Client Stories

Client Stories > Business & Professional Services > PPS Equipment

Since forming in 2001, PPS Equipment have become the UK market leader for Returnable Transit Packaging services, including the rental and pooling of plastic trays, crates, and pallets, in addition to the washing, repairs, and management of plastic Returnable Transit Packaging.

Headquartered in Marchington, near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, and with a site in Grimsby, they serve many industries including Automotive and Retail, but their primary focus is the Food Sector, and specifically Meat and Fish.

By 2017, they realised their primary software system needed upgrading to something that could do more and was based on a modern architecture, as the current system could only manage a limited number of products and services. In addition, the frameworks that the system used were outdated, and any update would be expensive without adding any particular value. Support was supplied by one individual, which meant a significant risk to the business. PPS turned to Freeman Clarke, who appointed Richard Veys, from the West Midlands team, to help with their IT.

In addition to upgrading the system, the company had poor connectivity and service from its current service provider. This created frustration from staff members who were simply trying to do their work. General IT issues dropped dramatically after a new service provider and upgrades to connectivity and VoIP telephony.

Now that the IT foundations were shored up, attention could then be focused onto the main application. Initially, they tried to identify an ‘off the shelf’ package that could be customised or augmented to meet the requirement of PPS and their customers, but nothing suitable could be identified. After much consideration, the Board decided to undertake a project to design and develop PPS’s own system that would deliver business value and underpin scalable operations.

Today, PPS’s system, ‘Enable’ is used daily by hundreds of companies and users across the sector, and there is a strong vision for further development.

Joanne Lee, Group Managing Director of PPS has said of Enable:

‘We have taken a leap forward for our customers ensuring that they can manage their equipment and dramatically minimise the chance of an asset being lost in the supply chain. Without Freeman Clarke and Richard we would not have found the right platform, created the project or delivered it. Their help has meant our customers have saved considerable amounts of capital and time on reusable assets and we are now thinking about reselling this tool to other industries, something we never would have considered before.’

PPS Equipment

Created a project to design and develop PPS’s own system used daily by hundreds of companies and users across the sector and there is a strong vision for further development

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