REQUEST FOR QUOTATION -SPECIFICATION

Email for Return of Completed Responses

chris@tigertrailers.co.uk

Deadline for Responses 5pm on Thursday 15th June 2017

Any questions about the procurement should be submitted by e-mail to the email address indicated at the front of this document.

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Project Title Materials Resource Planning (MRP) Software Purchase and Integration

Company name Tiger Trailers Ltd

Issue of Specification Tuesday 6th June 2017

Reference Code GH5972

BACKGROUND TO CHESHIRE & WARRINGTON GRANT PROGRAMME

The project outlined in this Request for Quotation will be part funded by the Cheshire & Warrington Growth Hub Grant Programme.

The Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub team supports businesses with a particular focus on the UK’s dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The grant programme is designed to support businesses in identifying and achieving their growth potential through the provision of a 40% contribution towards the cost of projects across a wide spectrum of business disciplines.

The specification below relates to a project which may be part funded by the Cheshire & Warrington Growth and the European Regional Development fund. However, this will have no impact on the contractual relationship between the business letting this contract and the successful supplier.

Please note, response to this submission is at the sole cost of the supplier and is not an offer of employment.

Further information can be found at http://candwgrowthhub.co.uk/grants

PLEASE NOTE: ALL CORESPONDENCE REGARDING THIS PROCUREMENT SHOULD BE DIRECTED TOWARDS THE CONTRACTING BUSINESS.

BACKGROUND TO ORGANISATION & REQUIREMENTS OF THE BRIEF

Company Background & Project Outline

Established in 2014 by John and Steven Cartwright, Tiger Trailers are an exciting and innovative new trailer and bodywork manufacturer to the motor transport industry. We are based in Winsford, boasting a modern, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility within a single factory premises.

We have already succeeded in securing a range of low to high volume contracts with leading players and major brands in the haulage, logistics, retail and parcel sectors, turning heads along the way with their successful production of quality products.

It is, however, recognised by the Tiger Management team and customers alike, that in order to thrive and sustain their growth and projected growth, we will need to employ a more efficient and effective method of managing workload planning and execution, and inventory control through the introduction of more supportive systems.

We are aware that in order to move forward successfully, we need to introduce an MRP or ERP system to properly manage our materials and inventory requirements.

To this end, we are now actively working towards achieving this with a view to standardising their materials processes and inventory control through a better work-flow from Design through to despatch. In conjunction with our existing system, which will continue to control their sales and production sides of the business, an MRP solution will be implemented to complement and enhance production processes and procedures, and to more accurately control materials within the production stream.

We have been expanding their order-book and are continuing to grow the business at a good rate. Therefore, the need to install a robust and capable MRP is important to allow for this growth without affecting the business adversely, and to offer the team a chance to create and maintain a solution to their materials planning and management.

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An important part of any MRP chosen will to interface successfully with the current Sales Order system, and with the Production planning within this same system to allow for seamless materials control using information provided via these processes.

Accurate costing is a current issue and so any system chosen must have the built-in ability to successfully cost jobs according to parts purchased, married-up with resource and labour data from the existing TI system.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE BRIEF:

The services and outcomes required of the contract comprise the following:

We are seeking a new MRP/ERP system in order to meet a number of objectives:

The desire to rationalise and standardise all business system processes to include:

o Robust Purchasing processes

o Opportunity/estimate/quote interface with existing software

o Sales and CRM interface with existing software

o Production and Manufacturing Control interface with existing software

o MRP – to include ‘child’ parts as standard

o The potential of future Production Planning and Production Control capabilities

o Quality Assurance including ECN and NCR functionality (‘nice-to-have’)

o Inventory Control

o Warehousing and Despatch

The efficiencies that could be obtained from interface between the existing Quote, CRM, Sales and Production systems.

Customisable and easy reporting functionality

Full control and visibility of materials including purchasing, inventory and warehouse management

Maintained and improved control of materials through the facility, the aim being to help to make the overall practices and processes ‘Lean’

The ability to capture accurate data across inventory control to allow for more accurate costing of parts and therefore of finished saleable assets, and in turn to more accurately produce forecasts and predict margins, including automatic cost checking and notification of high variances to standard costs.

We recognise that our requirements will be relatively straightforward and so the desire is to source the solution that most fits the requirements detailed in this document and fits Tiger’s cultural nature whilst allowing for growth. We are open to all options, including a Cloud solution. In order to support this process, we request that suppliers please provide details on:

Hosting options On-premise options Cloud options Database structure Data storage locations Data Security Protocols Relevant compliance and accreditation awards.

Notes to Suppliers

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a) The vendor should provide information on the background of their company covering such areas as the number of years trading, the product range, its ownership and structure and insurance from certain risks.

b) Details of the financial position of the company will be required.

c) The vendor must also give details on the company’s experience in the provision of the products being proposed and the market sector in which the client operates.

d) Vendors are asked to describe how they intend to implement their software. They must also state the contribution required from Tiger Trailers personnel in order that the vendor will meet these obligations.

e) It is expected that customer references be provided upon request, and that key members of the Tiger Trailers Project Team will be able to visit a comparable customer that has implemented the solution.

f) Whilst the grant will not cover training vendors are asked to outline their approach to training, i.e. where it should be held, how many should attend, etc.

g) The vendor should provide information on the hardware operating platforms on which the proposed system will run.

h) Vendors must provide a detailed specification of the hardware and periphery devices necessary to support their solution to the requirements set out in the body of this report.

