Racing Ahead: How Tech Drives Performance

[00:00:00] David: music intro

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Acumatica ERP podcast where we explore practical innovations for growing businesses. Today we're joined by Andrew Williamson, director of Venture Engineering. Andy leads the engineering team and has been at the center of scaling the company's operations and technology as it outgrew QuickBooks.

[00:00:18] He brings a unique perspective on what it takes to evolve systems, processes, and culture in a high growth business. Andy, welcome. It's wonderful to be with you today.

[00:00:34] Andy: Yeah, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

[00:00:36] David: For sure, for sure. Great. Let's, let's start, let's start it off. Andy, why don't you tell us a little bit about Venture Engineering, what the company does, and your role as Director of engineering?

[00:00:47] Andy: Venture Engineering now is 10 years old this year. It's our anniversary and the business was founded by three gentlemen who all came out of the Motorsport world and environment and saw an opportunity to create a company that would provide motorsport sort of services and speed and pace of delivery across multiple, disciplines.

[00:01:08] and the company's sort of grown and evolved as, as everything has gone on. and we now have sort of four streams of activity that we support, within the business. So we have, modern motor sport, which is our sort of on track activity, with customers and and companies that we work with to promote activity on track.

[00:01:28] we've got historic motor sport, which is the restoration and recreation of older vehicles. So sort of anything from the sixties and seventies in, F1 and sports cars all the way through to. Early two thousands, believe it or not, they're now considered, historic vehicles in that market. We have where the company started, which was, within manufacturing.

[00:01:48] We produce, kit and equipment for a number of the F1 teams within, within the uk. a number of car companies both in the uk, Europe, and across in the us. And we can provide anything from an end-to-end service. So quite often we get a package of work to deliver, where, you know, the company will, the client will set their requirements and specifications.

[00:02:11] We'll go away and draw up concepts and ideas, liaise with them to define what that final piece looks like, and then, do design for the manufacturer and, and then make the product and deliver to, to the production line. We work with people like Aston Martin. We work for bits on the Mercedes Hypercar program, working with people like Singer who are probably their premier company for introducing Resto mods to the world with their Porsche catalog of products.

[00:02:42] And then the final piece of activity that we kind of undertake the final stream, if you like, is the special projects, we work with, again, OEMs, and various other companies on automotive projects, such as trams, trains, drones. anything from individual park creation through to working with early startups and helping them to bring their prototypes, and early concepts to a point where they can start to really grow their business. Quite an exciting portfolio of things that we do here at Venture. no day is ever the same, so that keeps us on our toes.

[00:03:18] David: Well, as you were describing that, and I'm thinking to myself, no day is the same and no project is the same too. Right? Everything is completely

[00:03:25] Andy: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And that, and that's kind of what keeps the guys motivated as well. They really enjoy applying their, skills and their knowledge and their learning from the work that they've done, in the past, but to new and different challenges and projects. and so one day the guys can be working on a historic race car the next day they're working on a, an autonomous vehicle.

[00:03:48] It's really quite an interesting, interesting place to be, which is, which is good. Keeps us all on our toes.

[00:03:52] David: Yeah, for sure. That's super, super cool. Alright, let's talk a little bit about the racing too. Right? So, you know, we, we, we all know races are won or lost by a matter of seconds, right? Does technology play an important role in giving your team that winning edge? And if, and if so, how?

[00:04:08] Andy: Yeah, absolutely. you know, Motorsport is, it is quite often the cutting edge of technology, whether that be on the vehicle itself. the systems that it uses, you know, extracting the maximum performance from the vehicle. it also supports the driver, you know, so we're often using technology and data to help them to improve and to get the best and most consistent lap times from them, for example.

[00:04:32] but it also drives everything that we do back of the factory to make sure that we are prepared in the best possible way that the car arrives with the best chance. of winning. And so the racing that we undertake is endurance racing. so we are racing quite often for 12 or 24 hours. and so the preparation of the vehicle, the preparation of the team, the drivers, et cetera, is super critical to make sure that we can perform across a long period of time, and give ourselves the best opportunity to win.

[00:05:00] we can use examples in each of those areas as to how we use, technology and data to help us to deliver on performance, whether that be, you know, managing the lifeing, of the products on the car to make sure that when we know that the car has enough, service life to deliver across a weekend.

