Nampak Plastics Europe chooses fixed asset software from MRI to help achieve automated financial reporting
Nampak Plastics are a subsidiary of Nampak, who are a large South African packaging organisation which specialises in a wide range of packaging solutions. Nampak Plastics are the UK’s leading manufacturer of HDPE with nine sites across the UK and Northern Ireland producing over 2 billion bottles per annum for the food and drink industry, particularly the UK milk bottle industry. Nampak Plastics sits at the forefront of innovation where it has created a paradigm shift in the industry by introducing a lightweight bottle and the introduction of up to 30% recycled HDPE into its plastic bottles. As such, the organisation runs a highly complex asset depreciation system that required automation in order to help keep Nampak Plastics’ financial operations as agile and flexible as its business.
Prior to choosing MRI Software, Nampak Plastics operated on an antiquated system that was based entirely on the use of spreadsheets. And with the organisation managing over 3,000 assets this had become a very complex and time consuming task. It was this that led Nampak to look for an automated system that could not only help save it time and increase efficiencies, but also calculate the depreciation of its assets in a straightforward and effective way.
Adam Ludlam, Financial Controller, Nampak Plastics, comments, “With such a high volume of assets being managed manually on our spreadsheets it became quite clear that we needed to move to an automated system. We needed something that was simple, easy to use and flexible. And we wanted a financial system that would support our business strategy of being innovative, sustainable and transparent.
“Flexibility was key to us as some of the calculations we need to make for our depreciation charges are very complex and the system we had in place was heavily dependent on one person doing those calculations. We needed a system that could not only help us manage our asset base, but also help us process the calculations automatically. This is where MRI was really able to offer a solution that could fit our needs.”
Nampak has complex rules when it comes to the depreciation of its assets because the company reassess asset lives on a regular basis. This means that it changes the life expectancy of the assets, resulting in a change in the depreciation. This exercise was time consuming and prone to human error when done manually which resulted in Nampak needing an automated system to effectively manage this – something to which MRI’s fixed asset accounting software was ideally suited.
Nampak has also purchased asset tracking and lease asset accounting modules from MRI which will help to improve the current processes in place. The tracking solution will enable Nampak Plastics to track its assets in real time and make notes against an automated system that not only informs where the assets are but also what condition they are in, whilst Lease Asset Accounting software will help the organisation to comply with new regulations that require businesses to include all leased equipment on their balance sheet.
“It is great that we are able to have all this functionality in one single, automated, flexible solution that is easy to use.” Says, Ludlam “In addition, MRI will also integrate with our finance system, JD Edwards, meaning we won’t have to manually replicate any of this data, it will all automatically synchronise across, which will be a huge help when it comes to accurate financial reporting.”
Ludlam concludes, “I am very excited about implementing the MRI system as I know it will provide us with more visibility and flexibility, especially around the complex rules of depreciation. We will also be able to gain more functionality through the additional modules that we have also purchased within the suite.”
