We may be in the midst of difficult economic times but Andrew Rutter, Director of DTW Ceramics Ltd, hasn’t let it get in the way of future growth. Whatever the economic conditions, he still wants the best for his business, staff and customers. His winning strategy is to develop a long-term relationship with Blue Rock Systems using Intact software to work smarter, make life easier and innovate through technology.


On the day we chose to interview Andrew Rutter he had already taken his constitutional 2 hour run -this time up a snow laden Butser Hill in West Sussex. In addition when he arrived at the office he spent an hour with the lads from the showroom to shovel off the snow and ice from DTW’s forecourt.


Driven. There’s no better word to describe Andy Rutter, Director, at DTW Ceramics Limited in Portsmouth. His love of fitness is only matched by his dedication for his business and the people who work with him (and we stress “with” as opposed to “for”).


DTW are a leading, independent, distributor of tiles and associated products based on the south coast. DTW distribute tiles to Independent and National Tile retailers. The business also supports local trade installers as well as serving the retail sector with both tiles and more recently bathrooms.


Andy laid his first tile when he was 13, working at weekends and during holidays alongside a tradesman. He left secondary school on the Friday and started full time work as a contractor on the Monday. By the time he was 18 had started his own tile installation business.


Having spotted a niche in the market place he decided to start supplying tiles and in 1996 formed DTW Ceramics.


“I’ve always wanted the best for my business and the people who work there as I passionately believe this supports our ideal of providing the best service, product and value for money to our customers”, stated Andy.


“We genuinely source our products from around the world, which means, normally, that we are always seen as competitive and providing a superb range. More importantly, however, the team at DTW has a genuine desire to put in 110% all the time and we look after them as a result, both in terms of working environment and financial incentives – everyone in the business from the Cleaner to the Directors have a performance related bonus structure. As a result the bulk of my staff have been here for between 10 and 18 years and last week when the rest of the British Work Force were struggling to get in to the work place, the majority of mine did.”


Andy and his fellow Director Gavin Buckner pride themselves on the range of stock that they supply and their ability to deliver the items to their trade customers within 48 hours. The 90 catalogues of stock are held in the 32,000 square ft warehouse in Portsmouth.


Since the business started Andy incorporated Information Technology into the business.


“I am a great advocate of technology and wherever possible I will endeavour to make our lives easier and more effective through innovation”, continued Andy.
The initial systems at DTW were Amstrad PC’s driven by floppy disk drives. Shortly after Andy installed Sage Line 50 and invested in a bespoke trading solution because he felt that nothing in the market place catered for his industry.


“The bespoke system was really very good and I don’t regret, for a moment, in making the investment as for many years we had an advantage over our competition. However I became increasingly aware that the bespoke element, supported by a single company, posed a serious threat for the business and decided upon reviewing the solution”.


This process started in 2007. The teams’ final choice came after two years and the review of six well known systems.


“We actually came down to a shortlist of 2. Both systems had experience and standard functionality to handle the complexity of tile distribution, trade and retail sales. We unanimously chose to go the Intact route via Blue Rock because, although they were slightly more expensive, we felt the software was much more user friendly. In addition, we were confident that we would get a more thorough service from this provider and would remain an important customer with them and, I am glad to say, we have been proven right.”


Next on DTW’s agenda:
• Laptops for their field sales team to give them direct access to the live Intact system wherever they are
• A customer loyalty points scheme which comes on line in a few weeks
• A web presence to enable their customers to place orders via a fully integrated Blue Rock web shop. This will also allow trade customers to self administer their accounts via the internet


The final word goes to Andy;


“We plan to continue our organic growth but at no point will the quality of our service be sacrificed in its pursuit. I am confident that Intact and Blue Rock will support this which is why I requested that they write this article as so many independent organisations, like DTW, could also benefit”.

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Tile West (Trading as Tile Ambitions) was set up in 2001 by Marian Barnard & Chris Warmington and originally operated as a distributor of tiles and ceramics to Builders and Developers across Cornwall and Devon.

It rapidly became apparent their range of unique stone-wear offered an opportunity to sell direct to the public also and in the space of 7 years they have opened an additional 3 sites – stretching the length and breadth of Cornwall and Devon .

Like many multi branch operations the management team at Tile West started to feel the strain in maintaining a tight control in the day to day running of the branches. In addition expansion has led to increases in administration and stock levels.

Typically this wouldn’t be an issue but at a time when cost prices are increasing (mainly due to currency fluctuations) and turnover being affected by a slowdown in the building marketplace then the obvious business target is to gain a tighter reign of your operating costs.

