Industry:
Manufacturing, Medical Devices
Country:
United Kingdom
Website:
www.cherwell-labs.co.uk
Partner:
Medatech UK
Cherwell Laboratories, based in Bicester, UK, manufactures prepared culture media for pharmaceutical, NHS, and healthcare use. The company provides cleanroom microbiology solutions and products for environmental monitoring and process validation, including their Redipor® Prepared Media range and SAS® microbial air samplers.
Founded in 1971 by entrepreneur Lawrence Whittard as a veterinary diagnostic laboratory, the company evolved over five decades into a leading manufacturer with focused expertise in pharmaceutical microbiology. After celebrating their 50th year in business in 2021, Cherwell was acquired in 2023 by AnalytiChem, a group of seven businesses across North America, Europe, and Australia, and became AnalytiChem UK in Autumn 2025.
“Our ability to configure the system in-house has shone through, it's much more in our control, and therefore we are able to make improvements quickly and more readily.”
Martyn Young, Operations Director at Cherwell Laboratories
As Cherwell Laboratories experienced extensive growth, the limitations of their existing systems became critical obstacles. Martyn Young, Operations Director at Cherwell Laboratories, outlines the driving factors: “We had many reasons to implement an ERP system. Our business was growing and our plans to grow at more than 10% per annum meant that that would put a strain on systems, and it was important to build in an appropriate system for our future needs.”
Beyond scalability concerns, Cherwell faced significant business risk from knowledge concentration. “As the business grew, we needed to de-risk the business from some individuals having lots of knowledge about the business and being dependent on individuals, which puts the business at risk if something happened to them,” Martyn Young explains. Critical information was trapped with specific people rather than being accessible across the organization, creating vulnerability and limiting operational efficiency.
The company required fundamental changes in data management. “Putting our information into one central form that was accessible to the whole business was a critical part of our requirements,” Martyn Young states. Multiple siloed databases scattered around the plant prevented unified visibility and consistent decision-making. Additionally, Cherwell needed “the base and the data and the infrastructure ready for efficiency improvements and again continued growth of the business,” requiring a system that was both immediately functional and positioned for ongoing optimization.
Cherwell Laboratories conducted an exhaustive evaluation process to identify the optimal ERP solution for their specialized requirements. “We researched all the ERP systems we could find. We actually found 49,” Martyn Young recalls. This comprehensive assessment examined functionality, scalability, customization capabilities, and vendor stability to ensure the selected solution would meet both current needs and support long-term growth.
“We finally chose the Priority system,” Martyn Young explains, identifying the critical factors: “The main reasons were that for us, Priority software out of the box was the closest match to our production and process.” This alignment meant Cherwell could implement efficiently without extensive customization while maintaining confidence the system matched their specialized cleanroom microbiology manufacturing requirements.
Beyond the software itself, Cherwell evaluated vendor longevity and commitment. “We believed Priority the company were investing in that product and continued to support that over the life of the product,” Martyn Young notes, ensuring their technology investment would remain current and supported for years to come.
Cherwell applied equal rigor to selecting their implementation partner. “Likewise with Medatech, ensuring that the vendor who we'd actually work with on the implementation had the skills, the knowledge, the experiences within their organization, and the resource and capacity to support us during that implementation phase,” Martyn Young emphasizes. This partnership between Priority Software and Medatech UK provided both product expertise and industry knowledge critical to successful deployment.
A critical selection factor was system flexibility. “One of the other reasons we chose the Priority and Medatech system is our belief that we would be able to have more control over the configuration of the system as we change our processes in terms of trying to make improvements,” Martyn Young explains. This capability would prove essential for ongoing optimization and business agility.
Priority ERP's implementation delivered comprehensive operational improvements that positioned Cherwell Laboratories for sustained growth while eliminating data fragmentation and enhancing decision-making capabilities. Cherwell Laboratories achieved a fundamental transformation in data management and operational visibility through Priority ERP implementation. As Operations Director Martyn Young summarizes the impact: “The benefits we've seen so far is firstly we've eliminated all of the databases around the plant. We've got a single database and the accuracy of that database is so much higher.”
