Smit Amandla Marine (Pty) Ltd

An analysis of new procurement system implementation case where the client has a requirement to computerise their procurement system. The client was Smit Amandla Marine, based in Cape Town and the supplier was Mikrofax Software, based in London. Smit Amandla had a number of unique challenges to face within their procurement function and spent much time selecting the supplier they felt had all the required experience to enable the job to be completed on time and to budget.

Background :
Smit Amandla Marine (Pty) Ltd is the leading provider of specialist marine services in Southern Africa, offering a wide range of local and international services in the following areas,

Marine: Including Ocean Towage, Salvage and Emergency Marine Response, Offshore Oilfield Support and Oil Pollution Abatement.
Terminals: Turn-key Offshore Tanker Terminal operations
Bunker Delivery: In-port delivery of marine fuel and lubricants to ships
Subsea: A variety of Technical Underwater Services and Support
Ship Management: Manning, Maintenance and Management Services
Ship Owners: Owns fleet of specialist type vessel, including two deep-sea Salvage Tugs, Anchor Handling Tugs and Supply Vessels.

Mikrofax Software is a UK headquartered software company based in London with offices in New York. Formed in 1988, Mikrofax have concentrated on supplying professional purchasing tools based around its successful and award winning Windows based TBA-Power package of software modules. With users all over the world Mikrofax have an enviable reputation of “getting it right first time, every time”.
Both Smit Amandla and Mikrofax Software are ISO accredited.

Client Requirement : A total end-to-end procurement package, to suit all the various business units, that allowed flexibility, processing speed, reliability, accuracy, information integrity and fulfilment tracking. These were all attributes which Smit Amandla felt would be needed to take the company forward into the 21st century. Plus an important consideration was ease of integration into existing Smit Amandla IT architecture and any future software systems.

Selected Solution : The Buyers Assistant (TBA-Power) from Mikrofax Software Systems was evaluated, selected and successfully implemented.

Challenges Faced : The need to ‘express process’ equipment at short notice for a contract, or to a vessel, outside of South Africa; to enable requirements to be ordered direct from a vessel at sea; to allow receipt of requisitions into both remote office locations and vessels at sea, whilst maintaining and upholding the companies commitment to ISO 9002. Ease of use to ensure minimal user training and a use of proven technology.

Solutions Developed : After a consultation period between client and supplier, the basic core elements of the TBA-Power suite were installed at head office in Cape Town. These centred around the ability to enter requisitions electronically, convert them into purchase orders, authorise the spend, ensure that goods are received and invoices are paid.

Each challenge was addressed and solved smoothly and efficiently, for example, a Desk Top feature was installed to allow the transfer of relevant data from the purchase order to an invoice, which negated the need for a double capture situation when compiling export declarations.

An exciting add on feature was the ElexReq [electronic requisition]. The ElexReq is installed on the vessels PC’s, and is a replica of the manual requisition. These are sent via e-mail to head office in Cape Town and imported directly into the purchasing system, in a Purchase Order format, thus eliminating time consuming data re-capture. The ElexReq has also been installed on LapTops and requisitions can be sent via mobile phones from remote locations.

The ElexReq’s data base is easily updated via e-mail or disk passed to the remote user, with a condensed format of the actual purchasing database.

Traditional relationships between suppliers and buyers are generally focused on price. However, performance of the supplier, especially in the service industry, is of paramount importance. TBA-Power has a fully integrated supplier performance analysis system, which has proven to be invaluable; some of the results have been an eye opener to the end users.

Mikrofax were approached to adapt their standard Suppliers Listing Report, to suit Smit Amandla Marine’s ISO 9002 requirements. TBA-Power compiles the client’s master Approved Supplier List, which is automatically maintained within the purchasing system. This report (including the supplier performance statistics) more than satisfies the ISO requirements. It is a powerful tool, and saves time by eliminating the need to maintain various data basis to fulfil company requirements.

Over the last year, TBA-Power has assisted the Smit Amandla buyers, in providing the data to establish comparative buying practices and allow continuous evaluation of suppliers using a number of dimensions by producing information to allow negotiation based on facts, figures and an up to date analysis of supplier performance.

Installation and implementation of TBA-Power was handled direct on-site by Mikrofax in an extremely competent and professional manner, with no time wastage, thus saving valuable time and money. This was very reassuring, and gave Smit Amandla Marine confidence from the outset that the choice made was the correct one. Mikrofax is a company that listens to their clients needs. Demonstrating innovative thinking and a structured and logical approach to all the challenges ensured a deliverable, viable and cost effective solution.

At the beginning of 2001, Mikrofax and Smit Amandla Marine entered into negotiations to add a further dimension to the already successful system. This entails the transfer of financial data from the purchasing system directly into the accounting package. This will enable full cycle procurement and will cover all processes from creation of a requisition to the payment of an invoice, and will again eliminate time spent on data capture.

Both Mikrofax Software and Smit Amandla have approved this article for publication.