Johannesburg, 22 Jan 2016
Plumblink has been a customer of Kerridge Commercial Systems since 2008, and is one of the leaders in the South African market. It managed to continue growing at a very steady rate, even though the last couple of years were difficult, where many other businesses stayed static in size or closed down.
Plumblink has two different branch models; some of the larger stores with showrooms for the general customer, and smaller express stores aimed at the plumbers' market.
The newest branch, Soshanguve, went live in September 2015. To support the growth, the business also had to adjust and formalise the stock distribution process.
The Midrand Distribution Centre has also grown substantially in order to service all the additional branches. Oswald Abrahams, ERP Systems Manager, commented: "KCS SA has provided us with an excellent tool to be closer to our value chain. We have grown from 19 branches in 2010 to 68 in 2015, with the goal to open another 12 to 15 branches in the next year."
Plumblink also has a strong Web presence, offering a B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) service. It recently launched its new trade Web site for account customers, with 24-hour ordering service and the ability to see stock availability.
Plumblink was bought by Bidvest (a JSE-listed company) in 2015 from Ethos Private Equity Investors. Now part of a much bigger group, the focus of Plumblink is still the same, with a strong focus on continually improving its offering to its customers.
"I truly believe that we had positioned the company in a well structured, well governed business. The IT systems we introduced had very positive spin-offs and visibility of all operations was enhanced. I consider Plumblink as the industry leader, with systems in place to continue seeing and improving on the growth of the past five years," said Seaweed McFarlane, Plumblink CEO.
Managing Director of KCS SA, Des Nangle, said Plumblink has been a valuable customer for quite some time, and he is delighted that it has grown from strength to strength on the K8 software. The acquisition by Bidvest is a token of the value that an integrated ERP system can unlock in a growing business.
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