i) Details are required on all the software necessary for the proposed system, including release numbers. A statement must be given on the company’s policy on maintaining and updating the chosen software. If the solution requires modifications to standard software, then any implications of those changes on future upgrades should be documented. In addition, the vendor should detail the platform(s) their software runs on.

j) Whilst the grant will not cover annual licence and training fees supporting information must be provided on maintenance, support, installation, training services and manuals to be provided. Vendors must also state a willingness to undertake, if appropriate, any bespoke modification and give details of how this will be supported and upgraded in line with the main elements of the package.

k) Vendors should include costs for the total system, each major sub-system and each minor sub-system separately. Costs for each software and hardware element should also be provided, together with a payment profile. Software costs should be quoted for the number of users outlined in Section 2, together with an indication of how the cost of additional licenses is configured. Consultancy and support service costs also need to be provided with full breakdown into number of days and daily rate.

l) The vendor should also provide details of any leasing or financing options available.

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SUPPLIER RESPONSE SECTION

Information Only

Company Name

Contact Name

Contact Telephone Number

E-mail address:

Web Address

Please attach Curriculum Vitae or Organisational Background for information only

Scored Response – Quality

This is a minimum threshold Question – See Evaluation Criteria in Appendix I

How would you meet the needs of the tender as described in the section titled ‘Requirements of the Brief’. Include also project days required and key milestones and dates for completion. .

Available Marks: 10

Systems Focus PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)Tiger Trailers have significant Design capabilities in-house and use this team to produce ADD (Approved Design Data) for manufacture. Within Tiger, ‘SOLIDWORKS’ is used to produce drawings and BOMs and it will be a requirement that BOMs be successfully exported through interfacing to any MRP/ERP installed. PLM and PDM are also controlled by the Design team and currently only hard copies are issued to the shop-floor. It is planned to offer these as digital copies in the future, which is currently under discussion. In whatever form the PLM element is controlled via, it is also important to consider how new parts, as evolutions or supersessions to existing designs, will be effectively managed so that all parties are aware of the supersession and the impact that this may have on manufacturing.

Ref Score PLM Requirements

PLM01 It is apparent that part number allocation will need be determined and defined and this is currently on their internal agenda. Please outline how your solution would support the move towards an informative item numbering approach, whereby anything within a BOM is apportioned a ‘T’ prefix, and anything consumable another prefix..

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Vendor Response

PLM02 What level of detail and control would your system provide regarding commodity or ‘group’ coding? Please show examples.

Vendor Response

PLM03 It is expected that any MRP/ERP system would offer EDI functionality. Please outline how your system would handle this aspect.

Vendor Response

PLM04 It may be a vital requirement that the latest drawing exist as a stored document against Item Masters within any new system. Version control will be important, so please suggest how you might cover this aspect within your solution.

Vendor Response

IT User and Reporting CriteriaFull system:

a) The system’s non-functional capabilities will need to be discussed at length prior to any vendor selection. There is a need within Tiger Trailers to fully understand these capabilities including usability and levels/methods of user interface, responsiveness, security, availability and supportability, amongst others. In a more detailed list, the following points should be considered for discussion;

i. Reporting History

ii. Report writer and ad-hoc reporting with capability to extract/export financial and warehousing data

iii. Dashboard overview

iv. Full interface with any existing systems

v. User system security

vi. Audit trails

vii. Archiving

viii. EDI function

b) Tiger Trailers are open to On Premise and Cloud solutions, but it is felt that their current server (Hosted on the Continent) would be more than sufficient to host any solution offered.

c) RFQ functionality should exist within the MRP solution chosen. Full supplier quote management and PO functions would need to be part of the MRP solution, along with material control and strategic purchasing. The MRP should also offer the ability to auto-receive/-convert the preferred supplier’s quote into a PO and allocate to the relevant sales order.

d) A successful interface between the MRP solution and Tiger’s existing system is paramount. It is expected that the MRP solution would import sales orders and details within, along with associated

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BOMs, and then run alongside the TI production planning and control functions to output the relevant financial requirements at the other end.

e) All materials should be ordered and controlled within an Inventory Management function in the MRP solution. This includes purchasing to cover all orders, with visibility to all staff raising POs of what is available to avoid small concurrent purchases of the same product. The Inventory side of this will then be managed with full stock, lot/batch, serial number and location records with any amendments being real-time.

Ref Score IT and Reporting Requirements

ITRP01 It is important to confirm the usability, interaction properties and security aspects of any system implemented. Please detail your system’s specific properties that you feel would be most beneficial to Tiger’s requirements.

Vendor Response

ITRP02 Please demonstrate what functionality your solution’s dashboard style presentations offer, and the ease of user interface afforded.

Vendor Response

ITRP03 Can system reports be exported to Excel as standard or is a modification required in order to achieve this? Please expand on the point.

Vendor Response

ITRP04 Regarding ad-hoc or customisable reporting, there is a concern that this may adversely affect the normal operations, including the need for ‘partitioning’ of data, as an example, to avoid such an issue. Please outline the strengths of your system reporting function and explain how this potential situation is avoided when reports are produced.

Vendor Response

ITRP05 It is expected that a form of bar-code or similar method of data capture and control would be employed going forward. This would be initially outside of the solution, across the work-flow process including staff ID, work-centre ID and works-order tracking. Please briefly outline your system’s preferred solution to this or how any system implemented could be integrated to capture inventory movements and issue.

