In the highly specialised world of vacuum science and engineering, precision and efficiency are not just advantages—they are absolute necessities. Based in East Sussex, in the south of England, UK, SS Scientific Ltd has established itself as a global leader in this field. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes an extensive range of high-precision components and systems for the scientific instrumentation industry.
Despite their technical prowess and market leadership, SS Scientific faced an internal challenge that threatened to stifle their growth. Their existing administrative and operational systems were disjointed and inefficient, creating bottlenecks that hindered productivity and visibility across the organisation. The company recognised that to continue excelling, they needed a modern solution to centralise their processes and provide a single source of truth for their data.
The Challenge: Disconnected Systems and Time-Consuming Duplication
Before adopting Flowlens MRP, SS Scientific’s operations were managed through a legacy system that was struggling to keep pace with the company’s expansion. The biggest problem was the lack of a unified platform, which led to significant data duplication. Information had to be manually entered multiple times across different systems—a process that was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors.
Jane Hathaway, the Office and Logistics Manager at SS Scientific, reflected on the previous inefficiencies. “It was just so inefficient,” she explained. “We had to enter the same information into multiple places, which took up so much time and made it hard to be sure everything was up-to-date.”
The absence of a centralised platform also created a critical lack of visibility. The team lacked a clear, real-time overview of their sales and purchasing processes. This made it difficult to make informed decisions and track the progress of projects from start to finish. The company identified a number of key challenges:
- Duplication of data entry across disparate systems.
- Lack of visibility into real-time sales and purchasing activity.
- Difficulty tracking orders and components through their lifecycle.
- Absence of a reliable audit trail, making accountability challenging.
- Time-consuming administrative processes that were a drain on resources.
The company realised that this was not just a matter of convenience; it was a roadblock to streamlined collaboration and strategic growth.
The Solution: A Unified, Cloud-Based System for the Future
After a thorough evaluation of various solutions, SS Scientific chose to implement Flowlens MRP. The decision was driven by the platform’s ability to provide a comprehensive, cloud-based system that could integrate all key business functions—from quoting and sales order processing to manufacturing, stock control, and purchasing.
A crucial factor in the successful transition was the seamless integration with their existing accounting software, Xero. This connection was a game-changer, as it automated the flow of financial data and eliminated the need for manual data entry, a pain point that Jane Hathaway had identified from the outset. “The seamless integration with Xero has made a massive difference to us,” she noted, underscoring the immediate impact on efficiency and data accuracy.
Beyond integration, the user-friendliness of Flowlens was a crucial element of the solution. The intuitive interface and real-time dashboards meant that the entire team could quickly adapt to the new system, which fostered a sense of ownership and collaboration. “It’s a great user-friendly system, and the help and support has been brilliant,” Jane added, highlighting the positive experience of the transition. “The customer support from the Flowlens Team is exceptional. Holly, in particular, has been amazing—always quick to respond and incredibly helpful, even with the smallest of queries.”
The system also provided the flexibility for the team to make quick corrections and adjustments, a feature that was missing in their previous setup and is vital for a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
The Results: Unlocking Efficiency, Transparency, and Strategic Growth
Since implementing Flowlens, SS Scientific has seen a dramatic and positive transformation in its operational workflow. The most immediate benefit was the significant time savings achieved by eliminating duplicate data entry and manual processes. This efficiency has allowed the team to focus on more strategic, value-added activities rather than routine administrative tasks.
- Time Savings & Efficiency – Flowlens’ seamless integration with Xero eliminated duplicate data entry, automatically syncing sales and purchase data—including customer and supplier records, tax codes, and invoice statuses—between the two systems. This has significantly sped up processes like invoicing and purchasing while reducing manual errors.
- Transparency – The platform’s real-time activity dashboards, audit trails, and notes functionalities offer immediate clarity on order history and status—so the team can quickly see who did what and when.
- Collaboration – Flowlens brings sales, CRM, purchasing, production, inventory, and finance together in a single, cloud-based system. This unified view ensures all 12 team members at SS Scientific can access the same reliable data—dramatically reducing duplicate efforts and minimising data input mistakes.
- Flexibility – Unlike legacy systems, Flowlens allows for easy corrections and adjustments to orders or workflows, ensuring problems can be resolved quickly—reducing stress and boosting operational agility. Its intuitive user interface has also helped teams adapt more smoothly.
- Data-Driven Decisions – With configurable real-time dashboards and analytics widgets, Flowlens provides business leaders at SS Scientific with a holistic, visual view of performance indicators—enabling more proactive decision-making based on accurate, live data.
The move to a cloud-based manufacturing software system has also revolutionised transparency and visibility. Real-time dashboards provide a comprehensive overview of the business, from current sales figures to stock levels and production progress. This newfound clarity empowers SS Scientific to make data-driven decisions that were previously impossible. Jane Hathaway pointed to the specific features that the team appreciates most, stating, “The ability to upload documentation and see the status of orders has made a massive difference to us, and the team loves it.” This shared access to information has fostered a more collaborative environment where everyone is working from the same reliable data.
The system’s robust audit trail provides a complete history of every transaction, enhancing accountability and ensuring compliance, which is particularly vital in the precision-focused world of vacuum science. Jane concludes: “We would highly recommend Flowlens to any business looking for a reliable, efficient, and supportive MRP solution.”
By adopting Flowlens, SS Scientific has not only solved its immediate challenges but has also positioned itself for future growth. The integrated, flexible, and transparent system has become a cornerstone of their operations, proving that a modern manufacturing software solution comprising MRP, MES and CRM is essential for maintaining a competitive edge and thriving in a complex, global market.
