Industry:
Manufacturing, Wholesale & Distribution
Country:
United Kingdom
Website:
https://www.carrs-tool.co.uk/
Partner:
Medatech UK
Carrs Tool Steels is a specialized steel and aluminum stockholder serving the tool-making industry, with a heritage within the steel industry spanning more than a century. The company processes large steel and aluminum stock into smaller, precision-cut pieces, performing both in-house machining and subcontracted work to supply manufacturers and tool makers with the exact materials they need for their operations.
Carrs Tool Steels provides a comprehensive range of conventional, special high-performance, and extreme high-performance tool steels, along with aluminum and powder metallurgy products. The company differentiates itself through rapid overnight delivery on standard orders, a specialized ready-milled service offering blocks machined on all six faces to precise engineering tolerances, exceptional product presentation and documentation with total traceability, and industry-leading technical advice and support that leverages their century of steel industry expertise.
“Priority has produced a sea of change in how profitable the company is. We continue to invest in not only our ERP but wider technologies such as handheld devices on the shop floor… to improve our staff's productivity.”
Mark Mullaly, Systems Manager at Carrs Tool Steels
Mark Mullaly, Systems Manager at Carrs Tool Steels, explains the fundamental issues facing the business: “We faced two critical issues: business processes that were mostly inside the head of our production manager and an inability to get an accurate picture of the business at any one time. This led to our realization that the business needed investment to grow.”
The company's paper-based processes created significant operational constraints. Critical production knowledge existed only in one person's mind, creating vulnerability and making it impossible to scale operations or ensure consistency. Management lacked real-time visibility into business performance, preventing data-driven decision-making and strategic planning.
To compensate for these process inadequacies, Carrs maintained significant inventory levels to avoid customer service problems and mitigate the impact of inaccurate delivery dates. This inventory burden tied up working capital and warehouse space while masking underlying operational inefficiencies.
Additionally, the company struggled to track work performed off-site by subcontractors and special services provided to suppliers, creating billing inaccuracies and revenue leakage. The inability to accurately charge for value-added services meant Carrs was limited to simple weight-based pricing, leaving significant revenue on the table for the specialized processing and machining services they provided.
Carrs Tool Steels partnered with Priority Software and Medatech UK to implement a flexible, customizable ERP solution that could adapt to their specific business requirements.
Priority's platform provided the critical balance Carrs needed. Mark Mullaly, Systems Manager at Carrs Tool Steels explains: “Compared to a lot of the competition, I found Priority so much easier to use and that I could understand it quicker. While Medatech did an excellent job teaching me parts of the system, I did not have to become an ERP or Priority Software expert to get the most from our investment.”
Priority enabled Carrs to rapidly create new modules tailored to their business needs without extensive programming expertise or external consultancy costs.
As Andy Eastwood, Managing Director of Carrs Tool Steels remarks: “The main reason we chose Priority is because it was a system termed 'out-of-the-box' but which we could do some major development with. We felt that our working systems needed some development but likewise we wanted to start on day one with a very similar feel to how we use a system as our old operating system, and Priority gave us the best choice of out of the box and the ability to make changes.”
Mark Mullaly emphasizes the business value: “This is important for two reasons: Firstly, the software has become more cost-effective. Secondly, I could implement the new software while maintaining ongoing operations.” The ability to deploy without disrupting business operations eliminated costly downtime and revenue loss.
Priority provided seamless integration across all departments. According to Andy Eastwood, “The major benefits are the management tools, but basically because the whole system is completely integrated, every department uses Priority. It just means that the workflow is seamless.”
“We've been in contact with Medatech since the day we went live with the system,” says Andy Eastwood. “Our systems manager Mark Mullally is in contact with Medatech as much as we need to be, and I believe that every incarnation of Priority has been installed and upgraded with no problem.”
Priority ERP's implementation delivered transformative operational improvements and positioned Carrs Tool Steels to navigate unprecedented challenges while opening new revenue opportunities. Carrs Tool Steels achieved what Mark Mullaly describes as “a sea of change in how profitable the company is” through Priority ERP implementation. The company transformed from weight-based commodity pricing to accurate process-based charging, enabling profitable new services like ready-milled blocks that created competitive advantage. When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, Priority's flexibility allowed overnight deployment of remote access across the organization, ensuring business continuity while competitors struggled. The company successfully navigated pandemic challenges, Brexit complications, and supply chain disruptions using Priority's integrated platform for decision-making and operational adaptation. Carrs continues investing in Priority and related technologies including handheld shop floor devices to further improve productivity.
When the pandemic hit on March 23, 2020, Carrs faced an immediate crisis. Mark Mullaly recalls: “At the start of March 2020, no one in the company other than me had remote access to Priority. Overnight we needed different on-site access for the production staff still on-site and remote access for office staff working from home.”
Only systems manager had remote access
Complete remote access for entire office staff working from home
All office staff worked on-premise
Differentiated access for production staff remaining on-site
No remote infrastructure in place
Flexible deployment including Chromebooks alongside existing hardware
Traditional on-site work patterns
Operational continuity maintained during lockdown
Mark Mullaly notes: “Technically, doing so was painless. We even found that we could successfully deploy Priority on Chromebooks alongside existing hardware. This helped lessen the risk and cost of enabling remote access to the system.”