A major step in achieving this was to install a fully integrated business software system that linked all the sites and provided the Directors of the business will real time trading information across all four branches.

In the spring of 2008 Tile West engaged with the team at Blue Rock to assess their Intact Software System for Tile Stockists and Distributors. In a very short space of time it became apparent that the software and the company was a great fit for Tile West’s operation but a decision to purchase the system was delayed until the Autumn due other business demands…but even then the solution wasn’t straight forward.

The problem is that Tile West’s head office is in a very quiet area in the heartland of Cornwall and currently Internet providers do not provide affordable, reliable and fast Internet connectivity for rural areas. This meant that Head Office would not be able to offer a reliable software service for the branches.

Fortunately Blue Rock also supply Intact under a Hosting model which means that Tile West’s software and server can be housed at our offices and all of the Tile West branches link to us via our secure, dedicated line to the Internet with a 99.9% uptime from British Telecom.

The benefits?  Well obviously it enables us to provide a solution but also improves speed of access and reliability. In addition Tile West do not have to concern themselves with the day to day management of their server nor their daily backups and Blue Rock have instant access to their server should it require updating or maintenance.

Commenting on the order, Simon Barber, Regional Sales Manager added “We feel that this hosting model is becoming a far more attractive option for companies, such as Tile West with smaller multi branch locations. We appreciate that not all potential customers will have limited communications options but the benefits of hosting in terms of a managed service with the cost spread over 5 years will appeal to a boarder audience.”

Rifina - Trade Counter

Richard Bartlam, the forward looking electrical wholesaler’s managing director explains why Rifina trusted Blue Rock & Intact software to ‘run the business’

Rifina is an independent Gloucestershire-based Electrical Wholesaler and has just celebrated 30 years in business.  Being very much a private and somewhat conservative company, we have always looked hard at any purchase to ensure that it will give us the best possible return on our investment.

Our company motto is “We keep our promises” which seems a simple enough claim but can often be hard to keep, especially when manufacturers let us down. Within Rifina, much is dependent upon a chain of people working together.  We rely on members of staff working across all three branches – Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Cirencester – and work as one company.  Thus we do not set one branch against another, but see ourselves instead as one warehouse with three doors.

This company ethos might seem strange to others but it has enabled us to centralise our sales office, streamline our deliveries, keep better stocks and, most importantly, still give individual attention to each and every customer.  This personal service aspect of our business is why I still publish on the back of all company literature my private telephone number, so that any customer can contact me directly if company standards fall.

After 20 or so years with our present software company, it was felt that we needed a much more integrated software solution that included the CRM that was currently lacking.  Indeed, we are at present running two sets of customer data, one for stock and sales, etc., and one for customer-related day-to-day information and reps’ reports.  We needed a package that combined both.

Other issues identified as necessary in a new system were:

·         Automatic maintenance of stock levels throughout the company.

·         Ability to drill down and examine in detail all company data.

·         The ability to import and export data into MS Excel or Word so that changes could be made quickly and easily.

·         A system where managers could be alerted when procedures and guidelines were not being followed, to prevent mistakes being made.

·         A system to keep Proof of Delivery (POD) paperwork scanned and attached to the relevant documents.

·         A more efficient purchasing process, allowing suppliers with advantageous prices to be recommended by the computer.

Having looked at many other systems on the market, we found Intact almost by chance.  Even at the initial meeting it became clear that this was a potential frontrunner.  However, because of the current lack of Electrical Distributors in the UK using the system, we had to go and look at an Irish Electrical Distributor – an eye-opening, but not unpleasant, experience – to see it working in our industrial sector.

We also visited other Blue Rock customers in the UK, in the Builders Merchants’ sector, who were using the software; it’s always interesting to see other markets in action.

What we have been most impressed with is the way Blue Rock listened to our specific requirements.  Even suggestions made during the initial sessions were taken away and thought about and, if felt necessary to improve the software, were quickly implemented so that at our next meeting they would come back and say, “Done that!”.  All this, even before we had agreed to come on board…

At the end of the day, our list of modifications required to the product was reduced down to one or two minor issues.  Successful implementation of a new system requires a lot of faith in the company behind the software and requires a real partnership.  I feel confident that the partnership between Rifina and Blue Rock will stand the test of time.

