Productivity comes from people and re-investing in new technology, not standing still
Family-Owned Business Brandauer Shows How They Have Reinvented Their Productivity
Brandauer is a family-owned business dating back to 1862 that has gone through many good times as well as many hard times. As with many businesses that form the backbone of manufacturing and engineering in the UK, they may not be a household brand name, but they are present, if unseen (and unsung), in our everyday lives. Brandauer can boast that 80% of houses contain one of their kettle or plumbing components. In addition, a staggering 55% of cars worldwide host examples of theirprecision parts. Brandauer exports 75% of its products, with China being its major market.
“You will have relied on a Brandauer part if you are in a car and your mirror has auto-adjusted due to dazzle from the cars lights behind”
So how has this company, based close to Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter originally making steel pen nibs, reinvented itself to be cutting-edge and competitive today as one of Europe’s leading independent high-precision metal component specialist? Productivity has always been critical in manufacturing, and Brandauer have been quick to recognise that they need to constantly improve productivity and look for new ways to make marginal gains to benefit their business.
“Productivity comes from people and re-investing in new technology, not standing still” Rowan Crozier, Chief Executive at Brandauer
Their most recent investment in productivity has been in the software to run their financials and manufacturing operations. Brandauer was being run using manually updated spreadsheets and an old manufacturing software package, rather than a modern business software solution. Incredibly,
month end reporting was taking them 2 weeks to complete. With determined leadership and strong growth ambitions, Brandauer took the decision to modernise their financials and operations and engaged, Wolverhampton-based Microsoft partner, Technology Management to help them.
Brandauer now use Microsoft Dynamics NAV for finance, manufacturing, production planning, warehousing and management reporting/KPI’s, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM for account and contact management, lead management and scoring, opportunity management, quality management (i.e.
case management) and also estimating (with integration to Dynamics NAV for accurate tooling and production costs). With this work they will have completely re-engineered and simplified their business – productivity could be 30% higher than it was at its previous peak before the 2008 recession.
In the words of their MD, Rowan Crozier “It was not an IT project, but a business simplification project."
The experience within Brandauer echoes the passion that Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has for reinventing productivity and business processes. In Satya’s blog - Office 2016: Reinventing productivity and business processes - he describes how solutions that change business processes are a catalyst to organizational productivity.
Manufacturing is a business driven by productivity and in a recent survey by The Manufacturer, more than four-fifths (84%) of respondents have indicated that they need to improve productivity in the nextsix months if they are to achieve their growth plans. See The Manufacturer article: Productivity puzzle still a challenge for smaller manufacturers
Maybe the start of that productivity improvement journey, as Brandauer found, is to start by looking at business processes.
Find out more how Microsoft Dynamics NAV can simplify your business and increase your productivity: