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Using Mertex: what it means for employees rather than management – A day in the life series
Jodie, Sales Office Administrator at Gordon John Textiles
There are often case studies published detailing changes made and how they have affected a business’s productivity or bottom line. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this at all (you can read our full case study for Gordon John here), we thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate how our Mertex ERP software has impacted an employee’s working day. In this case, Jodie’s.
Jodie works in the busy sales office at the Gordon John mill in Heckmondwike. Her days mostly consist of inputting and processing orders, allocating stock, and answering phone call or email enquiries from customers (often about stock availability or order status).
These main aspects of her role have been improved since the implementation of Mertex.
Gordon John’s main customers can now input orders themselves using EDI processes – this has meant Jodie has not needed to enter these orders manually, which not only saves her time, but also reduces the chance of errors.
Jodie can easily track and monitor order progress, which makes answering customer enquiries almost instant. What great customer service! When Jodie does need to input orders manually, Mertex has made this faster and simpler due to being able to check stocks instantly (and know that these levels are accurate) as well as reserving stock while the order is being entered.
The ability to see the piece sizes in the product balance of the fabrics we have in stock has helped hugely in being able to give our customers quick and accurate information and has ensured we are able to allocate stock to orders. This has given us more control in how the fabric is being used, creating less waste. The modern customer wants instant and accurate replies to their queries, and Mertex really helps us meet this expectation.
JodieSales Office Administrator, Gordon John Textiles
In addition to the advantages demonstrated above, Jodie finds the shortcut link icons at the left of the Mertex screen to be far more efficient in finding information. In her previous software, she would have had to save her work, come out of that screen to open another, then save that in order to re-enter the first screen. The integrated keyboard shortcuts within Mertex have also been valuable to her in terms of time saving and ease of use. These include:
• /PB (Product Balance – a fast way to view stock information)
• /SO (Sales Order Status – displays details of a sales order)
• /CO (Customer’s Order – displays all orders for a single customer by date)
• /SOE (Sales Order Line Enquiry – sales for a SKU with lots of filter options available)
• /SI (Sales Invoice – A fast way to view a customer invoice)
• /CON (Control Desk – A fast way to the Made To Measure dashboard)
• /POE (Purchase Order Enquiry – view POs in detail)
The time savings experienced by Jodie has meant that her talents can be utilised for more human-orientated tasks and taking on more responsibility. Her days are more varied and interesting and less stressful.
Learning how to use the ERP software wasn’t difficult. It all just makes sense. Even the reporting function is easy to grasp once you use it a few times. In my opinion, Mertex is a good system for both operational staff and management.
JodieSales Office Administrator, Gordon John Textiles