This unified data foundation enabled real-time performance oversight with accelerated analysis capabilities. “We have real-time availability of performance data, and the speed at which we can analyze that now is much faster, so that we have more up-to-date decision making,” Martyn Young states. Priority's analytics help Cherwell identify manufacturing trends and improvement opportunities while the system's configurability provides the agility required to support their 10% annual growth plan and continued market leadership in cleanroom microbiology solutions.
Priority delivered Cherwell's primary objective by consolidating fragmented data systems. Martyn Young states clearly: “We've eliminated all of the databases around the plant. We've got a single database and the accuracy of that database is so much higher.”
Multiple siloed databases scattered around the plant
Single, unified, accurate database
Knowledge concentrated with specific individuals
Information accessible to the whole business
Inconsistent data across different systems
Significantly higher data accuracy
Business risk from individual dependency
De-risked business through shared data access
Difficulty obtaining accurate business overview
Universal visibility into operations
The transformation from fragmented to unified data fundamentally changed how Cherwell operates. Martyn Young emphasizes that “putting our information into one central form that was accessible to the whole business was a critical part of our requirements.” This accessibility means manufacturing teams can access real-time inventory and production data, quality assurance can trace materials through complete production history, sales teams have immediate visibility into schedules for accurate customer commitments, and management can analyze performance across all operations without manual data compilation.
The elimination of individual knowledge dependency addresses a critical vulnerability. Previously, if key individuals were unavailable or left the organization, critical business knowledge would be lost. Now, with information systematized in Priority's unified database, the business continuity risk is substantially reduced. This de-risking becomes increasingly valuable as Cherwell grows and operations become more complex.
Priority transformed Cherwell's decision-making capabilities with immediate data access. Martyn Young describes the improvement: “We have real-time availability of performance data, and the speed at which we can analyze that now is much faster, so that we have more up-to-date decision making.”
Delayed access to performance data
Real-time availability of performance data
Manual data compilation for analysis
Real-time analysis
Historical reporting rather than real-time visibility
Immediate visibility into operational metrics
Slower decision-making cycles based on outdated information
More up-to-date decision-making
Limited ability to respond quickly to issues
Rapid response to issues and opportunities
Reactive rather than proactive management
Proactive management enabled
Decision-making speed and quality
The acceleration in analysis capability has multiple business impacts. Management can identify issues immediately rather than discovering problems days or weeks after they occur. This enables corrective actions before problems escalate, preventing quality issues, customer dissatisfaction, or cost overruns. Additionally, opportunities can be captured that would previously be missed—whether responding to customer requests, adjusting production schedules, or reallocating resources to address emerging priorities.
For a pharmaceutical supplier where product quality and delivery reliability are critical, faster decision-making translates directly to competitive advantage. The ability to respond to customer needs or production issues within hours rather than days can protect revenue, prevent quality problems, and capture business that competitors cannot serve as responsively.
Beyond operational decisions, real-time data improves strategic planning. Management can base growth plans, investment decisions, and resource allocation on current operational reality rather than historical data that may no longer reflect actual conditions. This becomes increasingly valuable as the business grows at 10% annually, requiring continuous adaptation of strategies and resources.
Priority's analytics capabilities enable systematic manufacturing improvement. Martyn Young explains: “We're now gathering more and more reports and data and analyzing trends within the manufacturing system, so that we're identifying opportunities for reducing either failure rates and eliminate costs and stop holdings within the business.”
By analyzing trends in manufacturing data, Cherwell can identify root causes of quality issues and implement preventive measures. In pharmaceutical supply industries where product failures can trigger customer audits, regulatory concerns, and expensive recalls, even modest failure rate reductions deliver substantial value.
Martyn Young's reference to “eliminate costs” indicates Priority helps identify various inefficiencies:
Even identifying and eliminating 2-3% of operational costs through data-driven analysis can deliver tens of thousands of pounds in annual savings for a manufacturer of Cherwell's scale.
Priority improved external-facing operations through automation. “We also have seen some improvements where we auto-generate documents that go automatically to our customers,” Martyn Young notes.
