In 2001 Simon Dalton, Harmer Roberts and John Pitt left their jobs with a medical aids company and bought RMA. The company had been in existence for 25 years, had a turnover of just over ?1 million but was not really going anywhere. The first task, therefore, was to expand the product range from manufacturing wheelchairs, walking sticks and homecare products to incorporate power products and scooters.

One of the next tasks was to install a computer system that could support the increasing workload. This is where we came in.

MAP4 was already very familiar to the team, as their previous company had been a user for many years, and Simon called us in August 2001, to discuss their requirements. Having known them for over 15 years, we knew that negotiations would be tough, but a deal was struck and a 4 user MAP4 system was installed in the October.

With growth running at the rate it was, it was not long before they needed to increase the number of MAP4 users, and an upgrade to a 10 user licence was soon effected.

The next major problem they had to overcome was one of space, or the lack of it. An increased product range, scooters in particular, meant a need for more storage space. They had already taken over two additional units on the trading estate, and the prospect of a fourth warehouse was just too much to consider. So they commissioned the building of new bespoke 65,000 square foot premises on Bridgend Industrial Estate.

By now the MAP4 system had been upgraded to 16 users, all fully networked, with the manufacturing facilities of the Works Order Processing, Bill of Materials and MRP modules implemented to supplement the Stock, Order Processing and Accounting functions.

In January 2004, they moved into their new premises and, apart from the normal teething problems that you would expect of such a move, it all went very smoothly.We have since upgraded their IT structure with a 20 user Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 system, providing them with instant Internet and email facilities from each PC, integrated with MAP4.

All in all, quite a success story, wouldn't you say?