How Dunlop Systems & Components gained full transparency and traceability with Priority ERP

By 2018, DSC's senior management recognized that their legacy ERP was no longer fit for purpose. Maintenance costs had escalated, data accuracy was poor, and the built-in MRP engine failed to generate reliable plans. Specific pain points included:

• An inflexible system architecture that made even small changes costly
• Bills of materials and routing data riddled with inaccuracies, leading to mispriced products
• A manual, spreadsheet-driven approach to project management that offered no real visibility
• Disconnected reporting tools that forced executives to compile performance snapshots by hand
• Lack of formal inventory controls, with raw materials and finished goods difficult to track in real time

With plans to expand production, introduce shop-floor PDA data collection, bar-coding, and live production reporting, DSC needed a robust, flexible ERP that could be adapted to its multi-company manufacturing environment.

In partnership with Medatech UK, DSC selected Priority ERP for its modular design, user-friendly interface, and total cost of ownership. The implementation followed three core streams:

1. Data & process redesign

• • Cleaned and restructured the chart of accounts, bills of materials, and routings.
• • Time-studied all operations to establish accurate standard times and costs.
• • Defined new workflows for production, logistics, and project management within a single ERP platform.

2. System configuration & integration

• Embedded the project-management module directly in Priority ERP, eliminating stand-alone tools.
• Built executive dashboards and drill-downs with the embedded BI module and Microsoft Outlook integration.
• Implemented FIFO and lot-control rules for both raw materials and finished products.

3. Training & self-service enablement

• Conducted accelerated, role-based training to bring finance, engineering, and operations teams up to speed.
• Empowered super-users to configure screens, reports, barcode labels, and mobile-PDA workflows without external assistance.

After go-live, DSC realized a fully unified ERP environment that addressed every legacy weakness:

Enhanced project management

Project budgets, tasks, and schedules now run entirely within Priority ERP. Engineering teams gain live visibility into project costs and progress, and non-engineering departments see real-time updates.

Executive reporting

Senior management accesses up-to-the-minute dashboards and KPI drill-downs without manual data exports. Monthly performance reviews that once took days now require just a few clicks.

Accurate costing & pricing

Clean BOM and routing data, combined with time-studied operations, deliver precise cost roll-ups. Product margins can be calculated instantly, eliminating manual spreadsheet errors and mispriced orders.

Inventory traceability

Both raw materials and finished goods follow strict FIFO and lot-control procedures. Every component is fully traceable from receipt through production to dispatch, supporting quality audits and recall readiness.

Operational agility

Purchase-planning and MRP processes run on reliable master data, reducing stock imbalances and ensuring materials arrive just in time. Future plans for shop-floor PDAs, bar-coding, and live production reporting are now fully supported.