Established in 1897 by the Sachs family, Saxon is now one of the oldest and longest surviving brands of electric and solar domestic hot water systems in the country. For an Australian owned and operated family business to have weathered the storm for 108 years they must have some secrets for success…

Direct involvement from the Sachs family has been a significant factor in this success and when you talk to Michael Sachs, (IT Director, Peter Sachs Industries Pty Ltd), another secret is revealed…It is foresight!

Point in case, twelve years ago Michael Sachs personally recognised the need to upgrade an ageing IBM System 32 and implement a modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in his manufacturing, warehouse and accounting operations and this was even before the ERP boom. Sachs evaluated SYSPRO along with a number of competing ERP packages such as SAP and Mfg Pro, with the result that he selected and implemented the modestly priced, world-leading SYSPRO ERP into Saxon.

Fifteen years on Sachs is still up-grading SYSPRO modules, re-training staff in new enhancements and re-educating himself on what are the latest and most advanced solutions available to ensure the family business continues running for another 100 years.
 
According to Mr Michael Sachs the secret is for Saxon to lead the way in all aspects of technology whether it is automation, information or the latest improvements in ERP.
 
With Sachs’ first-rate knowledge and understanding of the software he has personally experienced the evolution of SYSPRO with all its improvements and re-designs to make it what it is today.

“Saxon implemented the ERP system in about 1993 and started with what was then known as ‘Impact Award 3.1’. Shortly after, we migrated to ‘Impact Award 3.2’.  Both versions used character based menus running on Wyse monochrome terminals and the server software ran on a SCO UNIX platform. About eight years ago it was re-designed and improved and re-named ‘Impact Encore’. This version used Windows client PCs instead of the Wyse monitors and this system eventually evolved into what we know today as SYSPRO V6.” Mr Sachs said.

“SYSPRO V6. has well designed enquiry screens and runs on Windows Server 2003 with the clients running a mix of Windows 2000 or XP.  SYSPRO has also evolved as technology and business processes have changed over recent years. New modules and enhancements have incorporated electronic trading capabilities such as EFT and B2B and the software has become extensible with the adoption of XML and .NET technologies.  The beauty of SYSPRO is that it is modular in design, so small and medium sized businesses can ‘grow’ their modules when they grow, or their business processes evolve or change. SYSPRO is always enhancing and improving their system and we receive regular updates and newsletters that allow us to keep abreast of the changes as well.”

Saxon was the first client for SYSPRO in Queensland and the major reason that he has stayed with them for so long is due to the assistance and support he receives continually from SYSPRO's implemention partner, ProActive Integrators.

According to Sachs just having ProActive Integrators based in Queensland is a tremendous selling tool for SYSPRO. “Between the two principals of the ProActive Integrators, Colin Davidson, and founder Sean Simpson, they have approximately 45 years of combined experience implementing SYSPRO."

SYSPRO ERP software is a fully integrated business solution that gives Saxon complete control over the planning and management of all facets of their manufacturing plant and company operations including: manufacturing, accounting, inventory and distribution. Saxon utilises fourteen SYSPRO modules within their operations.

“Whether it is requirements planning, bill of materials or simply tracking our business processes Saxon can achieve it all as real time information via SYSPRO. We no longer have to manually do the ‘big nasty calculations’ when we need to re-order stock items as the system does it all for us. We know at all times what we have in stock, what is on back-order, what is being used for a job and what is being shipped out the door.” Mr Sachs said.

Examples of how ProActive Integrators worked alongside Saxon is when Sachs needed to sell solar system components (water heater and panels) combined as a kit as well as separately as spare parts. They had differing and specific requirements on how these various components were to be presented and priced during invoicing, how they were grouped or combined for forecasting and sales analysis reports, and how work orders needed to be placed on the factory floor. This involved changing a series of set-up parameters in quite a few modules and testing the result of these combinations was potentially very time consuming. PI suggested ways that the SYSPRO standard set-up parameters could be set to adapt to Saxon’s manufacturing needs.

“ProActive ran a series of tests on various configurations of options and basically came up with a spreadsheet that defined the different set-up parameter combinations, together with their different effects on the total system, and found the solution we needed which saved us a lot of time and headaches” Mr Sachs said.

With access to easy-to-view, real-time information, Saxon can leverage SYSPRO software to respond rapidly to changing circumstances, react quickly to customer demands, reduce operating costs through streamlined processes and workflow automation. Because the SYSPRO ERP system can extend the enterprise with sophisticated CRM, APS and e-commerce functionality, Saxon can easily extend control to its entire supply chain.

With a foundation of leading-edge technology, SYSPRO software enables Saxon to reap the rewards of a more efficient manufacturing operation.
“My secret?  Life would be much harder running an efficient modern manufacturing company without SYSPRO.” Mr Sachs said.