Gate Driver Manufacturer Eliminates Component Shortages

English power electronics company Poweronics implemented software to get control over their inventory and improve the customer experience. “We’ve never had a material shortage after adopting MRPeasy,” says Colin Hart, Managing Director.

Producing gate drivers for high-power applications

Poweronics is a power electronics company based in St. Neots, England, dedicated to designing and manufacturing gate drivers used in power conversion systems. Their flagship products enable efficient and reliable control of IGBTs (Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors) and Silicon Carbide MOSFETs, critical components in power converters for modern high-power and high-availability applications.

The company emerged from a management buyout in October 2022, when its current head of operations acquired the product division of a UK-based company called Amantys Power Electronics. Founded in 2010, Amantys had established a strong foothold in the power electronics industry, but its product division had become misaligned with its new parent company’s focus. The buyout ensured the continuity of the product line and a fresh start under the Poweronics name, carrying forward over a decade of expertise while forging a new path.

Although their primary focus is on manufacturing their proprietary products, Poweronics also does bespoke contract manufacturing projects. Their boutique, low-volume, high-value approach ensures delivery of tailored solutions for clients with specific and demanding needs.

With a dedicated team of 10 professionals supported by flexible contracted partners, Poweronics supplies its products to several high-power sectors, including energy production, storage, and traction transport.

Software was needed to manage the intricate products

Early on, Poweronics made the strategic decision to in-source the manufacturing for some of its products, moving to a hybrid approach of in-house and subcontracting. The team felt, however, that this significant shift needed to be supported by manufacturing management software.

“Our product portfolio uses around 1200 components that need to be controlled,” says Colin. “As we were previously not fully exposed to the manufacturing side, this was quite daunting at first.”

The company went through a lot of trouble initially implementing a system with good reviews and customer case studies. However, a number of shortcomings in key areas such as support and core product knowledge made the onboarding process with them very challenging,” Colin says. 

Functionality was the priority in software selection

The team then started looking for a new system that would integrate with their accounting software. MRPeasy was among the products identified in the search. According to Colin, the system’s workflow and suitability for a small team took first priority in the selection.

“We didn’t need to set up the shiniest MRP system; rather, we needed something that was practical and let the business operate smoothly.” 

Apart from core functionality like inventory management and manufacturing orders, Colin needed to make sure that the software made the company look presentable and reliable from the customer’s point of view, so quotations and invoices needed to be well presented and consistent.

“I looked at the sales orders and how they are presented to the customer, how easy quoting was,” he says. “Ultimately, business is all about helping a customer but also making the commercial activities as frictionless as possible.

The new system took 3 hours to set up

Poweronics started a free trial in August 2023 and wanted to go live in only a month because their accounting year ended in September. “The implementation was very straightforward—setting up MRPeasy only took me about three hours,” Colin says, “that’s 1500 SKU lines, all the bills of materials, existing Sales orders, Purchase Orders, Manufacturing Orders, everything!”

The thought of changing the software system used to manage the whole operation did not make the team exceedingly happy at first. However, after walking the team through the new system and its functions, Colin found the team’s buy-in was forthcoming. 

No more shortages, quick quoting, and less confusion

After implementing the new system, Poweronics has nearly total control over its inventory. This has resulted in full confidence in what the system says the company can build with the components on hand. In addition, when an order comes in, the team can instantly see what extra materials and components must be procured to build a product.

“We’ve never had a shortage after adopting MRPeasy,” Colin says. “All the components that the software says are in the warehouse – are in the warehouse. It seems obvious and straightforward, but with inventory discrepancies, production can be delayed very quickly.”

The company’s customer experience has also improved significantly, especially when it comes to quoting. According to Colin, responding to quote requests has become much quicker thanks to the system’s ability to pull information from across the entire operation, including cost and inventory data. 

“Now, our customer experience is fantastic; we can get quotes out very quickly,” he says.

Another great benefit he appreciates is how the manufacturing orders within MRPeasy help production workers understand what needs to be built. In addition, production-related financial data is now easily accessible to accountants.

“My accounting team loves MRPeasy because it feeds numbers straight into our accounting system,” he says.

Colin states that the lack of things going wrong is probably the best measure of the benefits MRPeasy has brought into the company. While challenges still occur, as in any business, areas of the company that are managed using MRPeasy work like a well-oiled machine.

“I’d definitely say MRPeasy is a strong contender for any business looking at MRP or manufacturing ERP software,” he concludes.

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