Let's just go for it and see what happens. Take the most innovative, modern solution to data that can talk to things like Xero and go from nought to a hundred miles an hour in one go.
Cap Air Systems ran on paper and two pieces of ageing software, Sage, plus a manufacturing add-on module. Those systems struggled with the volume and complexity of Cap Air Systems' stock movements, so the team spent their days pushing transactions through rather than acting on what those transactions revealed, and they could not fully trust the numbers that came out.
Rather than gamble tens of thousands of pounds on a bespoke, locked-down ERP – the all-in-one enterprise software that runs a company's operations and finances – Cap Air Systems chose Kinabase as it could keep adapting the platform as the business grew. A Made Smarter-funded internship brought in a fresh pair of hands to configure the build, and the Kinabase team rebuilt Cap Air Systems' inventory, forms, and finance integration around how the business works.
The structural build is now largely in place, Xero is integrated and working, and Cap Air Systems is preparing to launch across the business, with HR, health and safety, and quality management inside a single system.
About Cap Air SystemsCap Air Systems is an electronics manufacturing partner based in St Ives, just outside Cambridge, in the heart of the region's technology and medical technology cluster. The team assembles printed circuit boards, manufactures cable and wiring harnesses, and provides their customers with fully assembled and tested products. They provide a full end-to-end solution, supporting customers through the initial design phase, offering Design-For-Manufacture (DFM) advice, help with material selection and sourcing, right through to production, managing the full build under one roof.
Cap Air Systems works with innovators across the UK, taking products from first prototypes through to full production runs. Quality, clear communication and long-term partnership sit at the centre of how the company operates.
The ChallengeBefore Kinabase, Cap Air Systems carried the weight of software that had not kept pace with the business. Paper followed the team around the building, long after it had done its job. As Katy Davies, Managing Director, puts it: "I hate paper. I'm plagued by paper, as Luke knows. Make the paper go away, it does my head in."
The core systems were the bigger drag. Sage and a manufacturing add-on were costly and heavily limited, and neither could handle the sheer volume and complexity of Cap Air Systems' stock movements. So, the team spent their days feeding transactions in rather than working with what came out, and no one could quite trust the numbers the systems produced.
You don't really trust what the system says, because you know it's so hard to get the data entered the right way in the first place. So it's a pain. We've got data we can't really rely on, massively inefficient use of our time, way too much paper floating around the business, and it costs us a lot for the privilege.
An earlier scoping of the market had returned a bespoke system quoted at around £60,000 to design and implement, with software costs on top, a risk Cap Air Systems was unwilling to take for a tool that might lock it in. The question was simple: where was the affordable system built for an SME manufacturer?
The ApproachCap Air Systems' route to Kinabase began with a conversation, not a sales pitch. Frustrated by the lack of affordable options, Katy raised it with Paul Gibbons at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), who introduced her to Jason Mashinchi at Cambridge Kinetics within the week. The two shared the same ambition for SME manufacturers: "We got the same boring dream, but from two different angles," says Katy.
A CPCA grant funded the initial development work, giving Cap Air Systems a low-risk way to begin. What drew Cap Air Systems in was an adaptable platform that the company could keep shaping, rather than a locked one it would have to pay to change later.
The beauty of it is that it lets you automate the boring stuff, and see the bits you want to see, without spending tens of thousands of pounds on a consultant to customise it in a locked fashion that you then can't change if your business changes.
To resource the build, Cap Air Systems turned to Made Smarter Adoption, East of England, the government-backed programme that helps SME manufacturers adopt digital technology and funds internships. Luke Ricketts, a maths graduate, joined for six weeks to take on the hands-on configuration. Coming in fresh, with no habits to unlearn, he could separate what the business genuinely needed from what it simply did out of routine.
We’re thrilled to be able to offer internship funding to businesses in the East of England for such deserving projects like Katy’s. The 225 funded hours of an intern’s time we provide is a perfect win-win for both business and intern. The student gets experience, and the business gets a new, eager perspective, as demonstrated by the brilliant story here. We’re continuing to take on internship briefs for anyone inspired by Katy’s story, so get in touch with Laura Hall if you’re a manufacturing SME in the East of England and are interested in an intern.
Alongside Luke, Mike Lewzey from Cambridge Kinetics guided the implementation. Having spent his career on digital projects in industry, and in electronics in particular, he challenged how Cap Air Systems worked and mapped the physical movement of stock into the system, helping the team to judge what to build now and what could wait.
The days Mike has been here have been the easiest days, because it’s so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off on the Kinabase side. We can think of stuff we want to implement, either the big end goal or little stages, and because he knows exactly what’s going on, he gets it and does it, whereas I am still trying to figure it out.
The work ran on a steady rhythm of testing, ironing out, and testing again. When the team hit a wall around how stock data appeared in different places, they went back through development to put it right, proving the value of that cycle well before anything went near daily use.
The SolutionKinabase gave Cap Air Systems one place to run the business the way it really works. Stock is visible at a glance, replacing a materials-planning report that used to take about half an hour to run, so the team can see what they hold and what they need to buy without hunting for it.
The platform now brings together:
As Luke Ricketts, Digital Transformation Intern, puts it: "It's the willingness to accommodate what we want to do. I think that's the best part, of the team, and of the system as well."
The ImpactWith the build largely in place, the outcomes of the implementation are already clear, ahead of the full launch.
Spending way less time doing the transactional stuff, we'll have loads of headspace to think about things we aren't even doing right now that we should be.
The difference is striking enough that Cap Air Systems has shown Kinabase to its own customers and prospects, even before going live. Katy notes that "when we've talked to some of our customers and prospective customers about the fact that we've got everything in one place, they're like, what is this?"
Cap Air Systems' story shows what happens when an SME manufacturer refuses to accept paper, ageing software and unreliable data at the cost of doing business. By backing an adaptable platform, funding it sensibly through the CPCA and Made Smarter Adoption, and configuring it with fresh eyes and expert help, Cap Air Systems has built firm foundations to run the whole operation in one place. The daily results will follow once the system goes live, and the groundwork is set.
If we ever need something, I don't have to explain it, I don't have to explain why, because you're the closest thing we've got to an extended part of the team. Mike or Jason could come here tomorrow, and the whole team would know who they are. We don't have to explain anything. So, it's so much more efficient.
To learn more about Cap Air Systems and its electronics manufacturing, visit their website.