Richard Bartlam
Managing Director, Rifina (www.rifina.com)

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David Bowley, Managing Director of Hursts

Competition has never been tougher in W Hurst & Son (IW) Ltd’s 148 year long history and the company realised to continue to compete and beat competition as the Isle of Wight’s leading houseware and hardware group it had to embrace technology.

PVC Building Supplies

PVC Building Supplies have traded successfully in the Southampton area for 29 years. They have enjoyed an enviable reputation as a supplier of bathroom products and plumbing parts to the trade and a growing retail customer base.

The family run business was started in 1976 by Barry and Christine Wright who retired in 2002 following a take over of the company by Spencer Wright.

The business has grown year on year with the inevitable increase in operating costs. “When you are a small business it is quite easy to rely on people and manual routines to control the administration and stock levels within the business, but as we grew and the number of products expanded, we soon found ourselves swamped by paperwork and old stock” – Spencer Wright, Managing Director.

“The company had invested in a sophisticated computer system several years ago but, to be honest, we only used a small proportion of its capabilities. With the increasing burden of stock we felt that a natural solution would be to replace the system for one that would help control the levels of stock and point us in
the right direction in terms of buying. That’s when we met the guys from Blue Rock”.

Blue Rock’s consultants have a wealth of experience in helping small and medium sized distributors and merchants with their business systems. Their primary business activity is in the supply of new business systems to cater for the financial, selling, buying and stocking requirements. They also supply supplementary Business Analysis software that links directly into most standard business systems to provide enhanced sales and stock analysis.

“We contracted Blue Rock for an initial 10 days consultancy” continues Spencer. “In the first day they simply studied the business to ensure that they knew where we were going wrong and presented their findings back to us. It was obvious that our buying patterns didn’t match our customer demands and that
stock levels bore little resemblance to the requirements of the business. I guess we were making classic errors but found it difficult to identify until some one, like Blue Rock, could interpret the analysis of our existing systems”

“We are now 7 days into our original 10 and (after 8 weeks and a lot of hard work by the staff) the results have been outstanding. From our original stock valuation we have saved just under 15% in terms of stock holding without an impact upon the turnover of the business. We feel as though we are back in control and I can, for the first time, understand the processes that we need to deploy to ensure that the stocks are kept at an optimum level. We aimed to increase our stock turn by 2 and we are half way there in little under 2 months.”

“With the stock levels under control we will be looking to Blue Rock to help us in other areas of the business including, pricing and marketing – in fact we’ve already started the process”.

“Blue Rock quickly demonstrated that the resolution to the problem was not to replace the system but to use it correctly.” Spencer Wright, Managing Director, PVC

Managing Director and owner James Brady knew that he had become a victim of his own success and that continued growth had resulted in his business having too much stock and not enough management control.
Formed in 2001 Universal Plumbing Supplies had grown to three branches in the Southampton area of Hampshire with a turn over approaching two million pounds. However, each day simply no longer had enough hours in it to allow James to manage his business as well as he had.

James said: “I knew I needed to change things, we had outgrown our Sage software system but the headache of changing; the lack of time to implement the change; and the costs involved meant I did put it off.”
Eventually James was convinced by merchant and distributor systems specialist Blue Rock Systems that installing Intact software in each branch and connecting the PC terminals via a broadband would add back hours into each day and allow Universal to be managed with confidence again.
In September 2006 the new system went live. James said: “I was nervous that the whole system would cause me huge problems on day one despite running the Sage and the Intact system in tandem at first”.
“Blue Rock assured me the transfer would be smooth but it was better even than I was promised”.“The improvements in the business were immediate”.

“Most importantly is we are really back in control of our stock again. We have reduced the amount of stock held by 18% and cut our purchases by between £15K and £30K a month”.

“Vitally we have been able to achieve this without affecting our level of service to our customers – the percentage of orders satisfied from stock is the same or has improved slightly whilst still continuing to grow the business”.
“Our customers like the new system as we now have real-time stock information as the stock levels on the system are automatically adjusted when an order is taken so we no longer have to check the stores physically while a customer hangs on the phone”.
“We have reduced the hours required by our book keeper as a direct result of the system from three days a week to three days a month!”
One of the main reasons James chose the Intact system from Blue Rock was the flexibility the package offered.
James said: “We decided not to have a central buying function although the system could have done that. I would rather let each manager run their own branch but when they are ordering stock they see in real-time if another branch has what they want and call it off there rather than the manufacturers”. “The management information the Intact software produces is first-class. I now know exactly how each branch is performing in terms of sales; gross and net profit; and stock levels on a daily basis if I want to.”
James summed up his experience eight months after installing his new system: “I was a bit sceptical when Blue Rock approached me but I’m now a huge convert! It was the best £30K I have ever spent on the business – I just wish I had installed the system years ago.”

