SA Heat · Heat Exchange
Digitising a heavy-industry manufacturer's entire operation - from first enquiry to final invoice - on Microsoft Dataverse and the Power Platform.
Results
What changed for SA Heat
The problem
When an industrial operation runs on paper, growth caps itself
SA Heat is an industrial heat-exchange business that manufactures, repairs, refurbishes, ultrasonically cleans and supplies heat exchangers for major industrial customers, across in-house and supplied product lines.
When we began, the operation ran largely on paper: manual job sheets, documents created by hand, evidence captured inconsistently, and little real-time visibility for management. Late deliveries were a real problem - only 67% of work went out on time. They needed to digitise these workflows end to end - and gain a single, trustworthy view of operations and profitability.
What we solved
One platform, end to end
Guided commercial pipeline
Every piece of work travels through one structured pipeline - enquiry to quote to job to purchase order - with guided process flows for manufacturing, repair, ultrasonic cleaning and supply, and pre-built quote templates for every product and service variation.
All-in job costing & inventory
Cost is tracked end to end, from raw material through stock to the job, giving real-time gross-profit visibility on every job and FIFO stock allocation.
Asset lifecycle & service
Every unit is tracked across its whole life with auto-updated service history, automatic workshop check-in and check-out, and graduated reminders per product line.
Operations & oversight
A visual planning board schedules and assigns tasks across the team, photos upload from mobile into the right folder, and weekly KPI scorecards refresh through the day.
Audit-ready by default
Workflows request the compulsory and statutory documentation at each stage, so evidence lands against the job record as the work happens. With material traceability alongside it, ISO audits are pulled straight from the system.
Day to day
What the platform unlocks
- 01
Real-time gross-profit visibility on every job.
- 02
Uniform quote templates, peer-reviewed and approved in Teams.
- 03
Live KPI dashboards on jobs, on-time delivery and workload.
- 04
Compliance evidence captured at source by default.
- 05
Accurate asset register with auto follow-up that drives repeat work.
In the client's words
A modern ERP, built around their own processes
Ignite has transformed the way we operate. It has allowed us to scale our business dramatically without having to increase our headcount at the same rate. We now essentially have a modern, flexible ERP built around the way we actually do business, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional ERP. The Planner Board alone has been a game changer, bridging the gap between senior management planning and what happens on the workshop floor. Most importantly, we can measure the impact: our on-time delivery has increased from 67% to 90%. Ignite has given us the visibility, control and scalability we need to grow with confidence.
Behind the build
Built to last, shipped in sprints
One Dataverse hub, seven solution layers
A single model-driven app on Microsoft Dataverse runs the business, organised into seven layered Power Platform solutions - web resources, security, tables, variables, dashboards, automations and applications - for clean, structured releases.
Automated end to end
Around 30 Power Automate cloud flows drive job numbering, status transitions, document generation and reminders, with Power BI dashboards and a canvas Planner Board keeping management and staff in the loop.
Built to last
Reusable components, centralised error handling, role-based notification routing, and SharePoint and Outlook integration keep the system maintainable as it runs across dev, test and production in two-week sprints.
What it unlocked
A platform that absorbs what comes next
Acquisitions onboarded in record time
When SA Heat acquired Mod U Flow, the new business was brought onto the platform in record time. Absorbing an acquisition quickly is now part of the group's strategic thinking rather than a project of its own.
New modules bolt on as processes evolve
A stock module has since been added for sharper visibility of stock levels and project costings. The layered solution structure means the next module lands the same way - without disturbing what is already running.
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