Industrial Plastics supplier Amari Plastics utilises Asset4000 from Real Asset Management (RAM) to improve the efficiency of asset accounting and tracking for £8 million worth of assets. Amari Plastics invested in the new software to remove the potential for human error, along with eliminating the time consuming processes of depreciation calculations and detailed asset reporting.
Founded in 1975, Amari Plastics specialises in the distribution of industrial, display and engineering plastics, predominantly to independent businesses. Headquartered in Weybridge, Surrey, the company boasts 29 locations nationwide, dedicated to the distribution of semi-finished sheet, rod, tube and profiles to the industrial, sign & display, digital printing, fabrication and engineering markets throughout the UK.
Prior to the purchase of the software, Amari Plastics was dependent on manual asset management and with an asset base of over 2,000 items valued in the region of £8 million, this was undoubtedly a hugely time-consuming and costly process. As Sandy Lawrence, Financial Controller at Amari Plastics recalls, "We felt we needed software that would bring us into the 21st century. Our previous asset accounting system was not only time-consuming to use but also had limited reporting capabilities. It was imperative that we invested in a solution that understood the changing regulatory requirements of asset accounting and the Asset4000 software from RAM was selected as the most appropriate."
Asset4000, part of RAM's Series4000 offering, is designed to assist with legislative compliance, including IFRS, and provides Amari Plastics with the functionality and reporting power it required to meet the demands of a growing business. Lawrence comments, "Asset4000 is a truly comprehensive system, enabling high levels of coding and analysis flexibility. Its ability to retrieve individual asset records is exceptional because the view can be tailored to your specific preferences (eg: by location, type, make, etc…). In addition to the many standard reports that cover both physical and financial information, there is the facility to create our own and save them as 'Amari Reports' in the system."
Amari Plastics identified the need for flexible software that could facilitate the company's expanding asset register. With a base including computers, trucks and office equipment, it was imperative for the software to be user-friendly and easily manageable. In addition to providing a comprehensive, central asset register, Asset4000 has given Amari Plastics a tool to allow all of the branches to maintain their own detailed information as a subset of the overall register. As Lawrence explains, "We have 28 branches throughout the UK, but all of our asset information is held at our headquarters. It was therefore crucial that the new software allowed us to provide detailed information to each of the branch managers for local auditing purposes. Asset4000 has effectively enabled us to distribute an individual asset register to each branch."
Lawrence continues "The integration of Asset4000 into our day-to-day operations has enabled us to greatly improve the efficiency of both the physical and financial aspects of asset management. Our working relationship with RAM has been first-rate and on the rare occasion I have needed assistance, RAM's excellent technical team has been on hand to give it."
When it came to considering an application that would digitise Amari Plastics' assets, a versatile and efficient piece of software was paramount. Lawrence concludes, "Despite not having an asset management system in place prior to Asset4000, the software has become a part of our day-to-day running of the business. It provides us with one point of reference that can be easily updated, automatically backed-up and effortlessly managed. We rely upon Asset4000 to ensure the regulatory compliance of our assets and the accuracy of our management reporting and financial information."