April 24, 2012

Time to Go Live, Flexibility and Value for Money Puts Competitors in the Cold

Epicor Software Corporation , a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organisations, today announced that Xaar plc , a world-leading independent supplier of industrial inkjet printheads, is to implement the Epicor® next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to replace its existing ERP system in its UK and Swedish sites. Xaar aims to improve clarity of information, production accounting, and materials planning to provide an effective platform for growth.

With revenues of over £65m (GBP), more than 450 staff, and seven locations around the world, Xaar’s existing system, which has reached its limit, has gaps and the potential for inconsistencies in data and reports used within the business. Some activities such as materials planning are still managed with spreadsheets as the current ERP solution lacked this functionality, creating islands of isolated and potentially inaccurate information.

“We had reached the point where our existing systems were creating more problems than they solved, and so decided to make a change before our business was directly affected,” said Alex Bevis, finance director at Xaar. “We wanted a system that would meet our basic requirements of materials planning, manufacturing accounting, finance and order fulfilment. We also wanted to take the opportunity to streamline our processes and improve the availability of accurate and useful information across the business. To complete the challenge, we wanted to finish the project quickly and within a tight budget.”

Xaar’s project team reviewed a number of ERP solutions before selecting Epicor, which it believed would allow them to go live faster and provide the best fit against functional requirements. The team was also impressed with the easy-to-use reporting features that would eliminate the need to use external developers or consultants.

“The out-of-box functionality from Epicor fits well with our continuous manufacturing model,” continued Bevis. “We will be able to access accurate production, inventory and accounting information directly from the system, compared to the current solution of using excel spreadsheets to make sense of system generated data.”

Xaar believes the new solution, which will eventually operate across all seven locations, will provide clarity for decision makers throughout the business including those focused on areas such as manufacturing and planning, inventory management, sales performance and finance. Epicor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) will be at the heart of providing this information and will allow users to instantly view dashboards of key performance indicators relevant to their role.

“Being able to go live on a new ERP system quickly and with the minimum of disruption to the business is essential in today’s manufacturing world,” said Keith Deane, senior vice president and general manager, EMEA for Epicor. “Everyday that you remain on a system that is not serving you well, is a day where the competition is catching up, or inefficiencies are eating into your margins. We understand this at Epicor, and that is why we build a huge variety of vertically-focused business processes into our products that can be used out of the box, or modified to meet customer needs very quickly.”

Embracing the latest in technology and built on a single unified data model, the Epicor ERP manufacturing system provides a real-time, accurate view of manufacturing process, so a company can proactively manage their operations with confidence.