Forterra PLC, is a leading manufacturer of building products for the UK construction industry and has built a solid foundation based on traditional values and advanced technology solutions.
Forterra PLC started life as The Butterley Company, which was founded by Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. In other words, Forterra and its ancestors literally helped build the UK as we know it. For the past 231 years, the company has become known for innovation, efficiency, and growth. Since launching officially as Forterra in 2015, the organisation has established itself as one of the leading manufacturers of building products for the UK construction industry.
Challenge
- Forterra had already had an EHS software system in place for 15 years prior to implementing Intelex. However, their previous product didn’t grow with the company, and it was decided that the software no longer fitted their needs.
- The biggest driver for replacing the old software system was that it had no online or mobile capability; as a result, it could only be accessed via a desktop PC which was not an ideal situation for the team.
- The Forterra team also had a number of other improvements they wanted to make – they didn’t have an Observations module in their previous system, so the way that they captured their behaviour-based safety observations needed improvement. They also knew that there were specific functionality requirements that they needed from their software system, and the team liked the fact that the Intelex system could be customized to fit the needs of their business.
Intelex Solution
- The Intelex implementation team worked with Forterra to configure everything they required for their evolving business, methodically working through the configuration process application-by- application.
- The first phase of the project started in March 2019 and focussed on the implementation of Incident Management Software, Audit Management Software, Action Plan Management Software and Safety Observations Management Software.
- Phase 2 was a little more complicated because of the number of applications included - they started with Inspections Software, followed by Monitoring and Measurement Software. The next application implemented was Nonconformance Reporting Software, followed by the most complex implementation of this phase: Sustainability Performance Indictors (SPI) Software.
- Phase 3 – the final stage – found the Forterra team unlocking some of the remaining software in their solution set, some of which required a lot of development and deployment time from the Intelex team and was one of the only times where Forterra went against their objective of sticking to the core product as much as possible.
Results
- Key to Forterra is the need to maintain their ISO certifications: 9001, 14001, 45001, 50001 and 6001. Intelex’s Audit Management Software is invaluable here as it has helped Forterra to drive their internal compliance processes.
- The implementation of mobile has been the key differentiator for Forterra in implementing Intelex. It has given their workforce the ability to have greater accessibility, submit better reports that are of a higher quality, and share pictures to illustrate the issues that are being found during the course of a working day.
