Access Accounts mixes it

The Mixtec group specialises in manufacturing high quality mixers for a wide variety of commercial applications. Whether one is filtering gold held in suspension and needing a storage tank the size of an average family house (2000 cubic meters), or blending wines using more modest equipment, Mixtec is the company to contact.

Founded in SA in 1980, Mixtec has rapidly expanded to become a truly international player. Today, it has research and design facilities on several continents, with franchises in such countries as Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, US, Brazil and the UK. Among its more recent contracts is a major commissioning project for the UK arm of the Johnson Matthey, the global chemicals and precious metals group.

In 1999, several factors prompted Mixtec to review its financial software. Increasing costs, poor support, lack of development and Y2K non-compliance meant that its existing system was no longer viable. Initially several replacements were considered, but Chief Accountant Leone van der Merwe quickly homed in on Access Accounts.

"A major factor in the early stages of our selection process was the service provided by authorised Access Reseller, ASYST International (SA). In particular, we were impressed by the fantastic way the system was demonstrated and the depth of product knowledge that was shown by ASYST," commented Van der Merwe. "This faith was instantly repaid with an implementation that took just one month to complete and that was delivered within budget.

"In terms of functionality, we finally settled on Access because we needed a solution that would improve cost controls and help maintain project profitability. With projects frequently lasting up to 12 months and imported materials prone to the volatility of the South African rand, careful tracking of costs and revenue was a central issue, and no other package displayed the same depth of functionality as the Access Job Costing module," added Van der Merwe.

"Access Job Costing has revolutionised the company`s operation, because orders may not be confirmed for many months, thus initial quotations are now entered as budgets against project records. This allows any change in estimated costs to be monitored and counteracted during the interim period. Similarly, we are now able to advise our sales force of any significant variances between quoted and actual costs on finished projects. This enables them to estimate future jobs with far greater confidence and to further safeguard long-term profitability. While a project is active, manufacturing and assembly costs are tracked in detail, along with transportation, installation and commissioning costs," continued Van der Merwe.

"The Costing module really came into its own with a powerful range of drill-down and reporting facilities. Access Costing is completely integrated (in real-time) with all of the accounts ledgers, and allows costs to be grouped together at multiple levels. They can then be viewed using a hierarchical structure, allowing us to monitor and assess the profitability of discreet cost categories, such as different types of material and individual external contractors. This functionality has given us a significant advantage over our competitors.

"Access Accounts has greatly simplified and improved our accounting processes. It is easy to use, incredibly stable and has provided for all our needs in one great package. We have renewed confidence in our financial systems and are saving time every day," concluded Van der Merwe.