SWIO: Manufacturing Management Software
Skirting World Ltd
Manufacturing, Omnichannel Retail
Automation software used to increase efficiency within Skirting World's manufacturing operation.
- .NET Core 2.0
- Angular 8.0
- RESTFUL API
- Third Party API Integration
The Challenge
Delivering custom-made orders across the UK
Skirting World Ltd. is a provider of skirting boards and architraves. The Birmingham-based company offers its customers 100s of different designs and manufactures everything in-house. This ensures high-quality, custom-made products – but managing the workflow of its ordering system had become almost a full-time job.
And it’s not hard to see why: Skirting World serves customers throughout the UK who can choose standard four-day delivery or expedited one- or- two-day delivery options. Under its previous system, orders were processed, manually transferred to a spreadsheet, and organised into tabs according to delivery date. The relevant list was printed daily and provided to the production team to fulfil orders. The list was then reissued if additional expedited orders were received throughout the day.
This inefficient process took up a lot of labour time, resources, and carried the risk of human error.
Skirting World required a system to help it run its manufacturing and shipping process more efficiently. Something that could transfer all its orders automatically and schedule them to a manufacturing date based on delivery requirements.
The solution also needed to achieve some other key things. It should be expandable to work across the business, so administrators could see a top-level view on their desktops and factory workers could input and complete their individual orders. It should also be flexible to scale up in the future if the business were to expand or new ideas thought up.
The Solution
Automating the ordering and shipping process
When Skirting World contacted ioSTUDIOS, our developers closely considered the client’s specific needs. This resulted in the development of SWIO – an automated workflow solution, which collects orders in real-time from Big Commerce using its API and creates the production schedule. The software intelligently groups orders together based on factors such as delivery date for more efficient production.
The daily schedule is then visible to the production team on a tablet. Thanks to its clear, easy-to-use UI, operators can claim a job, confirm that it’s in progress, and update its status to “completed”. Administrators can see an in-progress job highlighted in amber. If an expedited job enters the workflow or an order is changed, shows in red and blinks so the operator knows it requires attention. Work marked as completed appears in green and its status is automatically updated in Big Commerce to “awaiting dispatch”.
Our team also considered Skirting World’s more specific requirements. The firm’s administrators can access SWIO via their web browsers to edit, update, or escalate orders, run management reports, and manage user permissions. The entire production schedule is displayed, as well as key data which can help determine whether overtime may be required on a given day, for example.
ioSTUDIOS was able to provide Skirting World with additional useful features for peace of mind. The software works in real-time using Signal R technology to provide a single version of the truth, so all users are always viewing the same thing. On top of that, delivery drivers are given the most efficient route thanks to Google Maps integration.
The Result
Achieving greater efficiency and cost and time savings
SWIO has enabled Skirting World to revolutionise its ordering and shipping process, rooting out inefficiencies and ultimately enabling it to better serve its customers. Processes such as manual data input and scheduling are a thing of the past for the Birmingham-based factory staff. As a result, Skirting World is saving thousands of hours a year and reaping all the additional benefits that come with that: staff efficiency, cost savings, and a more reliable service no longer at risk of human error.
The company’s relationship with SWIO and ioSTUDIOS hasn’t stood still – the software is modular and scalable, meaning new capabilities are being added as Skirting World Ltd's operation grows.
