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When I provided an initial indicative quote to a potential customer recently, the feedback was that it was expensive. On the face of it, this might have been a valid point. But expensive compared with what? Quotes are always measured around a control benchmark. Nothing wrong with that, good practice.

However, it reminds me of an independent bookseller I recently heard interviewed on the radio. I recall that she had banned people from browsing books because they invariably went away and ordered on line. At some stage, she sighed, there would be no independent bookshops left for people to browse in and where would we all then be? I know this from firsthand - a popular bookshop in my local town has just closed down.

Back to my original point, without the expertise of the independent software vendor, who is there to support you now and in the future, how would you know what to buy and whether what you are buying is suitable? Of course, we all have to make a profit and some need more than others because of their business model but just compare the quality of products and the service offered. Same result maybe but a totally different experience.

And you know, it’s very difficult to argue that a paperback is not cheaper than a hardback even though we  know that they are exactly the same, aren’t they?

Following a devastating earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak, MACS sent in reinforcements to get the SCMS (a delivery partner for USAID) warehouse, which despatches vital antiviral drugs, back to full operational capacity.

As a result, Richard Miller (MACS Implementation Director) recently completed a four month stint in Haiti supporting the MACS WMS site.

Richard shared some of his thoughts and experiences with us.........

What stands out the most from your trip?  The people I worked with, an amazing amount of determination even after devastating events.

What proved to be difficult? The most basic things.......often we were left with no electricity and the cost of a basic item in the supermarkets was extortionate!  A lettuce retailed at £8! It was also the rainy and hurricane season. Luckily (apparently) we only had one hurricane!!

What were the highlights: I was formally invited to attend the 40^th Anniversary of MSH (Medical Sciences for Health). This was a high profile island event with the Prime Minister of Haiti and Minister of Health (and me of course!) joining in the celebrations. Unfortunately, the Vice President of the United States could not attend at the last moment.

However, the goodbye party from the warehouse and management team meant the most to me. I was presented with a 2ft x 3 ft cake with the comment “Merci Richard” (see picture attached). 

We wish the team over in Haiti – working very hard in extremely difficult conditions - all the very best.

On behalf of the team here at MACS Software, I would like to wish all of our customers, suppliers and other partners a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

In previous years, we have committed to making charitable donations rather than sending Christmas cards. This year, we were hit particularly hard by the passing away through cancer of a fantastic member of our team and dear friend, Emma Grannell. With other members of our team's families affected by cancer also, we thought it appropriate that our donation this year should go to Cancer Research UK.

Good luck to all in 2012.

Cloudy or clear skies ahead?

There is a lot of debate (not least internally at MACS Software) about the benefits or otherwise of cloud computing or the standard local client/server approach.

Usually, however, the solution proffered as being the best is dictated by the software capability of the vendor extolling the virtues of its wares!

As in any arena, this can obviously lead to an unbalanced comparison.

Irrespective of any technical advantages or disadvantages, the key questions relate to the practicalities of doing business:

·         Am I in control of my own destiny (data/system)? If my vendor goes bust, can I demand return of my data?

·         Servers can always fail, but what is my backup operating procedure and am I comfortable with that?

·         What happens if the internet fails? How would I have coped with the UK-wide BT broadband problem a few weeks ago? What if there is a fire at the software hosting company?

·         What are the costs involved? Not just the software payments (because paying monthly is no different to spreading costs using finance) but the infrastructure costs associated with my chosen method of working.

·         Can I easily change the number of licences I need, short or longer term?

The answer to these questions will be different for individual businesses. That’s why we at MACS Software treat our customers as individuals who have different needs at different times.

And that’s why we provide solutions most suitable for the needs of our customers, rather than forcing across our own ideological dogma.

When you make a significant investment in anything, you want to know that it’s fit for purpose and, as your situation changes, you can carry your investment with you. After all, why would you buy an analogue tv set knowing the digital switchover was imminent!

And why would you buy a digital tv without any future proofing if it were the same price as one that was HD and 3D ready?

This question arose last week when giving a presentation to a company planning for some significant changes and growth to its business.

A number of our customers in recent years have started off as relatively small businesses (less than £10 million turnover and less than 10 MACS users) but in 2012 are expected to hit £100-200 million in turnover and have approximately 5O users. The MACS wms has continually facilitated and supported that growth, whereas the main system issues have surrounded the financial accounting and CRM capability aspects of managing that growth. This has invariably lead to thinking about ERP upgrade.

