Pirtek Fluid Systems Keeps Australians Moving
Servicing industries that include manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, construction, earthmoving, agriculture and defence, Pirtek's dedicated team of franchise partners deploy mobile service units for critical breakdown support, as well as preventative maintenance across nearly every industry in Australia.
Pirtek is a fully franchised business system with 84 Service and Supply Centres throughout Australia. This privately owned Australian business is on a rapid growth path with operations in New Zealand, South Africa, China, Singapore, USA, UK and Europe.
Timeliness and responsiveness is crucial and whilst Pirtek franchisees are committed to going that extra mile, Pirtek's supply chain efficiency is the key to ensuring they can deliver.
Streamlined Supply Chain to Meet Growth
In 2003 Pirtek realised its existing supply chain systems would not deliver the company's growth plans. With no clear vendor path for a 14 year old UNIX system, the risk of system down time was becoming too great.
'We needed a new system tailored to our franchise model. Fully integrating franchisees into our warehouse operations and enabling one streamlined, real-time supply chain system was seen as a strategic imperative across the company," said Jason Dormor, Pirtek's Chief Information Officer. "However, an expensive IT upgrade was not on the cards for franchisees, many of whom were operating from remote service locations"
After intensive evaluation Pirtek selected Micronet 's Franchise Solution, a seamless trading platform providing transactional, data and supply chain efficiencies specifically tailored for franchise groups.
Utilising a hosted environment the Micronet solution provides Pirtek a secure and reliable IT platform with minimal up-front investment and ongoing costs for franchisees. With a fast growing network of over 200 remote users the system needs to be easy to use and deploy in the field.
"Initially Micronet's desire to understand our business made them stand out from the crowd," said Dormor. "As our evaluation continued we found a skilled team that was committed to making our project a success."
After minimal customisation, Pirtek began a one month pilot between the National Office and three franchise locations. With an aggressive roll out plan targeting five Service and Supply Centres each week, the hosted Micronet solution was deployed to all Pirtek franchise locations in just under three months.
Hosted Solution Minimises Risk
Micronet's hosted model, managed in partnership with Macquarie Corporate, minimised risk and cost associated with the deployment. By locking in guaranteed levels of security, availability and resilience, Pirtek focused efforts directly on business process improvements.
"The hosted solution has proved to be as solid as rock. It has freed us from managing the risk associated with maintaining an in-house system and delivers scalability for future growth."
Software modules for distribution, bill of material kitting, creditors and general ledger are deployed to Pirtek franchises from a central data centre (Sass), minimising up-front software licencing charges and removing the burden of day to day IT management for franchisees.
Real-Time Warehouse Integration
As the market leader in hydraulic hose assemblies the Pirtek product line is complex, ranging from large pallets of spooled hose to small metal clamps and adapters. Pirtek National Distribution Centre (NDC) receives orders from franchises for both finished goods as well as subassembly components used to manufacture complete fluid transfer systems for contract customers.
The Pirtek NDC picks and processes over 40,000 line items per month shipping to 84 locations across Australia.
With over 10, 000 line items warehoused at the Pirtek NDC, a comprehensive centralised data model is used for efficient and accurate data maintenance. The Micronet system alleviates the need for manual double entry with pricing, stock lines and special promotional programs automatically updated across all franchise locations by the National Office. Contract customers are serviced anywhere, anytime using a pricing module that seamlessly manages national pricing schedules.
Visibility into the supply chain from all locations provides our franchise partners with unparalleled ability to track and measure their own business. Supply chain information is automatically replicated between franchises and the warehouse providing a complete and accurate view of our position throughout the network."
Creating this seamless flow of real-time information also requires tight integration with Pirtek's other IT systems. The Micronet solution directly integrates stock and order information with the 3M HighJump warehouse management system that is running at Pirtek's NDC located in Kings Park, Sydney.
Mobile Access Drives Field Efficiency
"With recent developments in field service automation technologies, better equipping Pirtek's highly visible mobile service units is our next step. The Micronet Sales force solution will greatly enhance field force efficiency enabling customer orders to be processed remotely from service units for even faster fulfillment."
Demand continues to grow. Mining, transport and construction projects are booming. Pirtek's commitment to being a strategic, on-site partner for Australia's largest companies means its real-time supply chain will be vital in keeping Australia moving.
13.10.2008
FCA Member
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Sutherland
NSW 2232
Tel: 1300 051 854
Fax: 02 9542 2100
