from companies that design and build world-class excavator attachments to the most exacting standards using high quality materials suitable for the rugged Australian environment.
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With a state-of-the-art workshop facilities and a fleet of dedicated service vehicles, Premier Rock Machinery is able to assist customers on or off their site whether they are engaged in the smallest of earthwork projects or the most demanding construction and civil engineering challenges.
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PlantMech is the founding company of Premier Rock Machinery. PlantMech was established in 2002 to provide an installation and design service for auxiliary hydraulic systems mainly on new earth moving equipment.
Premier Rock Machinery is the preferred supplier of world class excavator attachments and safety systems to the construction, demolition, road, recycling, mining, rail, pipeline and quarry industries. Based in Brisbane, PRM are the Australian agents for Lehnhoff, Montabert, MOVAX, Rotar, GKD Technik and Remu.
PRM is well known for providing outstanding after sales service, spares and support across our range of world class attachments and safety systems. The PRM range includes Montabert Drills & Rock Breakers, Remu Screening and Padding Buckets, Movax Pile Drivers, Piling Drills & Piling Hammers, Rotar Demolition Attachments, Lehnhoff Automatic Quick Couplers and Safety Systems including Height, Slew, Load & Proximity Warning Systems. PlantMech supplies hydraulic services and installation capabilities to PRM. PlantMech has developed into a complete hydraulic installation sales and service company with a focus on serving the earthmoving, construction, forestry and demolition-machinery markets in Queensland.
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Together with a large inventory of hoses, fittings, valves, controls, and special adapters, as well as tube-making and fabrication capabilities, plus electronic and electrical system install service complemented by our in-house CAD bureau service PlantMech can provide a level of service that is hard to match.
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions – Ostendo and Xero
Premier Rock and PlantMech had an accounting system, but no inventory or job management system. There was no visibility of cashflow, or inventory wastage. Even purchase orders were done on paper. Avril Davis, one of the owners of both companies, said that without an integrated system, and visibility of the businesses high value stock items, the business didn’t have ‘sustainability to grow’.
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Avril said they had looked at other systems, but Ostendo was the best. Plus they were attracted to ABC Business Solutions background in implementing systems from an Accounting focus, not an IT focus. Carol’s background in Cost and Management accounting, meant that the process was about Systems Improvement, not software installation. PlantMech had already spent a year on another System, but it didn’t work. Avril liked the Accountability focus with Carol and ABC Business Solutions. The system has made them look at the business, and the policies and procedures that are impacting the business growing and moving to the next level.
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“Ostendo with Xero is better than we thought it would be”, says Avril. “We are managing purchases and cost much better than before. We just had a stocktake on our agency stock, and it was only down $1,200, before Ostendo, it was down $60,000. The system is paying for itself.”
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Avril also said that with Creditors, there are far less surprises on what needs paying, which was very stressful previously. “Before we only had a gut feeling on job costing and staff productivity”. It was also much harder to manage costs and cash flow buying stock in EURO with three months lead time.
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Future Directions
We are now planning to create a third company, said Avril, and will be working towards ISO registration, now that we have Ostendo.
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“We can also start tendering bigger work, that we couldn’t do in the past”. Avril says that “Ostendo with Xero gives us the accountability to grow. The reports give Mike and I a clear and accurate picture on the businesses, from both the Operations and KPIs” “Carol has passion and drive, and we will continue to keep her involved on a monthly basis, as we move forward and grow. She has outside eyes looking at our businesses and systems. Both Mike and I believe we now have the correct systems and a good partnership with ABC Business Solutions to really grow and measure our growth in the future.”
CRUISE CRAFT
Hemmant, Brisbane, Australia
Nichols Bros. has been at the fore front of the Australian boating industry since Roy Nichols established the company in August 1946. Roy could see an opportunity to build small fishing dinghies for the local fishing fleet down at Wynnum and from there it escalated to a niche market for the general public to go boating.
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In 1960 the Cruise Craft brand was launched and became more pleasure craft oriented and full model boat, followed by its first fibreglass model in 1967. It also was way back then that the name Nichols Bros. became synonymous with an unrelenting commitment to design excellence and manufacturing quality.
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Nichols Bros.is a third generation family business which is unique in the boat building industry. With around 14 Boat of The Year titles as well as other accolades to its credit, Cruise Craft still continues to lead the industry in design excellence, innovation and quality. Nathan says ‘we don’t really work ,we get to create peoples aspirations to enjoy with the family, a boat is not a disposable item, it is a lifestyle and is not an item that you need but it is a want’.
