Industrial Manufacturing Somers Forge
World Forging Leader Reinforces Digital Composition for Enhanced Visibility, Quality, Compliance and Best Practice, with Inforlogic.
About Somers Forge
Established in 1697, Somers Forge (Somers) is the 10th-oldest family-run business in the UK. Famous for providing body armour and swords for the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, which resulted in a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria, Somers’ heritage is entrenched in the defence industry.
Today, Somers operates a wide range of forging presses and hammers, giving it a unique capability to manufacture components weighing up to 80 tonnes and measuring up to 23 metres.
With continuous investment, Somers combines the latest technology with traditional skills to maintain its leading position in a diverse global market.
Quality assurance is at the forefront of all Somers’ manufacturing processes, which are accredited to AS9100 Rev D, BS EN 9100:2015 and ISO 9001:2015, ensuring all products are delivered both right first and on time.
Modernisation for the Future
2019 saw the business undertake a modernisation programme, including a £1.4 million investment to update equipment and refurbish its medium-sized press to increase capacity. The initiative also saw the forging specialist replace its legacy ERP system with new capabilities, such as Infor SyteLine.
Its previous platform was heavily customised, and Somers needed a dedicated manufacturing-centric ERP system that contained all core functionality out of the box, with scope to personalise to the specific nuances of its business. Crucially, it had to support planning, quality control, document management, inventory, and scale to underpin growth and longevity.
Infor SyteLine was the only platform to meet all of its requirements, and in 2018, the company enlisted Infor partner Inforlogic to develop and deploy the platform, with an upgrade to the latest version in 2023.
“SyteLine contains a customisation layer whereby we can include the niche functionality necessary for some of our business dynamics,” explains Tammy Inglis, Finance Director at Somers Forge. Prior to going live, Inforlogic worked closely with us and developed the solution to accommodate the areas in which we needed greater specificity.
“Metallurgy is at the core of our business, and ensuring, proving and communicating the right composition specifications at every stage is absolutely crucial. When we receive metals, they are certified to show the percentage of each element present, and we must have full end-to-end traceability, all the way back to the raw materials, to ensure quality control. When you consider the different regulatory environments governing this across different countries, it’s clear why dedicated, specific capabilities are needed.”
SyteLine is a manufacturing-centric ERP platform that is really best-in-class. Complemented by Inforlogic to develop and personalise to meet the very specific nuances of our business, we have every confidence that we can run our business, supported by the most robust, resilient, agile platform, and deliver the products demanded by our customers, most stringently and efficiently.
Finance Director
The Convergence of Speed and Intelligence
According to Tammy, the biggest benefit since migrating to SyteLine has been speed, with Somers’ upgrade to version 10 and more recent deployment of IDM expediting this substantially. This speed of intelligence and reporting has instilled unprecedented levels of trust and confidence in the team using it.
“We’re in a business which necessitates immediate insights regarding traceability and production schedules, fast decision-making, the agility to switch to accommodate new demand, and flexibility to adapt as the market evolves.
“A great example of this was the recent energy crisis. Because our machines are energy-intensive to operate, we had to introduce a surcharge to our customers to mitigate the impact of soaring costs. We have meters attached to each of our machines to track energy usage, but through leveraging SyteLine to track and measure orders and the actual cost versus customer cost, we had an automated means of billing customers accurately and transparently to protect both margins and relationships. Considering these surcharges varied by the day, being able to monitor them in real-time was pivotal.
“Another area in which we rely on the development completed by Inforlogic is manufacturing variability. Our products are large and bespoke, and lead times can be anything from three months to two years. The estimated cost can vary, so we track live Bill of Materials (BoM) costs. SyteLine allows us to take snapshots of the live BoM cost throughout the production process to track changes. We also use this data pattern to improve our processes and inform future estimates.”
The Inforlogic Difference
“In developing SyteLine to support these specific areas, Inforlogic has proved invaluable,” Tammy adds.
“We are a small team, relying heavily on external expertise and resourcing. This model also ensures that we utilise the resource as and when needed, keeping the cost commensurate with the task. Downtime is not something we can tolerate, and through working with Inforlogic, we have every confidence that we don’t need to worry.”
Composing a Digital Strategy
The forging leader plans to upgrade to the cloud soon, and version 10’s architecture is a stepping stone to this migration.
“SyteLine is a manufacturing-centric ERP platform that is really best-in-class. Complemented by Inforlogic to develop and personalise to meet the very specific nuances of our business, we have every confidence that we can run our business, supported by the most robust, resilient, agile platform, and deliver the products demanded by our customers, most stringently and efficiently.
“The future will no doubt bring further challenges to our industry, but having the right digital platform means that we’re in a strong position to pivot and react to whatever headwinds might be coming down the line, pursuing growth and profitability in the face of inevitable change.”
Speak to the Infor SyteLine Experts
Inforlogic is the UK’s leading Infor SyteLine (CloudSuite Industrial) partner, helping manufacturers streamline operations, improve visibility, and achieve long-term digital transformation with powerful manufacturing ERP solutions.
If you’re considering a new ERP system or looking to get more from your existing Infor SyteLine investment, our team would be happy to help. Contact Inforlogic today to discuss your requirements or call 01606 720499.