The ability to maintain operations during pandemic lockdowns was critical for survival. Companies without flexible ERP systems faced:
By maintaining operations, Carrs protected revenue streams during the most challenging period.
Priority enabled Carrs to manage multiple pandemic-related challenges:
The last point is particularly significant: Priority's integrated, user-friendly interface allowed staff to cross-train and cover unfamiliar roles during the crisis, maintaining business operations despite reduced staffing and redeployment. This agility not only helped Carrs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but enables them to be ready for any challenge, from supply chain disruptions to new tariffs.
Priority enabled fundamental changes in Carrs' business model and revenue generation:
Simple weight-based pricing
Accurate charging by processing required
Unable to accurately charge for processing services
Unique production routes created at quote stage
Commodity pricing limited margins
Customized ERP feeds enable accurate, profitable pricing
Revenue left on table for specialized services
Reliable delivery dates calculated automatically
Difficulty tracking subcontracted work and special services
Full tracking of off-site work and special services
“As customer demands shifted, Carrs managed a higher volume of product queries. Rather than charge simply by weight, Carrs can now charge more accurately by the processing required.”
The customization of Priority to create unique production routes for cutting and milling of each product at the quote stage represents a significant competitive advantage. The system automatically feeds accurate costing data into quotes, ensuring:
Priority's accurate pricing and production routing capabilities enabled Carrs to launch a lucrative new service:
This improved information and service have been critical in helping Carrs offer added-value services and products. By offering ready-milled blocks machined on all six faces to engineering tolerances, Carrs has opened a lucrative and keen competitive advantage. This service differentiation moves Carrs up the value chain from commodity steel supplier to precision machining provider, commanding premium pricing while creating customer stickiness through added value. Customers pay more for ready-to-use blocks that eliminate their own machining time and setup costs.
The ready-milled service leverages Carrs' century-long heritage and technical expertise while creating barriers to competition. Competitors relying on simple weight-based pricing cannot easily replicate this offering without similar ERP capabilities for accurate costing and production management.
Process knowledge capture: From “inside someone's head” to the system
Priority solved one of Carrs' most critical vulnerabilities:
Business processes existed “mostly inside the head of our production manager”
Processes documented and systematized in ERP
Knowledge concentrated in single individual
Reduced dependency on individual knowledge
Risk of knowledge loss
Business continuity protection
Inability to scale or replicate processes
Scalable operations
Training challenges for new staff
Easier staff training and cross-coverage
This transformation was critical during COVID when “many staff had to cover functions they had previously had little or no experience of.” The systematized processes in Priority enabled this flexibility.
Priority transformed management capability:
“Inability to get an accurate picture of the business at any one time”
Real-time business visibility
Paper-based processes
Integrated management tools across all departments
Intuition-based decision-making
Data-driven decision-making
Limited visibility into profitability
Profitable pricing visibility
According to Andy Eastwood, “The major benefits are the management tools, but basically because the whole system is completely integrated, every department uses Priority. It just means that the workflow is seamless.”
“The major benefits are the management tools, but basically because the whole system is completely integrated, every department uses Priority. It just means that the workflow is seamless.”
Andy Eastwood, Managing Director of Carrs Tool Steels
While specific figures aren't disclosed, Priority addressed Carrs' inventory challenges:
“Significant inventory levels” maintained to compensate for poor processes
Accurate delivery date commitments reduce safety stock needs
Poor planning due to unadequate demand visibility
Better demand visibility improves inventory planning
Capital tied up unnecessarily
Working capital freed for growth investment
Priority delivered unusual cost-effectiveness for ERP implementation:
Mark Mullaly emphasizes: “I did not have to become an ERP or Priority Software expert to get the most from our investment. This is important for two reasons: Firstly, the software has become more cost-effective.”
This internal customization capability saves significant ongoing consultancy costs, as traditional ERP systems requiring external consultants for each modification can cost thousands of pounds a year.
Mark Mullaly's statement reveals ongoing value realization: “Priority has produced a sea of change in how profitable the company is. We continue to invest in not only our ERP but wider technologies such as handheld devices on the shop floor… to improve our staff's productivity.”
This continued investment indicates:
The deployment of handheld devices on the shop floor represents continued digital transformation, with Priority serving as the integrated backbone for real-time data capture and workflow management.
Long-term partnership value is evident: “I believe that every incarnation of Priority has been installed and upgraded with no problem.”
Seamless upgrades deliver:
Priority strengthened Carrs Tool Steels' market position:
The transformation from weight-based commodity supplier to value-added precision machining provider represents fundamental business model evolution enabled by Priority's capabilities.
Priority ERP transformed Carrs Tool Steels from a company constrained by paper processes and tribal knowledge into an integrated, profitable, resilient business capable of navigating unprecedented challenges while opening new revenue opportunities. Mark Mullaly's assessment captures the comprehensive impact: “Priority has produced a sea of change in how profitable the company is,” a transformation that continues as Carrs invests in Priority and complementary technologies to drive ongoing productivity improvements and maintain their competitive edge in the specialized tool steel market.
To access the file, please complete the form below.
