Heppelthwaite The Red Van Plumbers are part of the RG Evans group, a family-run company providing the complete plumbing and heating service for over 50 years. The group has a turnover in excess of £12 million and over 100 installers and staff.
The challenge
Heppelthwaite built a job management system based on Microsoft Access in 2008. It output jobs to printed pages, was reliable and had served them well — so why move on?
“We had to move away from paper. Chasing people to return their sheets, typing them all up, miscommunication and disagreements about where sheets had got to; it was becoming a bigger problem as we grew,” says MD Gary Evans.
The solution
They took an extensive look at the market, drawing up a long list of 10 suppliers and shortlisting four. Pro Pal stood out: almost all of the most expensive products’ functionality, at a mid-range price, without rigid logic telling staff exactly what to do.
“We need our people to be able to apply their skills.” The subscription model meant a much lower initial cost, so they were not risking a large amount of capital on an unproven system.
The result
Engineers no longer return to the office to drop off and collect sheets. The office sees status in detail, so there are fewer incoming and outgoing calls. Invoices go out faster, and information is sent electronically rather than by post.
Pro Pal suggests people with the right skill sets when booking jobs and gives a live view of who is ahead or falling behind — so scheduling happens both in advance and as the day progresses.
Purchase control improved while engineers can still raise orders independently. “It’s at least 5% of our previous parts cost going back onto the bottom line.”
“We’re in a completely different environment now. We operated in a reactive way before; we were chasing our tails, chasing information. Now we’re catching problems before they happen. We’re ahead of the game.”