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Background
Nathan said ‘when using MYOB we were asking the program to do something it wasn’t capable of. We were looking for an easier way of managing our costs and making sure everything was being accounted for or allocated correctly.’
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Cruise Craft had the correct processes in place but did not have the right tool to do it efficiently. Now they are using Ostendo integrating with MYOB the correct data is being provided by reports that are easy to access and with meaningful information and are able to be refined quite easily. Ostendo is full stock control and manufacturing software, with multi layer bill-of-materials and assembly options.
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‘The last four years have been the hardest we’ve experienced in the last 20 years in business, with a soft market you need to manage the business smarter and produce more and be very critical of your day to day processes. At a time when there was a change over in staff the accounts department required additional training with MYOB and phoned ABC Business Solutions to assist with this training, which has then led into us using Ostendo.’
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Future Directions
Now Cruise Craft are gaining a thorough understanding of Ostendo they can utilise the information to move forward with the business. Staying in the business market is now a necessity. Nathan believes they still have another 6 – 12 months to get a full handle on the system to utilise it to the full capacity.
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Cruise Craft develop a 5 – 7 year business plan based on market sales, which they need to keep developing and offering new product ‘if you don’t develop your product you die.’
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions
ABC Business Solutions introduced Cruise Craft to Ostendo, and managed the installation, set up and training. Ostendo has enabled Nathan and his team to have a much better understanding of the business. ‘The training and support provided by ABC Business Solutions has been really good. The ABC Consultants have always been very helpful.’
Carol is providing ongoing management accounting for Nathan and providing a good understanding of how the software helps the business operate. Nathan Nichols, Business Owner of Cruise Craft
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C.EDE PTY LTD
Townsville, North Queensland
C.EDE PTY LTD, established in 1915, is a canvas manufacturing company situated in Townsville, North Queensland. They specialize in canvas & vinyl products, shade sails & external blinds & awnings for both commercial and residential clients. C.EDE PTY LTD is a family owned company.
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Background
Business is constantly evolving for C.EDE PTY LTD as they are a well known company in Townsville with a steady client base. No extreme changes have been made within the company and they find themselves sitting comfortably within the same markets and keeping the same objectives from the beginning.
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C.EDE PTY LTD has always used a MS- DOS Based system for the past 30 odd years. Coming into the 21st century the company realized they needed to move away from their DOS based system to start operating a custom made software that allowed them the ability to have flexible Assembly Orders and Bill of Materials. “We are a manufacturing company, so every job is different and we needed a flexible software program.” Bronwyn Ede, Office Manager, Fourth Generation Family Member.
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Partnering with ABC Business Solutions and Ostendo
“We changed software to MYOB AccountRight & after speaking to a few people, we were referred to Ostendo and ABC Business Solutions.”
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“When I spoke to ABC Business Solutions, I confirmed that they would be able to provide a solution for manufacturing and Bill of Materials.”
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“I had to also confirm that Ostendo would be able to handle both retail and manufacturing- as a program to handle both was hard to find.” ABC Business Solutions managed the set up and training of Ostendo, along side C.EDE PTY LTD. “We received a lot of training from ABC Business Solutions. Our consultant was there whenever we needed her.” C.EDE PTY LTD received their training from ABC Business Solutions remotely, through GoToMeeting. As well as the set up and training of Ostendo, ABC Business Solutions also assisted with the customization of forms and reports for C.EDE PTY LTD. “We had a lot of customizing done on our forms and reports. ABC Business Solutions are able to customise to what we want and need.”
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ABC Business Solutions set up an ODBC link to connect MYOB AccountRight and Ostendo. “Now with an integrated system, it is easier for our accountant, saves double entering & is definitely a change for the better!”
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Bronwyn comments on the use of Ostendo in a manufacturing industry: “Ostendo handles all of our Bill of Materials and Assembly Orders which is what you need for a manufacturing industry.”
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“Ostendo is excellent for keeping track of stock via the Retail & Assembly Order side of things. Our Job Costing is much better than our previous system & having the ability to link with MYOB is fantastic”
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Future Directions
Needing little assistance from ABC Business Solutions now, Bronwyn mentions that with the company moving forward “It is good to have ABC Business Solutions on hand, if there are ever any issues.”
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There is a five year plan in place with C.EDE PTY LTD’s 100th anniversary coming up, They are planning on continuing to upgrade the company and modernize, including their company website.
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In regards to the relationship with ABC Business Solutions developing: “Having ABC Business Solutions on call if we need possible training is helpful, we understand the system more and more everyday.”Bronwyn Ede, Office Manager, C.EDE PTY LTD