Limited ability to modify systems
Full control of system configuration in-house
Dependency on external consultants for changes
No external consultant dependency for routine changes
Long lead times for system improvements (weeks or months)
Rapid implementation of improvements, modules, and upgrades
High costs for each customization
In-house customization
System couldn't adapt quickly to business process changes
System evolves with changing business needs
Improvement initiatives delayed by system constraints
Technology enables rather than constrains improvement initiatives
The ability to configure Priority in-house provides strategic agility that extends beyond cost savings. As manufacturing processes evolve, regulatory requirements change, or customer needs shift, Cherwell can adapt Priority immediately. Martyn Young's phrase “repeat those improvements” suggests they've developed improvement patterns that can be systematically applied across different areas of operations: a capability that accelerates continuous improvement efforts.
For a growing business planning 10% annual expansion, agility is essential. Growth creates new requirements, new processes, and new challenges. The ability to adapt the ERP system quickly means the technology supports growth rather than constraining it.
Priority provides the scalable infrastructure for Cherwell's ambitious growth plan. Martyn Young articulates the growth imperative: “Our business was growing and our plans to grow at more than 10% per annum meant that that would put a strain on systems, and it was important to build in an appropriate system for our future needs.”
A 10% annual growth rate compounds significantly over time:
This expansion trajectory requires infrastructure that scales efficiently. Without appropriate systems, growth often requires proportional increases in administrative overhead, creating a “growth tax” that erodes profitability.
Priority's unified database, real-time reporting, and configurable processes provide the foundation for growth without proportional overhead increases:
Martyn Young's emphasis on having “the base and the data and the infrastructure ready for efficiency improvements and again continued growth of the business” reflects strategic thinking about technology as a growth enabler. Rather than implementing systems reactively as growth creates pain points, Cherwell proactively established infrastructure capable of supporting expansion.
The extensive evaluation process validated Priority's selection. Martyn Young's reflection on the decision demonstrates satisfaction: “We researched all the ERP systems we could find. We actually found 49. We finally chose the Priority system.”
The key differentiators that drove selection have proven accurate:
The thoroughness of evaluation (49 systems assessed) combined with successful implementation and realized benefits validates both the decision-making process and Priority's capabilities.
While not explicitly detailed in Martyn Young's comments, Priority's capabilities support Cherwell's stringent pharmaceutical industry requirements:
These compliance capabilities are essential for serving pharmaceutical and National Health Service customers who require extensive documentation and traceability for regulatory purposes. The automated document generation Martyn Young mentions likely includes these critical compliance documents.
Priority strengthened Cherwell's market position in cleanroom microbiology solutions:
As AnalytiChem UK looks to establish itself as the trusted name in environmental monitoring, Priority provides the operational foundation for achieving this vision through reliable, efficient, and compliant operations that meet the exacting standards of pharmaceutical and healthcare customers.
Martyn Young's comments reflect an ongoing partnership approach rather than a completed project. His reference to “gathering more and more reports and data” and the ability to “repeat improvements” suggests continuous optimization rather than a static implementation. The in-house configuration capability means Cherwell can continue evolving Priority indefinitely, ensuring the system remains aligned with business needs as they grow and change.
This continuous improvement approach, enabled by Priority's flexibility and Cherwell's internal capability, creates compounding value over time. Each improvement builds on previous ones, and successful patterns can be replicated across different operational areas, accelerating the improvement cycle.
Priority ERP transformed Cherwell Laboratories from a company constrained by siloed data, individual knowledge dependency, and limited visibility into an integrated, data-driven organization positioned for sustained 10% annual growth. As Martyn Young's assessment confirms: “Our ability to do that in-house has shone through. It's much more in our control, and therefore we're more able to make improvements quickly and more readily.” This combination of unified accurate data, real-time decision-making capability, manufacturing optimization, and business agility provides the operational foundation for Cherwell to maintain market leadership in the demanding pharmaceutical and healthcare cleanroom microbiology market while supporting ambitious expansion plans and continuing the company's 50-year heritage of excellence.
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