RK Print Improve Manufacturing Efficiency with Acumatica
RK Print (RKP), a leading manufacturer of laboratory and benchtop equipment for the printing and coating industries, transitioned from their previous ERP system to Acumatica Cloud ERP with the help of Applied Business last year. We’re about to explore how this move enabled them to modernise operations, improve efficiency, and gain real-time business insights.
Recently, we spoke to their Managing Director Andy James about the transition and subsequent changes that have occurred as a result.
About RK Print
Established in 1962, RK Print has built a strong reputation for quality and innovation. The company provides advanced sheet-fed and reel-to-reel pilot coating machines used in R&D environments, particularly in the development of sustainable packaging solutions. They employ 28 people. Their success is driven by:
- A well-respected brand known for quality
- A loyal, global customer base
- A skilled workforce and efficient operations
- Strong financial stability
The Challenge: Outdated & Inefficient Systems
RK Print had been using their previous ERP system for many years. ‘The previous system was viewed as the be-all and end-all for managing the business, despite the fact that its limitations were frustrating our users.’ said Andy.
According to Andy, the principal driver for seeking a new ERP system was ‘To look for efficiencies in production and manufacturing. In the face of rising costs, supply chain increases, increasing overheads such as energy costs, rates, taxes etc, just hiking up our sales costs was not the answer to manage profits.
With a need to stay competitive in the marketplace, I saw looking at the cost of manufacturing as being key to increasing profit margins.
Outdated, paper-based processes needed updating and automating, and I saw the need for an ERP to look outward at production and not just the customer-facing front end of the business.’
The Selection Process
Before choosing Acumatica, RK Print evaluated a number of ERP solutions, including SAP and NetSuite. However, these did not align with their needs as closely as Acumatica.
So Why Acumatica?
- A Superior User Experience – ‘Our decision to move to Acumatica started with the very intuitive user experience. Moving up and down through layers of information, accessing pages within pages through active links was refreshingly slick compared to what we were used to.’
- Role-Based Dashboards – ‘Acumatica pushes relevant data to users instead of requiring them to search for it.’
- The Overall Feel – ‘From a production perspective, the Acumatica system just has that feel of being designed by manufacturers, for manufacturers.’
The Implementation: A Smooth, Planned Transition
RK Print signed up with Acumatica in March 2023 and went live in August 2023. ‘The process went very well,’ said Andy. ‘The main reason was that we spent quality time on the planning phase. With the excellent knowledge and the transitioning experience of the Applied Business team, we identified which areas of the business were priorities and precisely how and when the transition needed to take place.’
Key factors for success included:
- A phased implementation approach which ensured stability during the transition
- Process Champions selected from within RK Print to lead the change
- Parallel system usage to prevent disruption to customers
“The period of transition was largely invisible to our customers.”
Managing The Transition Period
It would be reasonable for any business to be apprehensive about suffering from a form of slump, or dip in performance during the transition to a new ERP system, but this was not the lived reality for RK Print, according to their CEO.
‘Importantly, the period of transition was largely invisible to our customers. Acumatica recreated all our standard forms in the same layout and format as they were used to seeing. During implementation, we were still getting the product out the door and on time”
Moving To The Cloud
RK Print’s previous ERP was an exclusively on-premise system, and the move to the Cloud with Acumatica has been a drastic and welcome change.
‘It’s just more fluid and more accessible. Being able to work from anywhere, anytime on practically any device has been a game changer.
We don’t have to worry about hardware, the server, software updates, backups etc. To us, Cloud was a real selling point and it has taken away a lot of the worries we used to have as well as being more secure.’
Overcoming Challenges
Regardless of how well-planned and coordinated an ERP change is, challenges will always exist and obstacles need to be overcome when dealing with such a fundamental shift in a business. The most notable of these for RK Print were:
- Adopting Inventory Management – ‘Moving to an inventory management system, the foundation stone for the whole system, and instilling the discipline in users to accurately record and input stock usage was the biggest cultural change. By focusing on key users first, adoption was smoother.’
- Creating Bill of Materials (BoMs) – ‘Creating thousands of BoMs was a significant task, but we trained a dedicated team to handle it more efficiently and share the pain! Key people really stepped up to the plate’
The Results: Tangible Business Benefits
Since implementing Acumatica Cloud ERP, RK Print has experienced significant improvements across a number of areas within their business:
- Enhanced Inventory Management
- Stock outages have dramatically reduced
- Manufacturing bottlenecks have been eliminated, leading to better production flow
- Previously outsourced components are now manufactured in-house
- Improved Procurement Efficiency
- Automated Purchase Orders have eliminated duplication and ensure timely restocking
- Better Customer Service
- Sales teams now have real-time access to order statuses
- Standardized forms ensure a seamless experience for customers
- Real-Time Business Insights
- Meaningful management data enables faster, smarter decision-making
- Role-based dashboards provide critical business metrics instantly
“It’s like we’d been driving a Ford Escort and now we’re behind the wheel of a Rolls Royce”
The MD’s Final Word
The transition to Acumatica was very much Andy James’ baby. Such a transformation and all of the subsequent changes – whether positive or negative – were always going to be the responsibility of the Managing Director. Andy has no regrets about his decision and it’s only fitting that we end with his words explaining why.
‘The project has been very, very good for business with tangible results, so I would do it again without a doubt.
I now have the tools to identify inefficiencies, and we have already made good inroads into improving performance and driving down manufacturing costs.
It’s like we’d been driving a Ford Escort for years and now we’re behind the wheel of a Rolls Royce. I now find myself wondering how I managed to run this business before Acumatica!
Ready to Transform Your Business with Acumatica?
Contact Applied Business, your trusted Acumatica UK partner, to explore how Acumatica Cloud ERP can revolutionise your operations like it did for RK Print.
Call: 01767 677071
Email: sales@appliedbusiness.co.uk
Visit Us: www.appliedbusinesscloud.co.uk