Vendor Response

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Section 3: Requirements for the New System by Area Customer FocusSales and Marketing – Processesa) Marketing is currently achieved via a number of media. These include placing adverts in trade

magazines and a stand at the Commercial Vehicle Show. It is also common for Tiger to welcome customers at their premises to offer them an insight into how they operate.***Tiger currently employ a PR agency who provide, for limited cost, support on ads and marketing.

b) The Sales team provide the main body of opportunities through their well-maintained customer relationships and an extensive network of contacts within the industry. This along with their individual product knowledge and experience, married with a track record in product design gained over a long period in the industry, allows Tiger to continue to grow its business and reputation.

c) Sales orders and customer details are successfully and very capably managed within the current Tiger Intranet (TI). Quotes are configured using an intuitive functionality and these can be converted to orders easily and with all detail carried-across. Interface with this information will be paramount for any MRP system considered

d) Using the TI Sales order system the sales team can, upon meeting with or receiving information from customers, use their knowledge of the Tiger product base to produce an accurate quote based on individual customer requirements

e) Quotes can be built from new or copied form existing, with the ability to amend details as required. Only at customer PO stage will the Design team have visibility of an order and begin the Design process.

f) There is a built-in cost calculator, which requires some manual additions or adjustments, but the final price to customer is loaded by John Cartwright (the MD).

g) Quotes can be locked-down at a certain point (amendable only by the relevant Sales team member), closed, converted or deleted. Capacity planning is taken into account and reviewed by Stephen Cartwright (MD) and along with the Production Director this is manipulated for best use of resources.

h) Once converted to order, an Order Acknowledgement is sent to the customer and the sales order is added to the production schedule by the MD, now being visible to the Design and Production teams. Production planning is then reviewed and schedules adjusted as necessary to accommodate the new order if relevant.

i) The system acts as a CRM and gives comprehensive information to the team. This will continue to be the case going forward.

Ref Score Sales & Marketing Requirements

SM01 As the Tiger Sales functions and CRM are to remain within their current TI system, please detail how you will achieve interface with this to enable Sales orders along with CAD-supplied BOMs to be exported to your system, showing full visibility of the order and what

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materials need to be managed.

Vendor Response

SM02 Please demonstrate how customer-oriented product information (descriptions, options, applicability, usage, etc.) could be accommodated and/or managed within the MRP/ERP system as a single source of truth for all product data, and how this would be best controlled and then used as a tool by the Sales team.

Vendor Response

SM03 Although residing in the TI system, please suggest a way in which, avoiding duplicate entries, quote details can also exist within the MRP, behind the sales order. This should include all details from quote to order and may include attaching a customer PO.

Vendor Response

SM04 Please detail how, if at all, your solution can manage potential sales (generated through marketing strategies) posted to it as such, in order to create production and purchasing forecasts.

Vendor Response

Costing FocusMaterials Costing – Processesa) Although pricing of trailers is controlled via the Sales team and Directors, the costing process at Tiger is

at best vague. Costing is generally achieved by checking prices against POs, and as items are often bought in low volumes these prices will not reflect any discounts afforded due to price-breaks.

b) Purchasing is a task carried-out by a number of people in the business, including the Design team, who are able to buy parts against a BOM that may still be in progress. It would be fair to suggest that within the business there is not a tried and tested method of applying any formula to show cost/sale-price/profit numbers and it is often not possible to quantify the margin on an item.

c) Looking forward, the requirement will be to build realistic and accurate costing history against each item purchased. There will be a shift towards more strategic purchasing and a better control of purchased (and sub-contractor-worked) items will be required. This should reside within any solution offered along with other benefits expected of an MRP/ERP system.

Ref Score Costing requirements

COS01 Ann aim for the costing team is to have historical data to work from, or for the MRP/ERP system to automatically offer a cost price based on what it knows. In order to achieve this there must be the ability to collect data from the purchase of bought-finished goods. Please offer a detailed example of how you would provide this functionality.

Vendor Response

COS02 Much of Tiger’s useable data is held on Excel spreadsheets (which can account for much important information across all departments). Explain briefly what within your solution exists to have all such detail stored as accurate and retrievable data that can also be used to

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produce official Tiger documents and forms.

Vendor Response

COS03 Although it is expected that within any new system there will be the ability to read any relevant data loaded by Purchasing, there still needs to be a level of control and validation by the Costing team. Please detail how you would offer these two functions in tandem and what gateways would be in place to avoid erroneous figures being produced.

Vendor Response

COS04 It would be a useful function if, where a part or ‘child’ part is re-costed for any reason, this item cost could be amended and either the system would update the base cost for every higher assembly that this part appears in, or a list would be shown of these assemblies to allow manual review and re-costing where deemed necessary. Please outline your approach to this.

Vendor Response

COS05 As mentioned previously, cost, sale price and profit are not always easily recognised. Please explain how, once an item is costed, issued and shipped as part of a final assembly, the final figures can be routed back automatically to the Costing team to ensure profitability has been optimised.

Vendor Response

COS06 As Tiger use their own CAD-produced designs, please show how it would be possible to use the material usage calculated from this data to assist in costing items for production.