[00:05:19] So, you know, if we're racing on a, a 24 hour weekend, we'll get close to 5,000 kilometers of, of racing or track activity across a, a race weekend. Um. Through the data and the information that we are capturing and using to make real time decisions on the track. So we are using tools and AI to help us to forecast and predict what's going to happen in the race to help us make live decisions upon the strategy that we are going to use, the driver lineup and the rotations that we're gonna implement and how we respond to the changing track conditions, what our competitors are doing, how the race is unfolding.

[00:05:58] So, yeah, it really is a very interesting area to, to be involved in and to use the, to maximize the use of the data and the, and the technology to drive home every, every piece of performance that we can. A good example of this was last year we raced at the 24 hours of Barcelona, and we ended up winning the race after 24 hours by 1.7 seconds, I think it was.

[00:06:24] So across 24 hours, that was, that was the difference between standing on the top step and taking second place. So, you know, any number of small factors across the whole of the race could have altered the outcome, dramatically. Which, yeah, it doesn't always happen like that. That's a relatively rare occurrence, but to be that close between first and second place at the end of a 24 hour race is quite, quite something.

[00:06:47] David: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, you know, it's, it's crazy, you know, I was, I was there and, and, and saw your team at work a, a few months ago, and everything runs like clockwork. Everyone knows what to do. It's amazing how little like communication they, they have, but everyone knows their part and everything just kind of comes together.

[00:07:05] Miraculously. Right. So that's, that's super, super impressive. And you've already kind of talked about this, but maybe if you could dive in a little bit deeper in terms of, you know, you're all about efficient operations and how does that really app apply and drive optimal performance on the racetrack? I.

[00:07:22] Andy: Yeah, I mean, a, a lot of performance is driven by efficiency, so you know, again, if we would use the 24 hour race as an example, there's some really good points that you can kind of focus in on and, and help to illustrate where that works well, so. For example, in a pit stop, if we are just changing the drivers, we would spend maybe, you know, 20 seconds stationary whilst that was taking place.

[00:07:48] If we change tires at the same time, then we'll add time to that pit stop and we'll, we'll take a little longer in the pit stop to make sure all of those things are done. So if we can understand how we can efficiently use our tires across the stint and the length of the race, we can save time in the pit stop, stay stationary, and put that back into distance on the track.

[00:08:09] So if you look back again and use that 2024 race as an example, you know, we won by 1.7 seconds. Well, if we'd not been able to. Double stint our tires, use them more efficiently and, and drive performance in that way, then we wouldn't have won that race. same, same comes and goes with the, you know, we gather data and information on, across a 24 hour race.

[00:08:31] We'll end up having to change brake pads and discs on the car. and the guys can do that within a couple of minutes. again, we'll practice and we'll use video recordings and we'll check data and information to make sure we understand how to do that as quickly as possible. and again, you know, small fractions of a second there will make a difference to the outcome of the race, as 2024 illustrated.

[00:08:54] and the same applies within the business. You know, we want our. Technicians, our engineers, our designers, our team, working on the critical things for as long as possible to get the best possible results, whether that's the delivery of parts for a client, whether that's the preparation of the car. So being as efficient as we can within the business within the building means that we are spending the right amount of time and putting the right amount of effort into the really important things that will make a difference for either our business or for our client.

[00:09:23] David: Nice. Nice. It's not just about fast cars, is it? It's about a whole bunch

[00:09:27] Andy: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Yeah, a mentor of mine from years ago used to say if something went wrong, it was generally five things that you could find that contributed to that issue or that problem. And the same thing goes when you're looking at success. I think, you know, when you look at why, why you were able to deliver on track, or why you are able to perform the way you do, there's always multiple reasons as to what has contributed to that success.

[00:09:54] Or to that issue or the challenge that you're facing. So being able to analyze those and, and drive people's efficiency is really, really important. It means they're focused on the important things and not on the stuff they shouldn't be, shouldn't be having to worry about.

