BPL Flow

The challenge

BPL's operation touched a dozen disciplines — quoting, estimating, production, tool making, HR, transport, dispatch, invoicing — and the knowledge behind them lived in disconnected spreadsheets, paper travellers, and people's heads. Every handover between departments meant re-keying the same data, with all the delay and error that brings.

On top of that, major customers demanded EDI. Orders and schedules arrived over AS2 and OFTP2 with no system ready to receive them, and off-the-shelf ERP couldn't flex to how a precision manufacturer actually works.

What we built

We designed and built BPL Flow: a complete, bespoke ERP/CRM that runs every aspect of the business. Structured quotation analysis and estimating feed won work straight into sales orders and production operations. Tool making is managed through cutting tool and tool holder libraries and full production tool programs, with an integrated CAD viewer putting drawings next to the data they describe.

On the shop floor, every machine has its own iPad running BPL Flow. Operators track production progress and work through their workflows live at the machine — so the office sees the true state of every job the moment it changes, not at the end of a shift.

Around the core sits everything else the business runs on: goods handling and dispatch, transport management, invoicing, time tracking, holiday management, and accident and HR records — one system, one login, one version of the truth.

Automated EDI services over both AS2 and OFTP2 receive customer orders and schedules around the clock and feed them directly into the platform, no re-keying required.

• Quoting and structured estimating
• Sales orders and production operations
• Per-machine iPads tracking live production progress
• Tool making — cutting tools, holders, and tool programs
• Automated AS2 and OFTP2 EDI order intake
• Goods handling and dispatch
• Transport management
• Invoicing
• Time tracking on the shop floor
• Holiday management
• Accident reporting and HR records
• Integrated CAD file viewer

The outcome

BPL now runs the entire business — commercial, production, people, and logistics — from one platform built around how it actually works. Orders arrive electronically over AS2 and OFTP2 without manual entry, tooling knowledge is captured in a library instead of on paper, and every department from the front office to the shop floor to the loading bay works from the same live data.