Vendor Response

Material and Inventory Control FocusMaterial and Inventory Control - Processesa) There is no MRP within Tiger, and instead material requirements are generated by the production of

sales-orders and the supporting BOMs. These requirements are then satisfied by purchasing regarding the items required, via a number of people within the business. Any parts not in stock or on order will be identified and purchase orders raised to cover, although this process is very manual and therefore fairly inaccurately controlled.

b) As the system will initially be used to control materials only, the need for this to interface successfully with both the sales and production system currently in use will be a priority requirement. However, the Purchase Order functionality will reside within the MRP/ERP but will be fed by the sales/production system in use.

c) The Materials Controller only has visibility of parts once an order is live and so forward planning in as much as it exists is minimal. Some problems encountered with materials could be avoided with a little more warning and planning.

d) The current Inventory processes control the receipt, handling, storage and distribution/issuing of materials produced or procured by Tiger. Goods-in accept regular deliveries where items are booked-in

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to the system.

e) Goods-In: There is limited detailed inspection of parts received to verify quantities, etc. This is mainly due to the nature of the business whereby many parts are ordered in bulk and it is taken as read that the supplier is capable and accountable, and there is an element of trust based on historical performance.

f) Once booked-in against a PO, there is limited control over managing parts as to correct quantities, advised shortages, etc., and therefore no real control over actual stock levels held. Stock is allocated to a store location. This will generally stay in this location until issued although it is open to being moved with this not being recorded any way other than manually, which may or may not be passed-on.

g) It is common for shortages to go un-recorded and un-reported if noticed at all, and often it is only when parts are to be fitted that a shortage (or perceived shortage – stock may have been moved from where it might be ‘expected’ to be found) that the issue becomes apparent.

h) A weekly stock-check is undertaken each Friday. This is to offer an accurate stock level for the next week’s production schedule as there is currently a lack of any stock control that can be used to any effect.

i) Current attempts at stock control are very manually executed using paper recording, and this obviously leads to frequent issues of lack of communication of changes to stock levels, stock location, etc., and these are often written down but not relayed to anyone else in the department or business.

j) It is perceived that there is a significant amount of stock that is potentially no known about due to it being left-over from a particular job, miss-ordered, etc., and being located on racking that has never been checked. There is no visibility of this stock in any system and so it is potentially lost revenue. This stock could be accounted for, booked in and used against a sales-order if it were identified. This will be addressed before MRP/ERP implementation and stock levels will be determined and set giving full visibility of stock on hand.

k) Despite the above points, there are many positive steps being taken within the factory, including the kitting of parts against jobs, wherever practical. Kitting is currently used for such things as braking systems, light cluster requirements, electrical wiring and landing legs. There is a shift towards kitting in more areas and this will help to both alleviate bad stock control and allow the Design team to limit the BOM detail, using kit numbers to allow for the issue of these types of items, with their own BOMs existing within the MRP/ERP system. These would then be built to make the kit number and booked into stock for issuing.

l) Consumables in particular are not very well managed. These are generally ordered to estimated or historical levels, and are not accounted for against any job. The opportunity for abuse of this type of stock is obvious and again, steps are being taken to give more control over these items, along with smaller tooling such as drill bits., etc.

m) As with many modern-day businesses, as they have grown, Tiger employ the use of spread-sheets and this has become widespread, and now represent the norm across many areas of the business.

n) The use of GRN’s or system-generated batch/lot codes are not currently used, and this will need to be an integral part of Tiger’s inventory control moving forward.

o) Some of what Tiger produce regarding parts to book against production jobs are from personal knowledge or experience (electrical?). There will need to be a conscious drive to ensure this sort of information is formally captured and recorded to allow drawings to be produced, and for accurate issuing of parts and kits against jobs.

p) Labels for production items will be an important element to any new system employed. It is expected that labelling will be used in a bar-code form, or similar, and that this will help to track parts received

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into the business, issued within production, and/or despatched from the business.

Ref Score Material & Inventory Control Requirements

MI01 Materials requirements will be identified via the sales and production systems currently used by Tiger (Tiger Intranet). These will need to feed into the MRP/ERP chosen in order to create MRP details for ordering, issuing and managing of items. Please demonstrate how you would facilitate this within your solution.

Vendor Response

MI02 Parts are received in against a relevant PO, but against a delivery note provided by the supplier. This may or may not currently match the relevant PO and often parts are missed or missing. Please explain firstly how a complete order of parts would be booked-in against the PO raised against them, and secondly how received goods can be accepted and booked-in as part-order if not delivered in full, and how this is tracked to fulfilment. (It is understood that a cultural change will also be required).

Vendor Response

MI03 With a nod to continuous improvement, it has been suggested that a bar-code, or similar, system might improve the management of stock and indeed processes in general. Please show how your system would be able to provide this functionality and what specific technology you can support, including label production.

Vendor Response

MI04 With regard to any form of hand-held scanning, if employed, please outline what your system offers by way of hardware and software, and how and when this updates the core system.

Vendor Response

MI05 Batch/lot/GRN control will be an important part of any implementation. Please detail your functionality around this and what levels of control it would bring to the management of stock within Tiger.

Vendor Response

MI06 What is your suggested method of control for those items that require inspection upon receipt, allowing for a smooth transition for those that, for whatever reason, fail to be flagged to Purchasing for follow-up? (An auto-alert to the buyer in question would be a welcome tool).

Vendor Response

MI07 What recommendations would you give for a more reliable method of tracking POs from receipt by the vendor to receipt of the goods at Tiger? This should serve to alleviate booking-in issues and improve the whole goods-received process.

Vendor Response

MI08 As mentioned previously, the stock check is manually carried-out each Friday. In order to offer an alternative, in this case constant updating of stock levels by picking, the data input by staff must be as accurate as possible. Taking this into account, what would your solution

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offer to help with this process other than a regular, detailed manual stock-check?

Vendor Response

MI09 Actual stock holdings are minimal, as the method is, and will continue to be, order to production as much as is possible. The MRP run will mostly control this but please also outline what level of manual over-riding or amendment can be achieved to overcome materials shortage problems that cannot be immediately resolved.

