I.J.K Timber heading to Kerridge Commercial Systems

"We liked K8 because of its ability to deal with timber lengths and widths and the fact it had an integrated financial package."

Graham Knox, Managing Director, I.J.K Timber Group

I.J.K Timber Group, a timber company operating from two sites in Northern Ireland, is about to implement K8 software from Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). The Belfast and Dungannon based company imports and distributes softwood and hardwood as well as constructional and decorative panel products.

Trading as Irvin & Sellers, Keizer Venesta and Northern Hardwood in the Irish market, the team completed a management buy-out in May 2004 from their previous owners - who bought the companies from Meyer International in 1991. Today they supply kitchen manufacturers, joinery works, builders’ merchants, shop fitters, furniture manufacturers and builders.

The I.J.K team decided to upgrade to K8 because their existing, ageing system lacked the functionality they needed for stock management and reporting. “Our existing system was causing us to do too many workarounds in order to get the management information we needed to make better decisions,” said Managing Director, Graham Knox. “We liked K8 because of its ability to deal with timber lengths and widths and the fact it had an integrated financial package. We’ll also be using the CRM, warehouse management and delivery scheduling functions within K8 and are looking forward to working with the KCS team to integrate our hardwood tally devices into the system.”

Graham believes once K8 is in place he’ll be able to enhance customer service levels through the simplified sales order process which will deliver a shorter lead time between receipt of orders and deliveries. “Some of K8’s features will be new to us as a business, such as automated order confirmations and automated purchase forecasting. And, because we’ll be able to access product information much faster and be able to streamline and simplify many of our existing processes, I’m confident we’ll soon see efficiencies.”

Graham said he’s been impressed with the KCS team who are very knowledgeable about the timber industry. “They were really interested in understanding how we like to do business and I’m looking forward to a smooth transition to the new system.”