Case Study

P&A Group

Client P&A Group of Companies
Sector Manufacturing, Packaging & Distribution
Services Process Improvement, SAP B1, EDI & Supply Chain Integration
Region UK
100+ hours administration saved every week
End-to-End EDI automated sales orders, invoicing and courier bookings
Ongoing Partnership SAP B1 and supplier collaboration improvements

P&A Group Case Study | 100+ Hours Saved Every Week

01

The Situation

The P&A Group of Companies was established in 1985 as a manufacturer of timber pallets and packing cases. They have since grown into a successful, multi-divisional organisation offering a range of services to garden centres, major purchasing groups and large e-commerce retailers across the UK. This growth resulted in higher interaction within online portals and increased the time taken to manually process sales orders through SAP. The business found itself less efficient in core processes, driving up the administration resource required to keep pace.

02

The Solution

Pro Outsourcing were contracted to deliver a part-funded work package via the European Regional Development Fund. We reviewed the SAP workflow to understand the efficiency gaps, evaluated the available solutions, ran a full RFQ process and negotiated the best outcome. We then awarded and project managed an integrated, cloud-based EDI platform that connects and automates vital business processes across customers and suppliers.

03

The Result

The project connected customers and suppliers through a stable, scalable and secure end-to-end solution built on a proven SaaS platform. It automated sales order input, invoice advice and courier bookings, saving over 100 hours of administration resource per week and giving P&A Group the flexibility to manage growth across other areas of the business.

04

The Continued Partnership

The relationship with P&A Group has continued well beyond the original EDI project. We have since worked alongside the team to further improve their SAP Business One (SAP B1) environment, refining workflows and reporting so the system better supports day-to-day operations and decision-making. Building on this, we introduced supply chain collaboration integrations that give P&A clear, real-time visibility of supplier status and communications. Order progress, acknowledgements and supplier updates now flow directly into the business rather than sitting in inboxes or being chased manually, reducing risk, cutting reactive firefighting and strengthening supplier relationships as the group continues to scale.

P&A is a Top 1,000 UK growth company and operates in several seasonal markets with constantly changing variables. This puts constant pressure on our supply chain and distribution functions to handle ever-increasing volumes. Pro Outsourcing reviewed our ICT to improve efficiency by integrating the order processes. We have seen an immediate increase in the speed with which we process tasks, as well as an increase in our capacity to do so. Costs to process sales orders have decreased considerably, and we have freed up staff time to have meaningful conversations with customers instead of simply processing orders. We are confident this will lead to more satisfied customers and further growth.
Wyn Jones Strategic Development Manager P&A Group