Vendor Response

MI10 It is important to have a solid goods-in procedure, specifically regarding the data captured upon booking-in and the provision for labelling, with said detail included. This should also include requirements agreed with a supplier via QA. Please demonstrate how what your solution offers would manage these requirements.

Vendor Response

MI11 After loading a works-order and the BOM, the system will highlight available materials or any shortages. This should then alert the responsible buyer to advise of any issues. Please demonstrate how your system could offer a more automated procedure to handle this element of material control taking into account stock levels and known lead-times.

Vendor Response

MI12 Tiger wish to achieve, as part of the overall stock cleansing (physical and systemic), the identification of potentially obsolete stock or that which has not been ordered or issued for a set period of time (to be agreed upon). Please display how your system, once implemented and having created a materials history, could flag these types of items with a view to the business making decisions around physical stock-cleansing.

Vendor Response

MI13 Please explain how back flushing stock at operation level would look and work within your solution and what benefits and/or problems this could lead to.

Vendor Response

MI14 Item coding is currently under review. Please show what methods and alternative options are available within your system around this, and what benefits these can offer.

Vendor Response

MI15 There will be the requirement to capture data and record levels regarding waste and rejects generated from production. This will enable Tiger to accurately keep track of costs against these incidents and so minimise re-issuing of stock with no record of why. Please show what functionality your system has to control this.

Vendor Response

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Purchasing FocusPurchasing – Processesa) Purchasing can currently be undertaken by a number of staff within Tiger. This includes Design

engineers who will buy against a BOM they have produced, and a number of staff who tend to concentrate on certain parts, types of parts or a range of parts.

b) The relevant Buyers raise PO’s to cover the material requirements created by Sales Orders, using the BOMs behind the manufacturing orders as their source. It will be a requirement that POs be raised and managed within the MRP/ERP system, to allow an overall control of materials.

c) It can often be the case that the same item can be purchased by multiple people, each unaware of the other POs having been issued and so not utilising the potential buying power that Tiger should command.

d) Stock is not hard-allocated and so can be picked and issued against any job with a demand, with no specific control over parts having been ordered for a job or jobs, other than the Buyer in question making a point and informing production of this. This is not a robust process, however, and parts can still be used ad-hoc.

e) There is also the opportunity for surplus stock to be accrued, as although items are purchased for specific orders, the nature of the buying process means that excess stock may have been bought in, or that stock may not be required for an immediate order and so will sit in stock until demanded.

f) A realistic goal for Tiger will be, through use of an MRP, strategic purchasing. This should be achieved by taking into account visible stock held versus production demand, then supplier lead-times, production lead-times and taking advantage of price-breaks available through bulk-buying where possible.

g) The control of AGS, or general smaller spares, will in the future be managed in more detail. The aim is to agree and set minimum stock levels with regular reviews, and to use the advantage of price-breaks. Currently, several suppliers can deliver every day due to the short-sighted purchasing processes and this can be significantly improved via strategic purchasing and with a little more planning.

h) BOMs are to some extent built bottom-up by way of purchasing parts for production. To avoid this, the idea is for the Design team to have more control over BOMs at the front-end, and for parts to be purchased to this. This is currently under review and Tiger are working towards a better way of managing this process.

i) The overall aim for purchasing is to have a BOM automatically loaded into the new system from a sales-order within the TI (this BOM may alternatively come directly from SOLIDWORKS with reference to a relevant sales-order). This cumulative information from all orders will then be the buying bible and all POs will be raised against this. Alongside this will be information imported from the production system. Any parts creating a demand via this should also be visible to the Buyers to ensure there are no shortfalls across the business.

j) As PO’s are raised, there will be a limit of approval set per buyer, over which a sign-off will be required from a senior Manager or Director.

Ref Score Purchasing Requirements

PUR01 Any new system should manage the process of initiating a new supplier, keeping their key documents stored together and easily viewed and accessible. The Purchasing team should then be able to manage these details once approved. Please provide an overview of

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functionality.

Vendor Response

PUR02 Tiger are looking towards a more strategic purchasing approach. This will allow them to obtain cost-reductions for ordering to satisfy multiple job requirements. Please show how this can be achieved within your solution.

Vendor Response

PUR03 Purchase requisition requests and PO sign-off approval (£ levels to be defined) will all be requirements. Please show how these aspects will be managed by your solution.

Vendor Response

PUR04 Tiger would ideally like to assist with strategic stock control through intelligent purchasing. Please demonstrate what levels of functionality your system would offer regarding this aspect of inventory management.

Vendor Response

PUR05 Demand for buying will come from the MRP run, served by sales orders and/or production orders migrated across from the TI system. BOMS may be imported from the TI system, or loaded directly by the Design team. Please detail how your interface capabilities would allow these to be seamless functions.

Vendor Response

PUR06 The ability to produce RFQ’s will be a requirement. Please detail how your solution would be able to streamline this process and allow quick, detailed and accurate RFQs to be produced for distribution to potentially numerous suppliers.

Vendor Response

PUR07 There is currently Manager sign-off for PO’s at set levels. Please show how your solution would support this with gateways to inhibit the PO from being produced and sent without the relevant sign-off. Also show how alternative signees would be set-up as an option.

Vendor Response

PUR08 Going forward the item part numbers will be subject to discussion as to what form these will take. The new format may have to include both customer part numbers and Tiger’s own, with both being visible within the Item master, and both being searchable and cross-referenceable. Please demonstrate your options regarding this.

