In an era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing sector is being turned on its head, and to stay competitive, companies are looking to rapidly transform their operations.
For one manufacturing company, the need for innovation became increasingly apparent as they outgrew their outdated systems and manual processes. Partnering with Wild Tech, they embarked on a journey to modernise their operations, streamline processes, and pave the way for future growth.
MATelec Australia is a manufacturing and distribution company based in Shepparton, Victoria. They are 100% Australian owned and deliver both quality commodity products and highly technical control solutions to the electrical industry.
With a workforce of around 70 employees when the implementation first began, the company has seen significant growth, expanding to approximately 90 employees by the time the project was completed.
MATelec Australia has ambitious plans for growth over the coming years, which requires success to be sustainable and repeatable.
The company knew that its legacy systems, while sufficiently capable in the current environment, would quickly become inadequate as the business evolves. The pressure to transition to a platform built for a modern workplace was emphasised by the fact that the old infrastructure that the legacy systems resided on was no longer supported, bringing increased risk of failure and data loss.
“Basically, we couldn’t scale up because the old systems were held together with workarounds and manual processes…” MATelec Australia Business Systems Manager, Michael Ritchie, said.
After recognising the urgent need for a solution, the company initiated a thorough partner search. Wild Tech was eventually selected for its capabilities and expertise in Microsoft’s suite of solutions, particularly Business Central.
While primarily commenced as an IT project, this could not be completed in isolation. It was the catalyst for a whole of business transformation. Outdated processes, manual workarounds, and disparate systems hindered both efficiency and scalability. Critical areas such as financial management, manufacturing, and customer relationship management faced bottlenecks and blind spots, which meant it was particularly difficult to extract quality insights into what was truly going on within the business.
Collaboratively, then, the two companies began a meticulous assessment of the company’s existing systems and planned requirements, to understand the kind of change management program that might be needed.
Business Central was seen as the optimal solution, because of its ability to offer comprehensive functionalities that aligned with the company’s needs while integrating seamlessly with their existing Microsoft ecosystem. By consolidating disparate systems into a unified platform, Business Central promised to:
The implementation process was not without its obstacles, given the inevitable pressures of time, cost and quality. A mindset of progress over protection was adopted to ensure controlled both timelines and budgets. The collaboration between the company and Wild Tech allowed for open communication throughout the process, proactive issue resolution, and a shared commitment to success. From the outset, this was viewed as a long-term partnership, not just a one-off project.
Through such a detail-orientated transformation process, extensive training, and robust change management strategies, MATelec Australia was able to prepare its workforce for the transition, ensuring buy-in and minimising resistance. This was complemented by an extended hypercare period, with extra support provided by Wild Tech both on and off site to address any and all go-live issues as they arose.
The established ways of working had just been torn down and thrown away, replaced with the foundations for future growth. It took time for end users to adapt and learn how the new system worked before they could fully adopt it wholeheartedly.
The mantra that “change is hard” was acknowledged throughout the entirety of the project and the business therefore embraced this challenge head on. Now that the dust has settled, tangible improvements are being seen across various facets of the business:
Looking ahead, the company remains committed to further leveraging technology to drive continuous improvement and innovation. Plans are underway to implement additional Microsoft solutions, such as:
“While extremely challenging at the time, this process was such a success that now we’ll assess any opportunity around systems or broader technology on its merits, and identify if it can deliver value for the business,” Ritchie said.
The partnership between MATelec Australia and Wild Tech exemplifies the transformative power of technology when coupled with strategic vision and collaborative effort. By embracing innovation and modernising their operations, the company has not only overcome immediate challenges but is now well positioned to continue to innovate and scale into the future.