[00:10:07] David: Yeah. Yeah. Right on. Awesome. Let's, let's turn a little bit to like technology, specifically Acumatica and QuickBooks. Right? So prior to migrating to, to Acumatica, you were. Using QuickBooks. What were some of the early signals, Andy? That venture had outgrown QuickBooks capabilities.

[00:10:27] Andy: Five years ago, we moved to a new facility. and with that move came the ability for us to really grow the projects and the programs of work that we were undertaking. At that time when we arrived into our new facility, we were still operating, using QuickBooks and Excel.

[00:10:44] and whilst they are both, you know, powerful tools and useful for certain things, what we really needed was. Something that tied all of our activity together and allowed us to be, to be able to access real time data, accurately, quickly, and efficiently. and we couldn't, we just couldn't do that, with what we were running at the time when we, when we landed into the building and very quickly the building gave us the capability or the facilities gave us the capability to increase the size and the volume of projects that we were undertaking. And so, you know, trying to track. and, report and deliver accurate information quickly on those projects was a real manual task. so at that point we, we looked across, what was available for us as a kind of small to medium enterprise. we needed something that would work quickly, efficiently.

[00:11:38] We need something that would respond to our needs and that we could potentially, you know, get assistance and help to tailor and understand how best to use the, the product to help us. and I think the biggest areas for us that we knew that we wanted to improve upon and that Acumatica allowed us to deliver on, you know, almost instantly was the, the ability to run multiple projects all at the same time, give multiple people within the business really good foresight of what was coming, what was happening, what was what we had delivered to date. and allow us to tie all of it from the beginning of the project through to the end together. So from the point where we loaded up a bill of materials, the purchase order, the requirements, the plans through to the point where we were delivering and invoicing and closing out that project, being able to wrap it up in one space with one piece of software was a, a really great step up for the business and, and provided us with a real tool that could, help us to deliver and, it's become indispensable as part of our, part of our toolkit to deliver for customers, let's say.

[00:12:44] David: Nice, nice. So, you know, you talk about real time data insights to, to the business. Before Acumatica, you were using, QuickBooks, you were using Excel documents. So Andy, how did you get a sense of how the business was doing? What, what did a day in the life of look like for Andy to get a sense of what the business was like prior to Acumatica?

[00:13:06] Andy: I almost don't wanna go back there. David, if I'm honest, it was, it was a huge amount of time and effort to, you know, filter through lines and lines of data and information to try and understand and to make sure that, you know, any system relies on accuracy of the data being added or applied to it. The problem with, you know, a free form kind of Excel sheet or something like that. You, you can, anyone can put anything down in any place at any time. as soon as you've got a system that has constraints and you can lock down fields and you can make sure people fill things in, suddenly the accuracy of the data goes up just by default that people have to then comply and use the system properly.

[00:13:44] And so, yeah, I mean, if I was looking at a project as we were coming towards the end of it to try and understand, you know, had we been profitable, how much we'd made. You know, it was a, a massive amount of effort from my side or other members of the team to filter through that data, understand it correctly, and produce some form of report to the rest of the business to say, you know, look, this, this is how this project has, has worked and this is where we've got to, compare that to now.

[00:14:11] And so in a very short space of time, you can get a very high level of confidence that the data you're looking at is accurate.

[00:14:17] I think the piece that really surprised us though was our ability to then use the system in different ways. So there were things that we hadn't considered, things that we found once we'd started operating the system.

[00:14:28] And one of the biggest benefits for me is the person who quite often ends up, you know, liaising with the customer at the start of the program, talking to them as we go through it to understand where we are, any challenges we're facing, where we're up to, and then kind of reporting the program at the end of the work, was our ability to be able to give our clients, those reports.

[00:14:50] And to be able to give them access to the system. So we tried it on a one of our largest ever projects a couple of years ago, giving our client access to the system. Constrained only to the activity that their project was undertaking. So they could see live the projects that were set up for them to deliver the vehicles that we were building.

[00:15:11] They could see the stock that was in, in situ on site. They could see any items that were under quarantine or inspection. They could see where we were in the progress 'cause they could see how many parts had been booked to it and what quantity that was of the bill of materials. and so that meant that they had a great amount of comfort as to what was going on, real time, live, without having to come and see us every day without having to come and check on parts without having to, you know, see what was gonna, they could log on, say, "okay, well I can see you've quarantined these parts. What's the reason? You know, do we need to send someone down? Do we need to get new parts?"

