QC Logistics

5.2 Third Party Selection

Before QC met with suppliers they had a list of criteria that needed to be incorporated into a package in order for it to suit their business. Following the research undertaken and, having met with six potential suppliers, the decision was made to narrow it down to one, a software developer based in Ireland with excellent experience in developing warehouse software.

QC met with this very reputable software company on a number of occasions over a period of a few months to identify the exact requirements for the company’s stock system. This initial process also highlighted areas in which there was a paper process that added little or no value.

After much consideration it was decided that, although this particular company had an excellent product, it was just too expensive for QC at that point. The benefit of having gone through the process with them was that the team in QC knew exactly what they required from a system. At that time, Michael Phelan, an external consultant that QC had worked with previously, having seen QC’s requirements and the product developed by Ion Technologies, introduced the two.

The Ion product was an off-the-shelf stock management system with some modifications made to suit the QC client requirement and was significantly cheaper than the alternatives. More importantly, it offered all the functionality required by QC Logistics and Ion was also able to tweak their system to further meet functional requirements.

5.3 The Project Team

Internal project team

The management team made a point of involving all members of staff in the specification of the new system. This ensured that the system fully met the needs of the staff that were on the ‘front line’.

Specific members of the project team included:

• George Banks, Operations Director/Susan O’Mahony, Services Director – George and Susan were responsible for the management of the project. They were also the main contacts for Ion and developed detailed specifications for the software and hardware. Most importantly, they understood the warehouse process and therefore knew what needed to be done to make it more effective.
• John Delaney, Managing Director – John had overall financial responsibility, and was the main contact with Enterprise Ireland.
• Eamonn Walsh Transport Manager – with responsibility for the day to day shipment both in and out of the warehouse.
• Philip O’Toole, Warehouse manager – Philip had responsibility for labelling specification and day-to-day operations of the warehouse.
• Helena Hagan, Administration – Helena provided admin support and back-up for the system including weekly generation of reports for internal and client use.
• Christine Leamy, Financial Controller – Christine oversaw the link from IonData to Sage for the invoicing portion of the project.

External project team

• Neilius Phelan, Ion Technologies – Ion provided IonData Lite and assisted in the implementation of that system. Ion also provides ongoing support for the implementation in QC Logistics.
• Michael Phelan, IMCS – QC had retained Michael since 1998 for provision of consulting services in the areas of business development and marketing. On the eBusiness project, Michael provided advice on issues of process management and system selection.

• Training – 9%
• Research and Development – 11%
• Feasibility – 14%
• Capital Expenditure – 66%