William Wilson, one of the UK's largest independent suppliers of electrical, plumbing, heating and building products, has commenced the roll-out of Strategix supply chain software across all its 39 branches, following a successful pilot project at six outlets.

The new Strategix system will handle all of William Wilson's purchasing, stock control, sales (showroom, trade counter and back office sales), invoicing, financial accounting and management reporting functions. Representing an investment by William Wilson of over £1 million, the 440-user system will enable more efficient business processes and information sharing across the company.

A privately-owned business founded in 1900 and with headquarters in Aberdeen, William Wilson has a turnover in excess of £80 million. Its 500 plus staff service some 7000 regular customers, ranging from local authorities and major contractors through to small traders and the general public, via trade counters located from Stornoway to Solihull and a growing telesales business. William Wilson boasts a product portfolio of over 30,000 stock items, sourced from more than 1500 suppliers, together with an expanding range of value added services such as technical advice, quotations and lighting design.

According to William Wilson's Joint Managing Director, Mr Robert Skidmore, two main factors sparked his company's search for a new business management system: "Firstly, we have ambitious expansion plans and our previous system was simply not scalable; we need to bring any new outlets we acquire rapidly into one centralized and shared system, and what we had before could not handle this. Secondly working in a very price sensitive marketplace we needed to develop improved buying practices, stock sharing across multiple locations and to improve our rebate management which together will drive down our costs and maximize our margins."

Mr Skidmore and his colleagues worked closely with Edinburgh-based IT consultancy Lumsden Lightbody Management Consultants to specify and select a suitable system to underpin William Wilson's profitable growth in its second century of doing business. The selection process narrowed the contenders down to five vendors, including both Tier 1 ERP suppliers and niche industry specialists, before Strategix was finally chosen.

"The decision to go with Strategix was decided on a number of factors," comments Mr Skidmore. "Their people were able to demonstrate clearly a good understanding of our industry and how Strategix software could be mapped onto our business processes. We needed a long-term partner with which we could work through an extended and complex roll-out cycle, and Strategix personnel have worked well with our in-house team to manage that process so far. We wanted a scaleable and resilient system - Strategix running on top of the Oracle database and a Hewlett-Packard 9000 series server has proven capabilities in that area - and a modern interface. I'm now looking to Strategix to deliver the benefits we seek and bring a rapid return on our investment in it."

For Strategix, Chief Executive Peter Lusty commented: "I am delighted to welcome William Wilson to the ranks of Strategix users. As a multi-branch distribution business in a low-margin and highly competitive sector, William Wilson will find it has a lot in common with our existing customers, and I hope we will be able to leverage that to our mutual advantage. We are very pleased that William Wilson has selected Strategix as a foundation for its continuing growth plans, and look forward to a long and rewarding relationship between our companies."

about strategix
Strategix is a leading European software house, dedicated to the development and rapid deployment of supply chain software.

We focus on the wholesale and retail distribution, logistics and service sectors where our software maximizes supply chain efficiency and accelerates customer service. Our systems are designed for reliability, availability and performance. Our customers enjoy a rapid return on their investment and genuine competitive advantage.

Focused on key growth sectors which range from high technology to household and building products, Strategix numbers businesses such as Fired Earth, Fuller Smith & Turner, Jewson, London Underground, MacLean Electrical, Midwich, Routeco, Virgin Mobile and Wolseley among its customers.

april 2002

Click through to press contacts and further information