In the same way, I find it both interesting and disturbing that apparently some warehouse management systems can only cope with, for example, bulk pallets without any concept of pick face or single item picking, or that they were designed for a particular market only (such as 3PL).

As a non-technical person purely looking at the practical processes within the warehouse, I struggle to see why any of the items above would be limiting factors. Sure, there are certain data capture requirements and processes within specific sectors but having a holistic approach to the strategic development of software is surely the best approach. Even some of our existing customers who have increased (or are looking to expand) their e-fulfilment businesses are wary of how they will be able to cope. But in my world there is no difference here to “normal” warehousing procedures and such a direction should not cause undue concern or pressure. From 100 orders per week to 10,000 orders per week, the management of consolidated orders to individual depots with separate billing addresses, “drop ship” orders, the management of consignment stock and demand forecasting/purchase ordering to multi choice couriers, it’s all standard.

And if there is something specifically not available, well it can be soon!

Sometimes I feel that we just don’t shout out loud enough about our achievements!

It’s so easy to concentrate on the negative things in our lives. Is your glass half empty or half full? Standing back and taking an objective view of where you’ve come from, where you are and where you’re going can sometimes be a great leveller.

It’s the same for businesses or individuals. When I look back at how our software has come on in functionality over the years and how it has coped with the ever changing demands of our customers and their customers, I surprise myself. Same goes for our staff.

Yes, I know that things aren’t always perfect and things go wrong occasionally (we’re all human!) but as long as you have the attitude to try and make things better and continually strive for excellence that is a good path to follow. Don’t you agree?

With a hint of Spring in the air and Easter only around the corner, I can't quite believe that we are where we are in the year, so to speak. Companywise, its been a whirlwind of activity so far this year.

The migration of customers to the Windows-based MACS Bond module continues apace, hopefully being complete in the next month or so. Following on from the new MACS Dashboard, our super-brained technical team are steadfastly engaged in the transfer of our class leading functionality into a class leading, superior user experience. Certainly by the end of the year our customers will be introduced to the next generation of MACS software solutions!

In the year to date, we've started the phased replacement of legacy systems (belonging to another supplier) in a leading third party logistics provider (installing a combination of both paper-based and rf systems across two warehouses) and the implementation of rf-MACS (interfacing with SAP) in a leading manufacturer and distributor of cement, bitumen and resin products. One of our existing customers has also taken the opportunity to improve its operational efficiency by upgrading to rf-MACS from a paper-based system.

I think the action being taken reflects the mood of many of our customers (and our own views) that now is the time to really stand out from the crowd by investing in better technology for more efficient process, easier access to key management information and reduced costs. That's why we, in addition to the massive investment in our own software solutions, are also in the process of working towards ISO 9001 accreditation. With the arrival of new project management and helpdesk systems also, we are in no doubt that our investment will benefit us and our customers for years to come. 

I'm really pleased with the simplicity of our new Dashboard module. Its's so easy to use, yet an extremely powerful management information tool. Its been specifically designed to communicate critical information to users at a glance, often by distilling inherently complex data down to a summary level, which can in turn be drilled-down on for more detail as necessary.

Dashboard can summarise and analyse information in a series of graphs, charts, speedometers and KPIs, enabling both decision makers and other personnel to access key information.

The addition of the Dashboard to our management reporting product suite is an exciting new development as we continue to improve the functionality of our systems to offer world class, value for money solutions to our clients.

On behalf of the team here at MACS Software, I would like to wish all of our customers, suppliers and other partners a very happy Christmas and, most of all given the recent downturn, a prosperous new year. Thank you all for your continued support.

In previous years, we have committed to making charitable donations rather than sending Christmas cards. In particular, we have made longer term commitments to the sponsorship of specific communities (in Haiti and Uganda) through ActionAid (www.actionaid.org.uk). We propose to do something similar this year.

By the way, for those of you who take an interest in the Chinese calendar, 2011 (year of the rabbit) should be a placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the tiger. We should all go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year. Does that sound familiar!?

Good luck to all.

Our own Simon Pennelegion has been pondering the relevance of cloud computing to the future of warehouse management. He has just had an article issued in Logistics Business magazine, which I thought we would share with a wider audience. I hope you find it an interesting contribution to the current debate taking place.

