Kem Edwards

The company deals primarily with construction sites, so whilst there are around 400 customers in total, each has a large number of sites. This gives rise to a substantial number of delivery addresses that are always changing as sites close and new ones are opened.

“For us, the biggest strength of Maginus is undoubtedly the tremendous flexibility in reporting. Goods are ordered from the sites by site managers but their HQs need to retain control. With Maginus, we are able to give them whatever information they want, in pretty much any format i.e. by site, product group, product etc. This includes KPIs e.g. how many deliveries have been completed first time, the number of deliveries per order etc. This is a unique selling point for our company.”

Kem Edwards also uses KPIs to measure and improve customer service within their own business, using Maginus to help them identify problem areas which can then be addressed and corrected.

Pricing at Kem Edwards is incredibly complicated. The basic price is based on the manufacturers’ list price where available, but specific discounts are negotiated with each customer creating individual customer price lists. In addition, each customer also has a list of products tailored to meet their specific requirements. Maginus handles this in Sales Order Entry by first looking for a customer special price and then going to the discount matrix.

“Pricing used to be a real headache for us. With 15,000 stocked products from several hundred suppliers, in addition to the customer specific price lists, it used to be a major administrative burden to keep the data up-to-date. With Maginus, we use the data-load facilities to instantly update the system with the latest products, product details and price changes. As well as reducing our admin. overheads, our sales people can rely on prices which are up-to-the-minute. In fact, as our business has grown, it would be difficult to manage without the dataload facility”

As part of the Kem Edwards commitment to service, customers know they can ring and order products that are non stock items, previously not supplied by Kem and still get delivery inside 48 hours. On average they receive orders for 20 new products each day, which have to be sourced and delivered and that’s quite a tall order. “Contractors often call us when they have an urgent requirement for an unusual product which if they don’t get, would stop work on site. They trust us to get the new products to them quickly and at the right price. Again, Maginus is a significant component in delivering this service.”

Kem Edwards has both an internal and external sales force with 8 staff in the call centre taking around 200 orders per day. “The ability to find information quickly is one of the great strengths of Maginus. In fact the search facilities are fantastic and allow our sales staff to enter orders quickly and efficiently. They can also find the answer to customer queries easily, which is another great help in our endeavour to beat the competition in terms of the service we deliver to our customers”.

Kem Edwards has mobile field sales representatives and is investigating the use of ‘Pocket Maginus’ to further enhance the sales process. ‘Pocket Maginus’ delivers key functionality to PDA devices allowing the sales reps to take orders and access information such as credit limits etc in real time.

Kem Edwards has become more proactive, with plans to move into new markets and exploit new channels to market. Part of this plan is the recent move into prefabricated assembly of stock components. This new initiative offer customers an additional service and is a value-added service for Kem.

Maginus has handled this new initiative with ease. “We have a number of plans to move our business forward, and I am confident that Maginus can handle all of the new initiatives planned”.

Kem Edwards appreciates the benefits of customer service. They obviously also expect excellent customer service from their own suppliers and Maginus is no exception. “We have used Maginus since 2001 been delighted with the support we have received. If there is a problem it gets sorted out quickly and we haven’t had a moments’ un-planned down time”.