3 May

Realtime Information, Intuitive Interface and In-House Maintenance Seen as Key Benefits

Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organisations, today announced that Iracroft Ltd, a UK manufacturer of rigid tube assemblies for hydraulic, pneumatic and cooling applications, has selected the Epicor® next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The solution will replace an existing ERP system to support the company’s growth and improve operational efficiency through realtime information and reporting.

Formed in 1972, Iracroft operates from two UK locations, employs 195 people and has an annual turnover of £15m (GBP). The company’s current system manages sales, manufacturing and dispatch processes, but lacks a comprehensive financials package, or the ability to easily manipulate and export data.

“Our existing system is very limited in terms of the reporting it can provide to the business, and exporting data is a complex and arduous process,” said John Harrison, managing director at Iracroft. “Much of our reporting has to be conducted through Excel Macros and what we really need is a solution to give us greater freedom and flexibility with our data. In essence that means realtime information on the factory floor, to help us improve productivity and gain greater visibility of our manufacturing processes.”

The decision to select Epicor was taken after a detailed review of three products. In addition to supporting the same business functions as the previous solution, Epicor will support the quotation process, management, scanning and storage of manufacturing drawings through Altec doc-link, and all company reporting. Users will also be able to instantly request reports with realtime data, as well as develop their own reports when a specific need arises.

“We believe Epicor will give us the best system support for our future success and will allow us to take back control of maintaining our ERP solution,” added Harrison. “Other solutions we reviewed required much more implementation work, and appeared to be more expensive to maintain. With Epicor we believe we are buying into a solution and company that has plenty of momentum behind it, as well as the stability and resources to continue developing solutions that will benefit our business in the future.”

“One of the biggest challenges for successful companies is continuing to improve operational efficiency and productivity as the orders grow,” said Keith Deane, senior vice president for Epicor in EMEA. “It is easy to get so focussed on delivering orders, that opportunities to improve go unnoticed. When you make the decision to implement systems that give you that visbility you want to do it quickly, and that is one of the reasons Epicor has placed so much emphasis on having best practice processes and ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality for vertical markets. It means customers can deploy quickly, and act on the opportunities to improve that are presented to them.”