Allan Durning, Chairman of NBG (left) with Blue Rock

One billion pounds a year turnover by 2012 is the ambitious target the Executive Chairman of the National Buying Group (NBG) has set for his organisation.

Just seven months into the job running the NBG, Allan Durning is starting to put the infrastructure into place with a six-figure investment in a new computer system for the organisation and its 69 members trading from more than 200 outlets in the UK.

This is the Group’s biggest ever investment and it will see its computer systems revolutionised and the information flows to both members and suppliers change beyond recognition.

Speaking at the signing of the contract with leading builders merchants software house Blue Rock Systems, Durning said software is key if the NBG is to achieve its goals.

“Our systems are starting to creek now we have reached £750 million annual turnover – they need replacing now if we are to achieve our goal of a billion within five years.

“Supplying our members will become both more challenging and beneficial for manufacturers and distributors in the future. Those suppliers who embrace the changes and invest in this Group innovation have a very rosy future dealing with NBG members. Some suppliers have been visionary enough to want to contribute to the cost of the system prior to the market launch!

“The National Buying Group is already the leading independent group for builders merchants and with the extra benefits from the NBG Trading Hub it will be another strategic reason for independent merchants to join this progressive Group.

“The NBG Trading Hub will allow members to concentrate on running their businesses, not running the IT system. It will give relevant information in a timely way – not just a dump of reams of meaningless computer printout!”

“But this major investment will do so much more for our members and our suppliers. Blue Rock is producing the NBG Trading Hub which will give our members, for the first time, the tools to maximise their profits.

The system devised by Blue Rock will be web based, meaning that the vast amounts of insecure emails and attachments members of the NBG are currently required to generate will be dramatically reduced.

The executive chairman said the process to select a suitable supplier for such a fundamental sea-change was painstaking: “It is the biggest ever investment by an independent group of this kind as far as we know and the selection of our technology partner was absolutely crucial.

“Blue Rock won the contract in the face of stiff opposition on the grounds of what its system can deliver, its ease of use, the company’s great knowledge and experience of the builders merchant industry and, of course, price.”

Chris Dennett, like most small business owners, has seen his fair share of smooth salesmen promising software and systems that deliver the earth: transform his business; save him money; grow his bottom line and even improve his golf swing!

So Chris was understandably sceptical when he installed a new “cradle to the grave” software and hardware system at Vectawarm, his family heating and plumbing merchants.

He had carried out comprehensive research before ordering the Intact system from Blue Rock, who would supply and install the software, point of sale terminals and computers and train his staff. In fact Chris even visited other merchant’s who Blue Rock had supplied systems to and were supporting.

It was a major move to replace the Sage Sovereign software that everyone at  Vectawarm was used to using, but it really was no longer up to the job.

Vectawarm had started off life as a plumbing and heating installation business, founded by Chris’ father Melvyn, 40 years ago. As the business grew so did the amount of stock it had to carry and it became a logical move to start to sell that stock to smaller contractors and keen DIYers from its base in Newport, Isle of Wight.

As the merchant side grew the contracting business was let go and now Vectawarm, under Chris’ management, has also been clearly positioned to take advantage of specialist services like Aga spares and installations and distributing Calor Gas round the island.

It is now a year since Blue Rock declared Vectawarm’s system ‘Live’ following the installation, completion of staff training and the integration of data from the old Sage software, so it is a good time to ask Chris to reflect on his now not so new system.

The 41 year old managing director said: “The system has lived up to the promises we were given at the outset and everyone is pleased we took the step we did. It was a big decision at the time but it now clear it was the right one and we see further prove of that every day.

“What we see is rather than be tied to what we can do in the business by the system; the system is much more flexible and genuinely works for us.

“What that means in real terms is that we all have more time to focus on our customers and sell to them – which is, after all, the name of the game!”

With a turnover of some £2million and 13 staff, Chris says he has seen all operational and management facets of the business improve since the new system went operational, embracing, as it does, the whole ‘life’ of the business from sales, purchases, stock control, accounts and producing timely, relevant management information.

“The point of sale has been a huge improvement. Now anyone in the organisation can do pretty much everything while serving a customer. The system is so flexible that it can deal with different discount structures and all the other variables that previously created real headaches and slowed down the whole process.