P1.pdf (950.55 kb)

P2.pdf (1.31 mb)

With the clocks turning back recently, it seems that the MACS team are literally locked into the office from dawn to dusk! The summer holidays now seem a distant memory. And while the economic downturn has unfortunately taken its toll on a lot of individuals and companies, many of our customers are financially and operationally quite strong (with a little help from us!) and taking advantage in uncertain markets. Some are investing in additional MACS functionality and technology to make things more efficient, whilst others are sweeping up competitors. By the time we get to Christmas, we will have implemented nine new systems since August!

In amongst all this, we've invested heavily in additional staff to ensure that our own internal development plans continue, as well as those of our customers. In particular, I'm looking forward to offering our new management information dashboard to customers in the new year. This will just be the start of a number of new and improved features we'll be releasing throughout 2011.

I think everyone will deserve a break this Christmas!

In October 2009, MACS Software expanded its business by acquiring the intellectual property rights to Solo4 (previously System Lynx) software. As a result, MACS Software’s comprehensive suite of logistics modules now includes an HMRC authorised bonded warehousing solution.

Significant developments are currently being made to the MACS bond module to allow our customers to comply with the new European Union Excise Movements Control System (EMCS) regulations.

In a nutshell, EMCS replaces the current paper driven systems used to control the movement of relevant goods (beer, wines & spirits) between locations within the EU.

The new electronic regulations are being phased in two stages. Phase 1, which went live on 1st April, 2010, allows the MACS Bond module to receive details of expected receipts from other EU states and then transmit actual receipts (including any discrepancies) back to HMRC. Also included is the facility to report electronically movements between customs warehouses.

Final specifications for the second phase of changes are still awaited from HMRC but these must be in place by 1st January, 2011. These changes will facilitate electronic declarations to (and acceptance from) EMCS of movements under bond to approved premises in the UK and EU.

MACS Software currently has six bond management customers in the UK.

Having just had five of our staff over in Uganda undertaking post implementation reviews of our ARV aid distribution sites in Kampala and Entebbe, we know how passionate the Ugandans are about their football. Its just a real shame that that the joy the World Cup brought to Africa was tarnished by the bomb blasts.

We believe that our friends and colleagues over there are safe but our sympathies go out to all those affected.

On the football front, I have to say that one of my favourite matches throughout the tournament was Uruguay vs. Ghana. I think that, once the penalty for the deliberate hand ball was missed, the game could only go one way due to the psychological affects on the players. Only another four years to go...........

Over the last year, we've been talking to existing and potential new customers alike about our web site and exploring how we could make it even more informative and specific to their needs. I'm pleased to announce that the new web site, incorporating all your feedback, has now gone live and we hope that it provides a rich resource for everyone to learn about MACS Software, our significant experience in a variety of sectors and how we can help you improve your business efficiency and save money! We hope you like it! Thanks to everyone who contributed and, as always, we continue to value your ongoing feedback.

MACS Software has purchased the Intellectual Property rights of all software developed by Solo 4 Systems Limited and Solo 4’s customer base. Solo 4 technology offers MACS Software a number of complementary modules to add to its comprehensive solutions portfolio. The new technology runs on Windows and UNIX platforms and supports bonded warehousing, automated service billing, transport and load build, production and rework control and internet/web based ordering, tracking and stock maintenance.

Recent implementations of this technology have included bonded warehouses, cold stores, raw material and finished goods / production control facilities, single and multi depot transport and warehouse operations and management of the London Weekend Television Film Library in a sophisticated RF environment at their London-based HQ.

Commenting on the acquisition, Tony Liddar, Managing Director of MACS Software, said “The Acquisition of the software technologies from Solo 4 complements MACS extensive range of product in Warehouse Management Systems and enables MACS Software to continue its international growth strategy, making it the number one choice for customers wanting a highly flexible, value for money, easy to use and functionally rich warehouse management system.” He continued, “Solo 4 customers will benefit from the broader range of products available following the acquisition as well as access to MACS Software’s extensive software development programme and enhanced support services”.

Solo 4’s software origins lie in a HM Customs & Excise (now HMRC) system initially designed by System Lynx Ltd. for Hays Distribution in 1980. It was the first Bond Management system recognised by HMC&E for providing all relevant documentation and duty revenue controls. Since then, the system has been further developed to include standard warehouse management functionality. The name System Lynx remained until August 2007, when it was changed to Solo 4 Systems.