[00:15:44] And, and it, it really, worked hand in glove with the way that we like to operate, which is a pretty open book. You know, we kind of like to have a project, you know, a lot of these early stage projects that we undertake, prototyping early builds. We all start with an understanding of what we think we're trying to deliver, and to the best will in the world.

[00:16:05] That's the information and the data that's available at the time.

[00:16:08] And so, being able for them to see what's happening in the system, for us to be able to track those parts, for us to be able to report openly what's going on, allows us to have real traceability of where we are in the project and what changes we need to capture and how we need to report that back to them. So, yeah, it's been a huge, benefit commercially as well. to be able to build those relationships and to really deliver what we say we're going to deliver with this kind of open book, very, joint venture approach in terms of delivering projects for people.

[00:16:41] David: So basically the overall customer experience that that venture is providing has changed drastically since implementing Acumatica, correct?

[00:16:51] Andy: Absolutely. Yeah. It allows us to walk the walk, I suppose, you know, we, we, or give an extra window into that. So, you know, we could, we could manually show people, we can generate reports ourselves that showed what we were doing and how we were, where we were up to. There's always an element of, you know, "well, are they just telling me that?"

[00:17:10] Is that, you know, that's been manipulated, those sorts of things. by being able to give people access to the system and seeing that data live, it's just been a game changer in terms of the way that we are able to operate. The other piece, I suppose, that really. kind of hammers that home on some of the projects that we work on, is that whilst we'll be generating parts kit, equipment and building, pieces of, technology, so quite often the customer is also supplying kit and equipment to us to support that activity.

[00:17:44] David: gonna ask you about that. I was because, because I know that's a big right.

[00:17:48] Andy: it's a big part so that, that project in particular one where we first trialed the system was. I would say somewhere in the region of a 50 50 split. So the, the, the client was supplying us with, you know, a load of kitten equipment to help build the vehicles we were building and manufacturing a load of kitten equipment.

[00:18:03] And then we were sort of looking after the final assembly and the commissioning and, so them to be able to see their own data live, you know, they, they weren't in control of what had been received. They weren't, um. in here live every day, receipting the goods. We could simply take their bill of materials, integrate it with our bill of materials, and then show them live the parts that had landed, you know, what was, what was with us, check quantities, et cetera.

[00:18:28] And then they were able to, you know, deploy at the right times some of the members of the team to come down and check the kitten equipment and to understand, what they had and, and sign them off before we took them into the, the build. Um. The build hall. So yeah, it's, it was, incredibly powerful and a really great, that project in particular was a really great opportunity to trial to see what the system could do for us.

[00:18:51] And, and it proved to be a great hit. And we've now started rolling that sort of, approach out to all of the projects that we undertake of that sort of scale.

[00:19:00] David: Nice. Nice. So I mean. When I think about the transition, like coming from QuickBooks and Excel to something like Acumatica, I mean, no doubt for any business implementation, Acumatica aside, implementation of a new system can be completely overwhelming. Right? So what did the implementation process look like for your organization? Tell us a little bit about your experiences with that.

[00:19:23] Andy: Yeah, absolutely. So we, I would say in some instances we were, slightly more fortunate than other, other businesses, and we weren't moving from an existing ERP system into a new system. We were importing, you know, relatively small amounts of mainly financial data, purchase order data, et cetera.

[00:19:44] So more from the operational side of the business in, into, uh into the Acumatica system. We kind of kicked off when we weren't, weren't as big as we are today, so there wasn't a huge amount of stock to bring onto the program, et cetera. So from that side it was a little bit easier.

[00:19:59] But I would say the real benefit for us is, was that we could work with, the implementation partner, which for us was Cedar Bay, really closely to help ensure that the processes and procedures that we already have had in place, all the ones that we wanted to implement were supported by the software and the system, and they were absolutely fantastic at working with us to help, improve and develop, bits of code and areas to make sure that the package, did everything we needed it to do as a business.

[00:20:29] the project tracking part was. You know, we didn't have anything that did that before, and this was a huge benefit. the stores and the stock tracking was a massive uplift. So being able to do that, and one of the teams here, you know, kind of drove that from our side and worked really closely with the Cedar Bay team to deliver what we've got today.

