Gift Maker Boosts Productivity with MRP Software

Wales-based social enterprise gets its manufacturing organized to a new level thanks to MRPeasy. “We’re able to get orders out much smoother and don’t have holes on the shelves anymore,” says Myddfai’s website manager Paul Long.

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About Myddfai Trading Company

Myddfai Trading Company is a for-profit social enterprise founded 12 years ago in Wales. The company’s business model combines manufacturing luxury toiletries and giftsets with socially responsible staffing practices. Namely, Myddfai has an employment scheme to provide working experience and opportunities for at-risk people from the local community.

The company’s product line comprises a wide range of high-quality toiletries and washing products like soaps, shower gels, body and hand lotions, infused candles, aroma diffusers, and more. All of the products are available in a selection of locally themed fragrances. Myddfai’s goods are available to purchase separately, however, a large portion of sales is also made up of bundled gift packages.

The company has both a trade and a retail output, offering its goods both direct-to-consumer as well as wholesale to B&Bs, gift shops, hotels, etc. Myddfai has 12 full-time employees and an annual turnover exceeding a quarter of a million pounds and growing fast.

Inventory management gone awry pushed a move toward manufacturing software

Starting small in the early 2010s, Myddfai first opted for a paper-based approach to its inventory and production management needs. WooCommerce was implemented a bit later to handle CRM and sales. As volumes gradually grew and the company’s product range expanded, the manufacturing process started getting increasingly complex.

The original production system found its limits within the first years of operation. “It had just been bits of paper on the walls up to that point,” muses Myddfai’s website manager Paul Long.  A key issue was insufficient stock control: “At one point, we had so many partially completed orders that it just became unmanageable.” This resulted in a growing backlist of incomplete orders and lagging delivery lead times.

Overstocking and stockouts also became a problem: “Manufacturing would look at the shelves, see where there were gaps, and craft the required products. But with no knowledge of the turnover or required capacities, they’d fill the shelves with a year’s worth of product which would be just left sitting on the shelf,” Paul explains. Production, therefore, desperately needed a new system and one that would be compatible with WooCommerce.

A capable MRP system addressed the scaling challenges

The initial solution came in the form of manufacturing and inventory management software which Paul implemented himself. This first software was in use for about 12 months, during which Myddfai managed to digitize their bill of materials (BOMs) and routings and automate many parts of the production process.

While it represented a huge leap forward in terms of production and stock control, the first software ultimately proved inadequate to offer Myddfai a complete solution. This was due to lacking proper bundling functionality which was crucial for Myddfai’s giftsets line. It was then that Paul came across MRPeasy.

This cloud-based manufacturing ERP included a capable bundling option and brought other key improvements missing from the previous software, like a more suitable order management and purchasing system. MRPeasy also satisfied Myddfai’s number one prerequisite – a built-in WooCommerce integration.

Productivity on the rise

At first, initial implementation proved a little bit of a challenge because of differences from the previous system. “If you came at it totally cold, it probably would be easier,” Paul notes. Still, after successfully importing the BOMs and routings from the other system, the implementation went quite fast and Paul was able to manage it alone.

The rest of Myddfai’s staff have responded very well to the new software. “MRPeasy tells us what our requirements are and when we create the manufacturing orders, we don’t have to go and tell the manufacturing staff anything, they can simply pull the information from MRPeasy. At the same time, we’re getting flags for stock statuses and can replenish purchases. So, it’s more control,” Paul explains.

Accounting is also very pleased with the new system and Myddfai can report stock value a lot easier than before. Stocktaking has been hugely simplified as MRPeasy reports stock value in real time. Paul adds, “We’ll do a limited physical stock take, but all in all it’s largely automated now.” 

After adopting MRPeasy, Myddfai Trading Company is enjoying a much smoother overall manufacturing process. Having largely overcome its scaling challenges, the Welsh producer is focusing further on growing its clientele and brand.