Algeos
Algeos is a family-owned business with over 30 years of experience serving Podiatrists, initially as an insole and orthotics supplier and later expanding to instruments, foot care appliances, and consumables. They are a leading UK manufacturer and distributor of medical materials and technology for podiatry, physiotherapy, footwear, and orthopaedic markets, collaborating with clinicians to create innovative products that enhance patient care, developing popular brands like Aortha and Slimflex, while also distributing trusted global brands such as EMS and Poron.
Challenge
Algeos have embarked on an ambitious Digital Transformation Plan, “Go North” with a business target to increase their Turnover to £20Million/annum by 2028.
The company are looking at ways to future-proof their business whilst increasing productivity and efficiencies in operational processes.
The sales process is centred around an SAP ERP/CRM system which is linked to their website, plus NHS and Amazon systems through EDI. Algeos wishes to improve their digitisation of factory and order processing workflow, which is still a combination of paper and digital documents. This would lead to improved interfacing with finance and inventory management systems.
Solution
LJMU’s Horizons team identified and addressed several challenges, working closely with Algeos to map business processes and data capture requirements, followed by digital solutions recommendations. Desired workflow improvements were agreed upon to eliminate non-value-added processes and to streamline the support.
The Horizons team focused on a Digitalisation and Growth Strategy for enhancing sales, order processing efficiency and productivity, creating process flowcharts, including those for digital transformation and sales order processing.
The Horizons team helped Algeos to secure a Capital Equipment Grant for new digital paper packaging machine which is expected to boost productivity by up to a third through direct printing on eco-friendly packaging, leading to faster order fulfillment and new service development.
Impact
Algeos is currently integrating new packaging and printing technology into its production environment, building on the flowchart production as additional efforts are underway to identify potential solutions that can minimise non-value-added activities, with a particular focus on shop floor job tracking.
The LJMU are also exploring possible intern placement opportunities which would lend a valuable resource to Algeos for conducting in-depth data and workflow analysis, leading to future recommendations for enhancements.
The Horizons team will continue to assist Algeos in developing improved Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and solutions for product design and manufacturing, along with exploring funding and collaboration opportunities.
This partnership aims to significantly boost Algeos’s design and manufacturing capabilities, enabling the development of products and services that tap into new market opportunities.