[00:20:52] And, and we're still working closely with, you know, Cedar Bay and with Acumatica today. Highlight the extras and the little bits that we've, as we work through the system, the extra things that we can help to do or what that would help us to improve. So yeah, it was a, it was a relatively pain-free process for the size of the activity that we were doing and, and the support that we got from Cedar Bay and from Acumatica was, was great.

[00:21:14] You know, we've ended up with something far better than I think we even imagined that we'd be able to operate from.

[00:21:23] David: Love it. Love it. And I, and I love hearing you say that you're, you're continually working with them to, to extract more out of the system. Right. Because there's so much in there, it's impossible for anyone to implement that all out of the gate. Right. So you gotta, it's an evolutionary process for sure.

[00:21:38] Andy: It's a continual, it's a continual loop of improvement, I think is the, the way that we kind of look at it we're often kind of, you know, each new project, each new activity that we undertake quite often poses a new challenge. And we're like, okay, well can we use a system to do this?

[00:21:53] How do we generate a report that does this? And,

[00:21:55] We are continuing to evolve it and, yeah, really excited still to see what else we can get it to deliver for us. Really looking forward to the kind of AI activity that you guys are developing at the moment and to see how we can use that to continue to drive performance and efficiency within the business.

[00:22:13] It's not something that I thought I would get too excited about, but it's been a really exciting process and, and the team here, you know, we really love working with the Cedar Bay guys to, to help, drive that forward. It's been

[00:22:23] David: They're great. They're great. Awesome, awesome. So since implementing Acumatica, how has that impacted and changed the way your team's work and collaborate? What have you, what improvements have you seen along the efficiencies of the business?

[00:22:38] Andy: We would regularly have people kind of outta position, I suppose, trying to find bits of information and data, you know, whether that was, you know, the fabrication team looking for the parts to finish a project or checking if something had arrived. You know, they'd have to physically go to stores to check if something was there to allow them to complete the next step of their process.

[00:22:59] Now the team is using the system, exactly as we'd hoped to kind of highlight, you know. What's ready to build, what's in the, what's in the building ready to be picked and sent through to them. Booking through processes and parts, looking back at what we've done in the past to understand, you know, okay, how much did we say we were gonna spend on materials, labor, you know, external processes, et cetera.

[00:23:23] the tracking and the traceability of people's time and effort is, is fantastic and again, just helps us to use the people that we've got as efficiently as possible and highlight areas where we could continue to improve. You know, it's, you know, silly if we've got a guy who's incredibly skilled in one area, you know, not spending time doing that, and instead they're doing something that somebody else should be looking after. And so, analyzing our processes, analyzing our, our, our structure even, and roles and responsibilities to make sure that we can operate as efficiently as possible has been really, really powerful for us.

[00:23:59] David: Nice. Love it. Love it. So Andy, what advice do you have for other businesses who may start feeling like they're outgoing, quick, outgrowing QuickBooks.

[00:24:10] Andy: take the jump. In hindsight, you know, we realized that we probably should have done it sooner. We, we were kind of in the mindset that, you know, oh, well, maybe we're not quite big enough yet. Maybe we don't really need it yet. Maybe it's something that's gonna become, you know, it's gonna take too much time and energy from the business at the wrong time to implement it.

[00:24:29] In reality, the, the, I wish we'd done it earlier.

[00:24:32] David: Yeah. Yeah. Just gotta, just gotta jump in and with both feet and make it happen, right? So,

[00:24:37] Andy: Yeah. It's, it's never, it's never too soon. Just, you know, if your aim is to, if your aim is to grow, if your aim is to develop, if you want to move your business forwards, then you need to take that plunge and, and get on with it.

[00:24:48] David: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Final question before we move to the lightning round. How does having Acumatica in place set venture engineering up for the next stage of growth and evolution of the company?

[00:25:00] Andy: We know we're only kind of scratching the surface of what Acumatica allows us to do. And so we have great confidence when we're going in to pitch for these bigger programs of work, bigger projects, bigger pieces of activity, and we can provide a lot more comfort and context to the people that we're working with to show them, you know, this, this is how we track it, this is how we trace it, this is what we do.