Vendor Response

PUR09 There is a requirement to support ordering to specific orders, with limited manual intervention. There may also be a move in the future towards safety and/or minimum stock – or re-order - levels. Please exhibit how the functionality would exist for these points.

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Vendor Response

PUR10 Please show how your system would best manage products within the supply-chain, and what tools exist to allow for this to be an un-complicated procedure.

Vendor Response

PUR11 The Purchasing team will wish to have extensive history behind PO’s, with full control originating within the new system. Please demonstrate how your system would manage this and how much history will be available.

Vendor Response

PUR12 Lead-times can affect production if there is an unexpected delay to parts supplied. It is necessary for the Buyer responsible to physically check on updates for these items. Please show how it would be possible to set flags or reminders regarding individual POs or PO lines in order to prioritise issues and ensure that deadlines are not missed, and that the expedite function is as rigid as possible.

Vendor Response

PUR13 What would be your suggestion regarding the structure of the buying process within Tiger Trailers? This should cover who is allowed to purchase, and under what guidelines. Please also give reasons for your suggested process.

Vendor Response

PUR14 Reporting within Purchasing will need to be a key part of their tools. There should be access to tailor-made reporting regarding such data as outstanding orders, supplier overviews, on-time delivery, etc., along with access to general purchasing information. Ideally some of this data should be available with an auto-notify function (missed promise date, overdue orders, etc.). Please show how this would be achievable and what forms the notifications could take.

Vendor Response

PUR15 Please show how your system would help to auto-manage longer lead-time items and take the pressure of the team regarding visibility and control of these.

Vendor Response

PUR16 Once items are received, and when an anomaly is noticed, the procedure should be for the person in Goods-In to record this and advise the Purchasing team of the shortage or anomaly. The Buyer will then follow this through with the supplier. Please show how this would work within your solution and what controls exist to assist the Buyers in managing issues such as short-shipping, rejects and missing supporting paperwork.

Vendor Response

PUR17 Tiger are hoping to have a comprehensive and easily accessed supplier management system, similar to those afforded by a CRM. Please show some benefits of this aspect within your solution.

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Vendor Response

PUR18 As the current method for purchasing is to buy according to BOM requirements against Sales Orders, it is accepted that this will be enhanced by full MRP functionality. Please outline and what this process within your solution can offer to Tiger going forward.

Vendor Response

Product Definition and Design FocusDesign and NPI – Processesa) Subsequent to NPI requirements having been discussed, the Design team may be required to buy parts

to allow for the process to move forward. This may involve paying premium prices for small amounts of parts, and the Design team will need to take into account the possibility of buying up-front in order to make savings on potential future requirements of this part which can include assessing the probability of proceeding with a full order.

b) The ability for Tiger to retain their methodologies around innovation and meeting their customers’ ever-changing needs, there needs to be a flexibility around and within the system regarding purchasing. This should not restrict, but enhance their need to stay ahead of the competition regarding them meeting new challenges successfully.

Ref Score Design and NPI Requirements

NP01 What level of flexibility would your system offer regarding NPI procedures, taking into account the use of gateways to inhibit any production without fully managed and recorded customer sign-off? Please explain this aspect and highlight your system’s specific benefits in its support of this process.

Vendor Response

NP02 During the NPI process, a BOM can be agreed upon and then used to start the production of a purchasing towards producing this new configuration. Once approved, how easy would it be to convert this ‘dummy’ BOM into an official, approved version to allow production? Please detail.

Vendor Response

NP03 Although only the latest version of all drawings would be useable, with regard to the platform, what provision can you offer, as an option, to store a library of historical layouts and previous iterations? These should be ‘for information only’ and would probably be watermarked as such. If you would suggest that these be best only controlled via the PDM, then please qualify this.

Vendor Response

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NP04 The solution needs access to costing implications whilst making decisions on design. Ultimately thinking of driving out error from the business, considering continuous improvement in design concepts, what can your system offer with regard to comparing estimated costs versus actuals taking into account the links with the CAD/BOM data? What software tools / module elements do you have to support this activity?

Vendor Response

NP05 What level of flexibility does your solution have regarding allowing for changes to ongoing production orders to be implemented? Please show examples and/or give details.

Vendor Response

NP06 All details contained within or ‘behind’ a drawing – including the active BOM - would need to be available to access within the MRP/ERP system. Please show (by each field as below) - how your solution would manage these separate factions and what parameters would be used to allow them to be attributed to the relevant drawing, if migrated separately:

- BOM

- Parts Variants (including ‘child’ parts)

- Earlier drawing versions for information only

- History behind previous engineering changes

Vendor Response

BOM Options – Processesa) New Product Design will continue to be controlled by the Design team, but with the co-operation of any

relevant departments who may have an input into creating a manufacturing BOM.

b) Once agreed, and having completed a new design, the BOM will be approved. Version control will be maintained by the Design team, and the latest drawing version will then be available for viewing and to be used for manufacture. However, this can currently be WIP as the BOM may not be finalised until during the production run.

c) For material requirements planning in as much as it exists within Tiger, the BOM creates material requirements for purchasing. The convoluted nature of the formal purchasing process within Tiger, however, allows for the purchase of several of the same – or similar – items from one supplier, across numerous POs.

Ref Score BOM Requirements

BOM01 How would you manage the addition of options onto an uploaded or imported sales order within your solution with reference to the relevant BOM?

Vendor Response

BOM02 As BOMs are updated and the new version is created within to the MRP/ERP system, how can your solution facilitate earlier option visibility to the BOM which cannot be manufactured to, but viewed if necessary?

