One issue facing successful sub-contract engineering companies is how to deal with the extra administration that goes hand-in-hand with an increase in orders and winning new customers.

Huntingdon-based Cutting Edge Precision Engineering Ltd (CE Precision) (www.ceprecision.co.uk) — a manufacturer of high-quality precision-engineered parts and assemblies — was facing this situation after significant growth. The solution was to invest in a PSL Datatrack (www.psldatatrack.com) production control system.

While CE Precision’s machines could handle the challenge, its business administration spreadsheets were struggling.

Managing director Stuart Dunklin said: “The greatest problem was that order and customer documentation was not linked in any way, resulting in information being frequently replicated, wasting a great deal of time and causing frustration. It was also proving difficult to delegate tasks.”

He had been thinking for some time that the company needed a user-friendly production control system, purpose-designed for sub-contract engineering. An industry colleague highly recommended the PSL Datatrack software, having used it for over 20 years,.

CE Precision wanted the PSL Datatrack system for managing the generation of customer quotations, recording material purchases, managing stock control, providing traceability and generating high-quality supplier/customer documentation that looked professional.

It has had a significant impact on day-to-day production management, making individual customer orders easier to process and information more readily available to everyone who needs it.

“Most importantly, our customers are thrilled to see us moving forward and feel more confident in our ability to provide concise, accurate and professional documentation — and to keep track of exactly what’s happening with their orders.”