Clearview Midlands December 2013 - Issue 145 | Page 40

TIMBER NO IFS AND BUTS Steve Fowler, General Manager at G. Empson & Sons, near Scunthorpe describes the decision to purchase Joinerysoft’s Joinery Management Software (JMS) as essential. He says, “The consistent pricing and visual presentation of the quotes impressed me, but once I realised it could also do CE marking the software became a ‘must’. There were no ifs and buts about it.” The Empson family have been in the timber business since 1840. The present day company uses the same traditional craftsmanship and experience but concentrate on manufacturing high quality joinery products to individual specification. Their product range includes stairs, all types of windows, doors, screens and sliding doors as well as timber products from their merchant timber yard. Personal recommendations by customers bring in sufficient business to keep 16 employees hard at work in a variety of roles and specialising in listed buildings and traditional joinery. Purchasing JMS in April of this year Steve says that with no previous experience of software for joinery and not being computer literate had made him hesitate to do anything about it initially despite seeing it advertised in the trade press. Meeting Joinerysoft’s Managing Director, Alan Turner, at a Leitz Tooling Open Day gave Steve the opportunity to finally see the software in action. He says, “The software was impressive and I knew we really needed the instant pricing.” Steve says customers have responded well to the new style JMS quotations. They now have 40 DEC 2013 a visual of what Empson are offering and there is a list beside it detailing glass, the timber type and finish too. He adds, “It is in black & white for customers. There is no argument at the end of the day.” Pricing all jobs with JMS Steve has seen a reduction of the number of hours he has to spend in the office. He now manages to fit in at least 10-12 hours in the workshop and also manages site visits. Using an in-house system previously to calculate components used and waiting for prices from the glazier meant delays and some quotes being missed out. He says, “Delays in quoting meant missed opportunities as some customers thought we weren’t interested or had forgotten.” Quoting is much simpler now with quotes able to be emailed directly from JMS removing further postage delays and improving response times. Steve confirms, “Quoting is so quick with JMS there is very little paperwork left in the office.” He adds, “JMS has easily saved me 50% of my time and customers are impressed with the clear, visual quotation, which has definitely contributed to winning orders.” Joinerysoft’s trainer, John Berry, spent two days on site getting the software and Steve up to speed. Steve says, “John was brilliant. He certainly knew what he was talking about, including all the ins and outs of manufacturing. It meant that I could fire questions back at him and certainly helped that he was a joiner.” At the end of the two days if Steve didn’t know everything then support was only a telephone call away. Steve adds, “I was in the stone age before purchasing JMS and not very computer literate. I’m nearing 60 years of age but I’ve got there in the end and now I find JMS simple to use.” Benefiting the business overall, JMS provides timber & glass reports and a range of cutting lists to suit every manufacturer. Steve says, “We still produce our windows using the same traditional methods, but the fact that the joiners don’t have to calculate cutting lists themselves is helping. The joiners appreciate the fact that the job is clearly laid out with each item detailed. I don’t have to explain the job as they have the paperwork in front of them. The rough sawn lengths and finished lengths on the cutting list mean the joiners can start the job immediately.” Steve concludes, “We’ve only had JMS for 6 months but it’s the best thing we’ve bought for a while. There are so many things I like about JMS: The speed of pricing, the visual quotations, the automatic cutting lists, u-values and most definitely CE marking. I really don’t know how we would have coped with all the additional legislation without it. Overall we’re very impressed by it.” For G Empson & Sons Ltd, Tel: [phone], www.empson-sons.co.uk, [email protected]. For Joinerysoft Ltd, Tel: [phone], enquiries@joinerysoft. com, www.joinerysoft.com To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com