P&L Industrial Equipment Ltd Successfully Integrates its E-Commerce Platform with Pegasus Opera

P&L Industrial Equipment Ltd is a family run business, established in 1975 and based in Manchester UK. P&L is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial wheels & castors. They are a UK market leader in their market sector and have an annual turnover of around £3.6m. The company mainly distributes through its online e-commerce platform Aero, which is integrated into the company’s website www.castors-online.co.uk. The organisation’s primary markets are the TV Film & Theatre, MOD, Automotive, Engineering, NHS Domestic & Institutional sectors.

P&L have been a long time Pegasus Opera user having used the company’s software for nearly 40 years, starting with Pegasus Junior and progressing through upgrades through to the present day and Opera 3. The company started its association with Opera supported by JMC (now Content & Cloud) then Wade,  Amshire Solutions, before finally moving their support contract to Synergy Technology in 2016.

In 2021 P&L made the decision to move their website to the Aero e-commerce platform, to streamline their order process and give their website a modern new interface. The challenge they faced was integrating this new web platform with their tried and tested Opera 3 ERP system.

There was no “out of the box” integration available, so if the objective was to be achieved, some bespoke development work would be needed to get the two systems to integrate with each other. Luckily, with years of experience of Pegasus Opera in the business, and in-house development resource, Synergy Technology was able to provide a solution.

Russ Jones, Chairman of P&L explains the problems they faced. “We had been trying for some time to integrate our Aero Web platform to import orders directly by import & batch to Opera. The Aero platform at that point could not import to the Pegasus software. During a routine client visit with Mark Wilkinson, it was discussed, and Mark thought that it could be done bespoke without any prior experience with the new cutting-edge Aero commerce platform.”

After a full scoping process was undertaken to define the exact requirements, Synergy Technology came up with a proposal that P&L were happy with, and the project got underway. “Synergy Technology agreed to undertake the project, and worked closely with Teclan, our web support partner, to understand the platform and come up with a solution” said Russ. The process was challenging, and took around three months to complete, but was a total success.”

“Mark worked closely with our web partner & also the software developers to find a bespoke solution which was advised and updated between all of us at every stage of the implementation, training and then hands-on roll out. All stages were discussed & advised as to progress & timescale.”

Russ was also pleased with the support the company received post-implementation, especially from his Synergy Technology account manager, Mark Wilkinson. “Any teething issues have been investigated & resolved very quickly & professionally. Mark has been a tremendous ambassador to Synergy and is held in the highest esteem with my company” he said.

Russ Jones explains how the new integration between the Aero e-commerce platform and Pegasus Opera has enabled P&L Industrial Equipment to increase productivity by speeding up the sales order process. “The solution has streamlined the entire sales order process and especially the morning order and weekend processing of huge quantities of orders, which are now imported in minutes, where previously there would have been three staff manually processing for two to three hours daily” he said.

The streamlining of the sales process has freed up a lot of time for the admin team explains Russ “two hours for three staff over five days equates to thirty hours a week, error free, and this allows the other duties of the Admin function to be smooth & seamless.”

The new system especially helps at the company’s busies times. “The import system is now a constant process and makes the Monday morning and holiday close down order processes simple, where previously this was a very large pressure point.” Said Russ.

Overall, P&L Industrial Equipment are very happy with the solution Synergy Technology designed and implemented for them, both in terms of the software itself, and the pre and after-sales service they have received. Russ said “it showed great vision from a routine client visit, to revolutionising an entire department. We would now find it terrible to return to the previous system. A great job from Mark especially and the whole Synergy Technology team.”

Mark Wilkinson, Account Manager and Senior Pegasus Opera consultant at Synergy Technology said of the project, “Having met Russ and his team for the first time, during our conversations I asked whether there were any pressure points or certain processes could be improved. Russ immediately explained there was no connection with their Aero web platform and Pegasus Opera 3 and that the immense amount of time spent manually creating orders obtained from Aero. Once Russ saw how this could be achieved, he immediately gave his full backing and support in implementing the solution. Clearly the cost savings to the business were worth the investment. During the months of testing and working closely with all parties, the goal was achieved. Still to this day, when speaking with Russ he always mentions how this has transformed his business”.

Want More Information on Integrating E-commerce with Pegasus Opera?

The Synergy Technology team is proud to be an official partner of Pegasus Software and to offer Pegasus Opera solutions throughout the UK. We also offer integration with a number of other platforms. Find out more by visiting our add-ons and integrations page.

To learn more about anything in this case study, or to book a demo, please contact the Synergy team today. You can call us on 0345 456 0050 or send us an email via our contact page at any time and we will be delighted to assist you. 

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“The solution has streamlined the entire sales order process and especially the morning order and weekend processing of huge quantities of orders, which are now imported in minutes, where previously there would have been three staff manually processing for two to three hours daily”

“Two hours for three staff over five days equates to thirty hours a week, error free, and this allows the other duties of the Admin function to be smooth & seamless.” Russ Jones, Chairman, P&L Industrial Products.