When UK firm Evolution Packaging Products (EPP) decided to update their order and warehouse management system, they decided to go with companies that specialise in what they’re best at – so they chose Unleashed Inventory Management and Prospect CRM.
And EPP’s operations director James Turton says the decision has paid off.
“At the outset it might look a little bit more expensive,” he says, “but the time-saving – because the software actually does what it should do – and the ease of use, you just can’t beat it.”
We asked James why EPP chose Unleashed and Prospect – and how they’ve improved efficiency as the business has expanded to include sustainable food-to-go products under the Naturepac brand.
Barcoding out of the box
With EPP’s old inventory system, managing warehouse stock was slow-going because it didn’t include barcode-scanning functionality. So Prospect recommended Unleashed.
“We wanted to increase efficiency out in our warehouse, and reduce errors,” James says, “and barcode scanning was one of the major things we were looking for, and Unleashed did that out of the box.”
With Prospect and Unleashed, orders come through automatically to EPP's warehouse, where staff use the barcoding system to make sure they pick the right stock in the right place.
“They barcode-scan it to make sure they’ve picked the right thing – because we’ve got lots of things out there that are very similar.”
Invoicing in minutes instead of hours
EPP’s Unleashed-Prospect integration doesn’t just save time in the warehouse, either.
After goods are picked to fulfil orders, invoicing is now a bulk process that can be done at the end of the day – which James says takes the process from hours to minutes.
“In the old system it could take an hour or two hours, whereas now it takes a minute or two. I mean, it’s just a massive time-saving.”
Specialised software – integrated for maximum efficiency
By integrating specialised software products that ‘talk’ to each other, EPP now has a robust order fulfilment process.
There’s no risk of problems like stock being allocated twice, for example.
“Having Unleashed and Prospect CRM integrated enables Prospect CRM to see the stock that Unleashed has, and the available stock – not just what we have in stock, but the available stock.’
Other information such as special pricing that is applied on the customer level is also shared between the two systems, meaning error-free and quicker transactions.
Overall, James is impressed by how easy to use Unleashed is while managing their complex needs.
As he puts it: “Unleashed comes into its own by its simplicity – but it’s powerful.”
