Plant and Site Services (PSS) was established in 1991 to provide a first class service hiring quality plant and equipment to the pipeline industry. Recent growth has forced the company to ditch its antiquated spreadsheet system in favour of a comprehensive, integrated hire management solution from software specialists MCS.
The Challenge
Since 1991, PSS has grown rapidly to the multi-million pound specialist plant hire company it is today. In the early days, the company kept control of its hire operation with ad hoc spreadsheets monitoring the movement of equipment in and out of hire.
“It was fair to say that we were small enough in the early days to rely on spreadsheets and individual memory of what was where, and when a piece of equipment was due for a service or a maintenance check,” explained Peter Hammill, PSS IT Director. “However, we have since needed to step up the management of our plant and finances as well as our customer relationships capability.”
The Solution
PSS set about reviewing the market for hire management software and short-listed MCS-rm and another leading hire software program before finally deciding on MCS-rm.
MCS-rm is the comprehensive hire management software from MCS. This Windows solution delivers fast, powerful information for improved asset utilisation, faster throughput, greater accuracy and increased customer satisfaction.
“We were impressed with the comprehensive functionality offered by MCS-rm as well as the company’s excellent product knowledge, industry understanding and customer support,” Peter confirmed.
PSS installed the MCS hire management solution integrating it with Sage, their existing financial package. This enabled the plant hire company to aggregate all customer information, including financial information, contract parameters, contact details, hire history and credit limits into one, easy-to-operate system.
“Once the core ‘Hire’ and ‘Contracts’ functionality were in operation, we immediately activated the MCS Customer Web Portal along with the Quotations and Purchase Ordering functions,” Peter added.
The Benefits
Peter confirmed that MCS-rm is used throughout the organisation to co-ordinate plant, control finances and manage customers better.
“For instance, the Hire office will use it to create a quotation based on the customer needs and automatically convert it to a contract,” Peter continued. “They can view at a glance what an active customer has on hire, for how long and what the terms of the contract are. In fact, the system’s ability to automatically convert quotations to contracts saves us time, money and increases our profitability.”
Furthermore, the Accounts department at PSS use the Sage integration to manage and control invoices. This enables them to monitor credit limits, manage paid and unpaid invoices as well as control and pay supplier invoices.
“MCS-rm not only streamlines our accounting procedures, it saves time and makes them more accurate, thus enhancing customer and supplier satisfaction,” Peter verified.
PSS have also used the MCS hire solution to create a Customer Web Portal which allows customers 24/7 access a wide range of information in a secure and controlled environment.
“Customers can log in to view current and past hires, the status of their contracts and their invoice history,” Peter said. “The system encourages customer self-sufficiency and satisfaction. The benefits are vast - from increased sales to reduced time on queries.”
This, Peter claimed, is also a boon for the customer’s accounts people who can now keep better control of their hire situation online. Once logged on to the PSS Customer Web Portal, customers can view invoices and statements, proof of delivery (PoD) and collection notes as well as off-hire equipment without the need to phone PSS to arrange collection dates etc.
The Customer Web Portal helped PSS gain business by enabling access to critical information by a world-leading construction company interested in hiring PSS equipment. Once the details were viewed and the information agreed, the construction company went ahead and pre-authorised three new contracts with PSS.
“Another huge benefit to our organisation is the ‘kit’ functionality within MCS-rm which gives us the flexibility and control to mix and match the components of a hire to meet specific customer requirements,” Peter continued.
The Future
PSS are committed to an on-going relationship with MCS and have plans to activate the Workshop & Maintenance functionality within the system. This will allow the hire company’s workshop to track and manage the BSI calibration dates and the maintenance of their plant, then generate the relevant reports.
“We are planning to integrate the Workshop & Maintenance function with MCS-web so that customers can then search for themselves,” Peter concluded. “Everything we have achieved with MCS has resulted in an improved operation. We are extremely happy with their support and training and look forward to many years of fruitful collaboration.”
To find out how MCS-rm could help your business, call us on +44 (0)1628 828000 or use our enquiry form.
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