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Vendor Response

BOM03 There is a requirement for a BOM to have a realistic cost allocated. It would be beneficial if the new system had the ability to recognise and read a BOM, source the latest cost against each item, and produce an overall cost base for the item to be produced. Please confirm whether or not your system could achieve this, how this would work if so, and what issues you envisage might present themselves.

Vendor Response

BOM04 Further to the above, please detail where the final cost information would best be routed to. (It is understood that any individual cost updates might be manually entered or, if achievable, automatically updated in the MRP/ERP at some level to ensure accuracy for costing).

Vendor Response

BOM05 Drawing change requests are used and this facility is to remain in Tiger’s processes. Should there be a reason to amend the BOM in the light of change requests, which might be an addition or deletion, a swap or quantity change, please confirm how your solution can support the change process and ensure version control is efficiently maintained at MRP level.

Vendor Response

BOM06 Tiger Trailers understand that in order to make best use of an MRP function, the need to finalise a BOM as much as possible at upload is essential. Please show what options and/or tools are available to assist Tiger in achieving this and how the system can aid them in avoiding problems caused by changes within the BOM.

Vendor Response

BOM07 Please outline your ability to interface with systems to allow the successful import of data such as sales-order information, BOMs and works-order details. This would be to enable these to exist in a form within the MRP solution, and to show that they are linked and therefore to allow for all requirements to be satisfied.

Vendor Response

BOM08 The ability to interface successfully with SOLIDWORKS will be a necessity. Please detail your solution’s level of functionality around this aspect.

Vendor Response

Production - FocusManufacturing and Production - processesa) Tiger Trailers aim to retain their current system around controlling production and manufacturing within

their facility. This functionality within the TI system will need to interface with any new system implemented to manage the MRP functionality. However, it is understood that in the future it may be in their best interests to upgrade to whatever the MRP solution may offer as an add-on or a module

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that can be ‘switched-on’.

b) Manufacturing, product routeings, SFDC and all functionality around parts production will continue to be controlled via the TI system. This will need to export individual works-order details to the MRP system in order for these to tie-in with BOMs and relevant Sales-Orders.

Ref Score Production Requirements

PRD01 Please detail your solution’s facilities that allow for production and individual works-orders to be loaded in some form into the MRP system to allow for these to be married-up with their relevant sales-orders and BOMs.

Vendor Response

PRD02 As mentioned, there may be a decision taken in the future to change-over to manufacturing module or add-on supported by the MRP solution chosen. Please detail firstly the level of functionality behind what you could offer, and secondly how easy it would be to switch over to this if and when required.

Vendor Response

PRD03 Part of any production system adopted in the future would have to include SFDC, with an option to take-up staff log-on and -off. This may also be used for staff hours data capture across the shop-floor and for general attendance, replacing the current system. Please give a brief overview of how your solution manages this aspect.

Vendor Response

Finance FocusFinance - processesa) Tiger Trailers manage their financial requirements through ’Xero’, and the plan is for this to remain the

case for at least the near future.

b) The preferred option is for any system implemented to interface with this system in order to report financials directly back into Xero. Alternatives to this method would have to be discussed and explored further.

Ref Score Financial Requirements

FIN01 Please demonstrate what capabilities your system has with regards to interfacing with Xero in order to allow information to pass between the systems. This should include the methodology behind this and what Tiger Trailers would have to do to help facilitate this.

Vendor Response

FIN02 Any solution chosen will need to include reporting functionality. For finance this should include reporting on inventory, etc., such as:

- Stock value report (including depreciation and current values)

- Stock quantity report including locations

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- Stock movement traceability including dates of movements

- Costings against Part Number, including cost v sales price

- Cost by contract (or sales-order)

Vendor Response

FIN03 Consumables as a stand-alone entity will need particular visibility. Please show what controls there are around reporting on and having visibility/traceability of consumable parts. (It should be assumed that these will be back-flushed or issued during WIP against sales-orders).

Vendor Response

FIN04 Tiger would ideally like to have financial reporting around WIP costings. This should be in the form of visibility of costs against a sales-order either at WIP stages or against single and/or cumulative ‘operation’ stages. Please show the level of functionality your solution could offer around this requirement.

Payroll and Time & Attendance FocusPayroll and Time & Attendance - Processesa) Payroll and Time & Attendance are currently processed by the HR team, and this is likely to remain the

case. However, Tiger hope to – in the future and once the MRP is established – consider implementing a manufacturing module to include SFDC and staff hours recording. Whether or not this will feed directly into HR in some form has not been discussed in detail, but the idea is there and so has to be acknowledged as a possibility.

b) Development of the current system is also being mooted regarding introducing static log-on points to link back to the TI system regarding labour and man-hours recording against jobs. The current use of hand-held devices for capturing staff activity may well be replaced by this method, which would also incorporate view screens to show SOPs, SSOWs etc. The current system also allows staff to book holidays and manage – to an extent – their own HR needs and this needs to be considered with any change to systems in place.

c) A biometric system is also being looked at for staff attendance and the aim is to explore the possibility of using this for both attendance and SFDC if at all achievable.

Ref Score Payroll and Time & Attendance Requirements

PAY01 Please provide a brief overview on any available T&A functionality within your solution and outline the potential benefits that could be obtained by Tiger adopting this functionality in the future.

Vendor Response

PAY02 Please demonstrate what your system could offer regarding interfacing with a biometric system as a form of data capture, or if your solution offers its own version, please detail

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how this works. Where relevant, please include your experience of interfacing with Third-party products.

