CASE STUDIES

In2grate Business Solutions > Case Studies > Hilco

Hilco Europe is the largest spectacle frame repairer in the UK and services all the main brands including most designer brands of sunglasses – Ray Ban, Calvin Klein, Lacoste, DKNY, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Boss etc. Hilco Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hilsinger Corporation who has been established for over 40 years and has its own repair facilities in the USA.

Hilco Europe - the world’s premier supplier of repair parts, tools and accessories to the optical professionals – has 20:20 Vision!

Hilco is the largest spectacle frame repairer in the UK, operating under a dual branding of Hilco and National Frame Repairers. The companies are a part of Hilsinger Corporation, the leading designer and provider of consumer optical accessories, professional optical tools and related products in the USA and the UK. With a turnover of $65m it sells to a large customer base that includes opticians, optometrists, retail optical chains, sporting goods retailers and independent distributors throughout North America and Europe.

The Hilco Europe repair centre in Heywood, Lancashire, historically used a bespoke system solution for processing and controlling the repair orders. This system was designed and implemented when Hilco was processing 500 orders per week and struggling to keep up with increasing order volume. Demand has grown to over 3000 orders per week – 600 per day - with exciting plans for further expansion. As is the case with many bespoke systems it lacked the flexibility and capability to meet the needs and expectations of a growing business.

The old system produced invoices for all completed jobs but these had to be manually keyed into a different accounting system used by the Hilco offices in Hawes, Yorkshire and the USA. Any new solution had to interface to this accounting system and eliminate the re-entry of data and the duplication of information.

With the continued rapid expansion of the business Nigel Davies, General Manager of Hilco Europe sought to find an alternative solution. The repair centre was processing over 150,000 orders each year with 10% of the business coming from private individuals, who with no trade account needed a quotation prior to any work commencing. The balance of the orders came from trade accounts like Specsavers Opticians where the repairs begin upon receipt of the spectacles. All of the accounts needed to be consolidated at the end of each month for ease of billing to each specific branch of opticians – Specsavers, etc. What Hilco required was a system that would enable them to track the repairs and ensure they provided a fast, quality and complete service for all of their customers.

Having evaluated a number of options Nigel Davies concluded,

"We are delighted to have contracted with In2grate Business Solutions for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution. Our business is benefiting from increased sales, and of course that success produces even greater demands. We needed to migrate from our existing bespoke system onto a solution that has the longevity that Microsoft provides and support for our needs into the future. The new solution provides ease of use and gives us the essential rapid order entry we need to cope with the ever increasing volume of business.”

Use of Microsoft Dynamics NAV has allowed extensive customisations by In2grate Business Solutions from within an integrated development environment and this has enabled Hilco to make immediate changes to respond more efficiently to new business opportunities without disrupting everyday operational processes.

Lindsey Medcalf, Operations Manager explained,

“ One of the key criteria was the ability to process an order through the system in no more than 30 seconds and to book completed orders in the same timeframe. Microsoft Dynamics NAV and In2grate Business Solutions have proved they can do this for Hilco allowing us now to process in excess of 600 orders every working day.”

The solution provided by In2grate Business Solutions utilises a specially developed Service Management module as an integrated part of Microsoft Dynamics NAV to complement the existing ERP solution and to provide a comprehensive answer to the needs of Hilco Europe.