Direct Mail Firm's Investment Streamlines Systems

CMM Group, the GBP30m turnover communications and mailing company, has concluded GBP0.4 million of investment in new IT and hardware.

CMM Group, the GBP30m turnover communications and mailing company, has concluded GBP0.4 million of investment in new IT and hardware.

The new systems are designed to streamline the flow of management and operational information, and to increase CMM's production capacity.

The group has also invested in an ERP system, as well as additional folding and polywrapping hardware.

CMM said that following its acquisition of Pims National at the start of 2006, and the rapid growth of its international mail consolidation service Fastpost launched last year, the organisation has successfully integrated group operations and management.

However, the process soon revealed client demand for the full range of CMM Group services.

The group, therefore, decided to invest further in operational and management information systems to support co-ordinated account management for multi-service clients.

The group has invested in a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to consolidate all of its business functions in to one system.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV now takes the five previous systems that performed financial accounting, job management, and shop floor processes, and runs all their tasks off one platform.

Previously, because of discrete legacy IT, the group ran as a series of individual businesses.

Now, with a single group-wide system, management can access high quality data from across the group and unified account management is supported by consolidated data on multi-service clients, claimed CMM.

Alastair Maclean, CMM's group operations director and its co-founder, commented: "Previously our businesses operated with their own P and L, and information was consolidated only at the group top-line level.

This is a natural process when either a new line of business is proving its sustainability, or an acquired business is proving its value.

However, with clients increasingly asking us to provide several services, there is a need for absolutely seamless account management, and that requires a single data view.

We need to continue to deliver on the brand promise that CMM represents." He continued: "Another key benefit is that management has access to real-time data and visibility of what's happening across the entire business.

We now have the capability to decide exactly where to place a specific piece of work.

Previously jobs could only be scheduled within each site." And he added: "Now, we have the means to schedule at a macro-level across the whole group and the ability to look at planned orders and assess where best to carry them out.

By looking at what we're doing, how we are doing it and why we are doing it, we can improve our service levels and potentially develop new products." In response to its rapid expansion, CMM said it has also made additional investments in hardware capabilities.

Its polywrapping division, Alphamail, has invested in on-line camera systems on its polythene wrapping machines to enhance its security and tracking standards.

The new cameras allow Alphamail to record the sequential numbers on every document that is wrapped.

If a number is missing the machine automatically stops, allowing staff to investigate the matter, it is said.

Don Green, managing director of Alpha Mail, commented: "Monitoring the production line has been done manually for years and is very labour intensive.

Financial reporting and statements always have to be processed to a very high standard.

The cameras, which can read either face up or down on our machines, now enable us to automate the whole process resulting in the capacity to handle more reporting and financial accounts work." CMM National, the group's direct mailing division, has invested in a new MB Multimaster 38 folder to support the growth of its transactional mailing business.

Electronic set-up allows the plates to set themselves automatically once an operator has keyed in the size of the paper and the fold, said the company.

The MB Multimaster 38 also has continuous feed capability, a camera and an accumulator.

It reads information on every mailing piece and then collates and audits the correct number of pages before folding them, in one process.

Kevin Semple, the managing director of CMM National, commented: "Clients such as banks and building societies require 100 per cent validation of their mailings because of issues such as identity theft and data protection, which can be headline news these days.

The automated set-up and non-stop reading facility will speed up the process and improve security for our mailings.

It will also reduce mis-feeds and mis-inserts to zero.

Additionally, we can download the results of the folding process onto disk to give to the client for their peace-of-mind.".

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