[00:25:20] these are the reports we can give you. This is the access we can provide.

[00:25:23] It was possible before, but the amount of time that it took. Became detrimental to the business and, you know, we weren't, we weren't doing the things we should be doing when we were trying to, report back to our customers and our clients as to where we were with projects. So, yeah, it's a huge step forward for us, and, and we know that there's loads more that we can do, and much bigger projects that we can win and manage with the, with the system.

[00:25:45] David: That's awesome. I love seeing everything come together. Like I said earlier, man, your organization is a well to well tuned engine and the culture is remarkable. I'm glad Acumatica gets to be a part of this journey and help you through, through the next stage of, of, of growth for, for venture engineering.

[00:26:01] Super, super cool. Alright, Andy, we're down to the lightning round. You ready? Quick answers.

[00:26:07] Andy: Let's go.

[00:26:09] David: Anyway, it's a little bit more about you understanding, you know, a little bit more about who Andy is. So who is your favorite race car driver outside of your own team?

[00:26:17] Andy: Ooh, that's tough. That's a tough one. So I started out as a rally guy, an off-road racing guy. So, you know, Colin McCray, Richard Burns were kind of my, heroes when I was younger. I worked in that field for a long time, so I think I'd put them right up there. but I've spent the last 10 to 15 years sort of on the track side of the world then.

[00:26:38] I loved, you know, F1 when I was a kid as well, so, well, that's a real, real tough one. today on, on the, you know, you can't but admire Maxwell Statin and, his ability and his capability to deliver amazing results. So yeah, it's a difficult one. Depends which area you wanna go for and depends which field you wanna work in, but,

[00:26:59] David: Sounds like this has been a lifelong passion of yours, so super cool.

[00:27:03] Andy: Yeah, it's something I've been, something I've been around for a long time, both as a fan and then, you know, luckily my career has kind of walked me into this as well, and so I've been very fortunate to be involved in the job that wasn't sure I'd ever get involved in when I was a kid. You know, it's, it's been fantastic.

[00:27:18] David: That's awesome. That's awesome. Okay, so if not racing, is there another sport you would like to be associated with?

[00:27:25] Andy: yeah, I, I'm, I'm really passionate about, rugby, so not something that's, or something that's definitely growing in the us. I see the teams out there and the World Cup is coming there in the future. but, I love team sports, you know, kind of the physicality, the, the, the mindset and the determination over just outright skill sometimes in that side of the world.

[00:27:48] David: Yeah, it's super cool to watch. I love it. and then finally, last one, so what podcast or book has inspired you in the, you know, last several years?

[00:28:00] Andy: Interesting one. Yeah, there's, a couple of podcasts I try to catch, when I can. so the, the diary of CEO, the Stephen Bartlett, series I think is, is a podcast, is amazing. I think you get some amazing guests on there and there's always some really interesting, outlooks, thoughts, ideas from the people that he has on that program, on that, you know, that podcast.

[00:28:23] So I think that's the one I try and catch as often as I can and, and, try and, yeah. Listen to what's going on in that side of the world, because there's always interesting people on that podcast.

[00:28:34] David: Nice. Well, a year from now. When I asked you that question, I hope you say the Acumatica ERP podcast,

[00:28:39] Andy: No, absolutely. It's only because it's not available for me to watch yet. listen to,

[00:28:43] David: Yeah. It's too early. Yeah.

[00:28:45] Andy: Great guests, I hear. So, you know,

[00:28:47] David: Fantastic guest. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:50] Andy: Yeah.

[00:28:51] David: Thanks Andy. Great to be with you again. Appreciate you being on the show and look forward to future episodes of Acumatica ERP podcast.

[00:29:00] Andy: Thanks for having me, David. It's been great to be here and, look forward to seeing you all again soon.

[00:29:05] David: Andy, thanks so much for joining us today and sharing Venture's journey from QuickBooks to Acumatica. It's a great example of how growing businesses can scale their operations and unlock new possibilities with the right technology in place. And thank you to you, our listeners, for tuning into the Acumatica ERP podcast.

[00:29:21] Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future conversations on practical innovations for growing businesses. Have a wonderful day.