Taking Customer Service Higher Than Ever!

In July 2008, a Padiham Glass customer was desperate for help as four glass units had been broken by vandals at a site on the outskirts of Douglas, Isle of Man.  As the units had not yet been glazed, the site was due for completion and handover process imminent.

“I received an urgent phone call from a concerned customer early Monday morning.  I understood his predicament but wondered how I could get the units to him as they were due to hand over the site the next day at mid day!  I knew we could ensure the manufacture of the four Ceramic insulated glass units but unsure how I could get them to him for 10am the next day in the Isle of Man.  We will go out of our way to help any of our customers, but this is seemed unachievable,” explains Wes Clarkson (Sales Director).

It was only when he discussed the issue with his fellow directors that an idea was brought to the table.  Anthony Clarkson (M.D) had recently passed his pilots licence and was due for his maiden voyage without an instructor present.  Would this be an ideal opportunity to charter a helicopter and deliver the units on site?

Jeremy Kemp (Operations Director) arranged the manufacture and accompanied Anthony across the water via helicopter to a landing area near the site in Douglas.

Jeremy says; - “As you can imagine, our customer was delighted as they were on penalty clauses with strict fines for if they didn’t abide by the completion date.  I don’t just mean a few pounds either!”

Clear Thinking In Viva Glass Vegas

In October 2008, Las Vegas hosted ‘Glass America’.  This exhibition is well established in both the UK and US markets dedicated to the glass industry.

Clear Thinking Software exhibited and Padiham Glass visited the show in Las Vegas.  A deal was signed there and then for a new software package to assist in streamlining their business.

"After many months looking at all the different software vendors and their solutions in the
 Marketplace, we settled on Clear Thinking," says Wes Clarkson, director of Padiham Glass. "We feel very comfortable with Clear Thinking and they have gone above and beyond our expectations to demonstrate the superiority of their software. Our old DOS system had gone as far as it was ever going to go. Clear Thinking has proved to be fully functional and reliable, at both friends and other reference sites within the industry, so we were happy that we were making the right choice."

Wes envisages that the new optimisation system alone will save Padiham far in excess of the software cost in the first year. "When you add in all the other benefits of the system, like EDI (electronic order import) from customers, it's flexibility and user friendliness, it "was a no brainer," concedes Wes.

This is backed up by Wes's colleague and Operations Director Jeremy Kemp. "We had the choice of spending more money on equipment or sorting out our software systems. As the new software will now help work flow through the factory, this will be a great investment for us. Now all of the production can be sorted to suit equipment in the factory and thus we can improve the utilisation of each machine and eliminate bottlenecks. The system will also give us better visibility of our order book, so we will be able to advise customers when we reach capacity for special products."

Malcolm Searle, Managing Director of Clear Thinking comments, "We're delighted to welcome Padiham to the Clear Thinking community, they have been friends for some years, and it's great that we're now working together. Some of our new factory planning software will revolutionise the throughput possible in the Padiham factory, and we look forward to contributing to their bottom line."

www.clearthinkingsoftware.co.uk

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Padiham Expand Fleet Once Again

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