Vendor Response

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Scored Response – Price

Please provide pricing details for the services outlined in the specification above. Scoring is based on TOTAL COST. Available Marks: 5

Total Cost £

Please note:

All prices quoted shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT). All prices quoted shall be fixed and firm and shall apply for the full duration of the contract. Following that period, any requests for price changes must be accompanied by a written summary

and supported by evidence to justify the proposed price change. No quantity or continuity of work is guaranteed to successful suppliers and this should be taken

into account when completing the Pricing Schedule. Any daily rate indicated in the Schedule of Rates is for an 8 hour working day, during a normal

working week (Monday to Friday). A half day is therefore considered as 4hrs. All costs are deemed to include expenses and any other on-cost.

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APPENDIX IINSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETION

Completed questionnaires should be submitted in electronic format and emailed to the email address given at the front of this document by the due date as outlined in Deadline for Response in the Timescales section.

Any application received after the Deadline for Response shall not be opened or considered. We may, however, in our own absolute discretion extend the Deadline and in such circumstances we will notify all applicants of any change.

You should answer all questions as accurately and concisely as possible.

Where a question is not relevant to your organisation, please state N/A (not applicable) and include a brief explanation if required. Questions must be answered in English and submitted either in Microsoft Word readable format or Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Responses will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria set out in Appendix 1. In the event that none of the responses are deemed satisfactory, we reserve the right to consider alternative procurement options.

Failure to provide the required information, make a satisfactory response to any question, or supply documentation referred to in responses, within the specified timescale, may mean that you will be excluded from further participation in the procurement.

NO CONTRACT

No information contained in this specification or in any communication made between ourselves and any supplier in connection with this specification shall be relied upon as constituting a contract, agreement or representation that any contract shall be offered in accordance with this specification. We reserve the right, subject to the appropriate procurement regulations, to change without notice the basis of, or the procedures for, the competitive tendering process. We reserve the right to terminate the process at any time. Under no circumstances shall ourselves incur any liability in respect of this specification or any supporting documentation.

SUPPLIER SELECTION

The overall evaluation process will be conducted in a fair and equitable manner, so that we are able to consider the value for money of each proposal. This means that we may seek clarification of an application from any and all applicants; different clarification/information may be sought from different applicants.

Once we have reached a decision in respect of an award, we will notify all applicants of our decision. As this is below the OJEU financial threshold for light touch regime procurements, we do not intend to provide for a standstill period before entering into the contract.

Any attempt by applicants to influence the contract award process in any way may result in the applicant being disqualified. Specifically, applicants shall not directly or indirectly at any time:

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Devise or amend the content of their application in accordance with any agreement or arrangement with any other person (other than in good faith with a person who is a proposed partner, supplier, consortium member or provider of finance.)

Enter into any agreement or arrangement with any other person as to the form or content of any other application, or offer to pay any sum of money or valuable consideration to any person to effect changes to the form or content of any other application.

Enter into any agreement or arrangement with any other person that has the effect of prohibiting or excluding that person from submitting an application.

Canvass us or any of employees or agents in relation to this tender. Attempt to obtain information from any of our employees, agents or our advisors concerning

another application.

QUERIES ABOUT THE PROCUREMENT

Any questions about the procurement should be submitted by e-mail to the email address indicated at the front of this document.

If we consider any question or request for clarification to be of such significance that all potential suppliers who have responded should be made aware of it, both the query and the response will be communicated to them, in a suitably anonymous form either by email or on the website/publication on which the tender was advertised.

All responses received and any communication from service providers will be treated in confidence.

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EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposal significantly exceeds requirements and offers value added and additional services that will enhance significantly the service

10 marks

Proposal exceeds requirement. Demonstrated by clear, detailed information and unequivocal evidence

7.5 Marks

Proposal meets the minimum requirements. Evidence is fairly clear and convincing; minor reservations in one or more key areas

5.0 Marks

Proposal significantly fails to meet the requirements. In virtually all areas there is a lack of convincing evidence which casts serious doubt about the ability to meet requirements.

2.5 Marks

Responses scoring 0 will be deemed to have failed to demonstrate the minimum level of quality and will be disqualified.

0 Marks

Prior to evaluating Tenders, we will carry out an initial review of each Tender to confirm completeness and compliance with the Tender Requirements and may, at its discretion, reject a Tender which is incomplete and / or non-compliant. The following pre-evaluation process will be undertaken:

Compliance Check Stage: to confirm completeness and compliance with the Tender Requirements. We may, at our discretion, reject a Tender which is incomplete or non-compliant. Please note the word count and any text above the word count will not be assessed.

Quality Assessment Score: The quality assessment section will be assessed against the criteria set out below and each tender will be awarded a score based on their ability to demonstrate their ability to meet the tender requirements. Responses scoring below 5 in the quality assessment will be deemed to have failed to demonstrate the minimum level of quality and will be disqualified.

Tender Price Score: This is calculated using the formula shown below and a score will be awarded which reflects the cost quoted relative to the other tenders received.

Evaluation Stage: We will then determine the winning tender by comparing the total scores for both the quality assessment and pricing sections.

PRICEIn evaluating the price of tenders, the lowest price will be awarded full marks and each other proposal will be awarded a score based on the percentage difference from the lowest price, according the formula below;

Supplier A :Lowest BidSupplier B :Under consideration

×Marks Available=Marks Awarded ¿Supplier B

See worked example below.

Supplier A :£ 4,000Supplier B : £6,000

×10=6.67

If the price seems abnormally low, further explanation as to the low price may be sought and evaluation of whether the quote is considered economically viable will be made.

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