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EMS Case Study
23 December 2007
Exact Manufacturing Systems (EMS) is part of the Netherlands-based, global company, Exact Software Corporation. Supplying manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software to small to medium-sized businesses, the solution enables manufacturers to manage orders and accounting processes more efficiently.
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With 20 years experience, over two thousand employees worldwide and over 5,000 customers, EMS’s software ensures businesses can reduce waste and enhance product quality and time to market.
With more and more small to medium-sized manufacturers looking to implement an MRP system, for EMS it is extremely important to ensure businesses are able to raise finance for a solution in a cost-effective and timely manner. However, the challenge that EMS faced within the manufacturing industry was a general reluctance to incur any capital costs.
Peter East, General Manager of Exact Manufacturing Systems UK, says: “The manufacturing industry is constantly looking at ways to cut costs. It is imperative to generate increasingly streamlined processes in order to reduce the impact on the bottomline, but not compromise quality. As a result, manufacturers, tend to avoid purchasing anything that could in anyway affect profitability.”
EMS started talking to Smartfundit.com in order to provide a financing solution that would appeal to manufacturers.
Continued East: “Leasing is not popular in this sector as businesses prefer to pay for solutions up front and this is especially pertinent in the SME environment. However, a common dilemma for manufacturers is managing outgoing costs due to the way invoice payment structures work along the supply chain. This led to us looking at ways of providing news ways of financing without incurring huge costs.”
Smartfundit.com is an independent, open marketplace that brings finance providers, technology vendors and businesses together. The site provides a fast, easy and secure way for companies to source flexible leasing finance for technology purchases. For EMS, Smartfundit provided the solution it needed to ensure manufacturers could finance IT purchases more effectively.
“With Smartfundit.com we found a financing solution that enables us to work with our customers more closely. This way we can work in partnership and now offer them a range of payment options that makes the purchasing of an MRP solution a reality.”
A good example of EMS using Smartfundit.com to work in partnership with a customer was with the company Philmor Rail. Philmor Rail provides and delivers cranes across the globe and is typical of a manufacturing organisation that has to deal with longer lead times when it comes to invoicing. As payment is dependent on the delivery of goods, it meant that committing to an upfront purchase of an EMS solution was problematic.
Adrian Phillips, Managing Director of Philmor Rail, says: “For us, the purchase of an MRP system was important in order to ensure order management and invoicing are all connected. EMS gave us a range of financing options, and we found the Smartfundit platform to be the best solution for us.”
As a result of using Smartfundit, Philmor Rail purchased over £20,000 worth of solutions from EMS. This meant that Philmor Rail was able to implement an MRP system and that EMS enabled this to become a reality due to its flexible financing options.
Continued Phillips: “Without Smartfundit.com, it would have been extremely difficult for us to purchase an MRP solution, but due to the fact that we could raise the finance within minutes, through its user-friendly website, meant that we were able to move things forward with EMS. As Smartfundit.com also finds you the best finance options, we found that making the repayments manageable and has not been detrimental to our business.”
EMS continues to use the Smartfundit.com platform and through its successes with Philmor Rail, they believe that leasing will become a more accepted way of raising finance in the manufacturing industry.
Concludes East: “Using Smartfundit.com has given us, and our customers, a whole new approach to financing. We are finding that in an industry that is wary of creating additional costs, Smartfundit.com is making it a more manageable and more acceptable way of raising finance.”
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Epicor® Experiencing Strong Demand for Outsourcing Services
IRVINE, Calif.
Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC) announced today that it is experiencing strong demand for its Epicor Outsourcing services from industry-leading companies such as be2, Ericsson, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Tomra of North America.
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