Aspen Pumps is the market leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of specialised pumps which remove condensate water from air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Based in Hailsham, Sussex, and established in 1992, Aspen Pumps has a strong international presence, with its products available in over 100 countries.

Challenges

As a fast-growing global organisation, Aspen Pumps is focused on innovation, quality, and the development of new products. Aspen Pumps was a single stand-alone entity with a legacy ERP system that was adequate for supporting its UK-centric operations. But the ERP system was not agile enough for the business to help realise synergies from its ambitious growth strategy. The growing logistical complexity because of this expansion meant that the business needed to formalise its end-to-end processes to maintain a stable platform and deliver coherent management insight of operations across the Group.

We undertook an IT due diligence assessment of Aspen Pumps ahead of 3i’s investment in the organisation. This confirmed management’s thinking that a new ERP system was required. However, due to a lack of bandwidth within Aspen’s internal team it was recognised that external support was required to support the ERP selection and implementation project.

How we helped

Aspen Pumps appointed us to provide relevant expertise for the selection of a suitable ERP system, and expert, objective oversight, and advice to key stakeholders during the implementation of the new system.

We were tasked with selecting an ERP solution that was geared towards best business practice, with minimal risk and disruption to the business, as well as being quick to implement.

We worked closely with Jonathan Phillips, Aspen Pumps’ Group Business Systems Manager and Project Manager for the ERP implementation project, to firstly establish a target business model, and then specify, select, and implement an ERP system that would fully support the delivery of such a business model.

The new ERP system went live in January 2017 – just 180 days from the first meeting between Aspen Pumps and its ERP implementation partner.

From the outset business processing became more structured, with electronically driven purchase orders replacing the previous paper system, allowing the organisation to improve its stock control.

“Our staff now have the information they need readily available, whereas previously they had to spend a substantial amount of time chasing the data that was required. Around 70 members of staff now regularly use the new system – an increase in users of 180% compared to the previous ERP.”

“The rapid implementation of the system was reliant on a multi-disciplined task force,” Jonathan continues. “You provided the expertise and objective oversight that was required to support the internal team and guide the decision-making process amongst the senior management team.”

Results, Return on Investment and Future Plans

In implementing a new ERP system Aspen Pumps has been able to reduce administration time and costs, improve efficiency across all day-to-day business operations, ensure optimal stock levels and improve customer fulfilment.

“The new ERP system has provided Aspen Pumps with a theoretical stock warehouse for the whole of Europe. We now have the opportunity to expand the business into European subsidiaries, which just wasn’t possible using the previous system,” says Jonathan Phillips.