PROCare, a leading UK manufacturer of accessible wet rooms, bathrooms and adaptive kitchens, has significantly expanded its operational capacity and warehouse efficiency after implementing Forterro’s ERP and WMS solution, Orderwise. Adam Balmer, IT Manager from PROCare, discusses how the solution has improved business operations.
PROCare has increased the number of daily orders it can process from 50 to 200+, boosted picking accuracy to 99% and scaled its warehouse operations to 75,000 sq. ft. as demand continues to grow nationwide.
Founded in 2001 as a supplier of shower trays, PROCare now supplies adapted bathrooms and wet-room solutions to housing associations, local authorities and contractors across the UK. As its product range and customer base expanded, the company’s manual processes and legacy systems lacked the visibility and control required for sustained growth.
“Before Orderwise, processing 50 orders in a day was time-consuming. Now we’re regularly doing 200+ and handling far more products, all thanks to Orderwise making us more efficient,” said Adam Balmer, IT Manager, PROCare. “Orderwise just works – the prompts, the accuracy, the flexibility. It means we can keep growing without adding more people.”
Manual order entry and paper-based picking meant warehouse teams previously relied on memory to locate and select items. Today, every bathroom order is picked, labelled and tracked individually using handheld scanners and guided walk routes, a transformation that has drastically reduced errors and driven improved customer satisfaction.
“Our picking errors are so low that even ISO auditors don’t believe us, we’re at around a 99% success rate,” Balmer continued. “Having that level of confidence across the warehouse is game-changing, especially when you’re supplying complex, high-value bathroom components.”
Tom Price, Director at Forterro, said: “PROCare is a strong example of how a modern, scalable ERP and WMS can unlock sustainable growth. By replacing manual processes and legacy systems with Orderwise, they’ve gained the accuracy, speed and control needed to support their expanding national footprint. As the company grows it has everything in place to scale with it.”
Built on decades of ERP expertise working with distributors, manufacturers and retailers, Orderwise helps thousands of organisations simplify complexity, connect operations and scale confidently.
Adam Balmer, IT Manager, PROCare, spoke to Intelligent SME.tech about the partnership.
When PROCare was started, what gap in the market did you see?
PROCare was set up back in 2001 by our two directors, Anthony and Brian. They’d both worked in plumbers’ merchants and could see there was a clear gap in the market – adapted bathrooms and wet rooms – that many suppliers avoided because of their complexity. Rather than simply selling standard bathroom products, they recognised an opportunity to specialise in an area that required deeper knowledge, bespoke solutions and a much higher level of service. That complexity became our strength. What started from a small local office has since grown into a national specialist, trusted by housing associations, local authorities and contractors across the UK.
What challenges were you facing with operational capacity before implementing Orderwise?
In the early days everything was very manual. Orders were handwritten on triplicate pads, sent down to the warehouse and then booked separately into Sage 50 later in the day. We were printing picking lists and the warehouse team were essentially picking by memory. That worked when we were smaller, but as we won more procurement contracts and the order volumes grew, it started to creak.
At that stage, the concern wasn’t just inefficiency – it was that growth itself was becoming a risk. Without better visibility and control, there was a real danger that service levels would slip and the operation wouldn’t scale in a sustainable way.
By that point, if we hit 50-60 orders in a day, it felt ‘mad busy’ and Sage started to struggle – it would run slowly, and time was increasingly spent resolving system issues. Our legacy set-up with Sage and a bolt-on pricing tool (PriceFlex) just didn’t give us the visibility, control or stock management we needed to keep scaling efficiently.
What made you choose Orderwise?
In 2019 we looked at a few different options – including staying with Sage – and had various demos. Orderwise was simply the best fit for how we work. Crucially, at the time it could integrate with our existing accounts package, which was important because the accounts team didn’t want to move off Sage all at once.
It also ticked some really key boxes for us: the ability to handle complex customer-specific pricing (what we call price sets), and much more advanced stock management than we’d ever had before – including proper locations, picking bays and walk routes in the warehouse. That combination of flexibility, pricing tools and stronger stock control is what made us choose Orderwise.
What has been the biggest benefit since implementing Orderwise?
The biggest benefit has been being able to dramatically increase our capacity without losing control. Before Orderwise, processing 50 orders in a day was time-consuming; now we regularly handle 200 orders a day and a much wider product range. At the same time, our picking accuracy is around 99%, to the point where ISO auditors have questioned the figures because the error rates are so low. Orderwise ‘just works’ – the prompts, the accuracy and the flexibility give us real confidence – confidence to take on more volume, win larger contracts and invest in growth knowing the operation can cope.
How has the company grown since implementing Orderwise?
Since going live with Orderwise in January 2020, the business has continued to grow significantly. We’re now on track for around £25 million in turnover, and we’ve gone from around 20 staff to approximately 90-100 today, helped by the recent acquisition of one of our manufacturers. We’ve expanded from a small attached warehouse to operating around 75,000 sq. ft. of warehousing across the site.
Operationally, we’ve more than doubled our daily order capacity – from roughly 50 orders a day to 200+ – while maintaining around 99% picking accuracy. We’ve also added handheld scanners in the warehouse and grown our fleet to over 12 vans covering the north and central regions of England and North Wales. We are now able to offer a next day turnaround in other areas of the country, utilising third-party couriers, due to the efficiencies aided by Orderwise. We also now have a strong nationwide footprint supported by online self-service orders through the Trade Portal.”
Did you need to find new warehouse premises?
Yes – several times. We started with a small warehouse attached to our main building and initially thought we’d ‘never need anything bigger’. Since then we’ve put a mezzanine floor upstairs, expanded into the warehouse that adjoins our current building and then taken on an additional warehouse across the yard.
Having the right systems in place meant each expansion was manageable, rather than becoming increasingly complex or disruptive.
Altogether, we now have around 75,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, including mezzanine space that we’ve not fully utilised yet, which gives us room to keep scaling as demand grows.
Why do you think demand continues to grow for your services?
PROCare has been built on quality and reliability, and on specialising in wet rooms, accessible bathrooms and adaptive kitchens that help people live safely at home. We’ve grown from a small local operation to one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers in our niche, working with housing associations, local authorities and contractors nationwide.
In a sector where consistency is critical, long-term customers tend to stay with suppliers they trust to deliver accurately, day in and day out. Maintaining high service levels, even during challenging periods, has helped strengthen those relationships, and we’ve continued to expand our presence, particularly in the south of England, while sustaining strong warehouse accuracy and performance.
What’s next for PROCare?
We’re very much focused on controlled, sustainable growth. The priority now is to build a scalable operation that allows the business to grow without adding unnecessary complexity.
We’re integrating the manufacturer we recently acquired into Orderwise, so we have a single, consistent way of managing stock and orders across the group. We’re also rolling out the Rebate module in Orderwise to improve financial reporting and remove a lot of manual spreadsheet workaround rebates.
Operationally, we still have room to grow into our existing warehouse footprint and we’re continuing to build our presence in the south of England, where there is strong demand for our services. With the systems and warehouse capacity we now have, we feel well-positioned not just respond to growth, but to plan for it with confidence.
