Epicor understands that as an aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturer, you must identify, consider, and respond to a new set of challenges each day. Change in this industry is a given; managing the change with tools and services to distinguish your business from local and global competition is fundamental.
With increasing pressure to reduce prices in a business climate of expanding raw material costs and reduced labor availability, businesses like yours are streamlining and adopting new technology to automate business processes for more competitive lead times and to reduce waste in the organization.
Epicor for Aerospace and Defense is a global enterprise resource planning software solution designed for manufacturing organizations that supply products and services to the aerospace and defense industry.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Applied Composites Engineering (ACE) is a premier supplier of aviation and aerospace products and services. This includes creating products from concept to finish for the international commercial, corporate, and military aircraft industries.
Success Highlights
Challenges
Tie together operations end-to-end and ensure all manufacturing processes, products, and services meet stringent government and industry regulations
Solution
Epicor® ERP
Benefits
Visibility to make on-the-fly changes based on customer requirements
Review details, communicate changes, and make informed decisions in minutes
Create automated procedures ensuring all processes meet certification standards
Increased profitability by tracking the shelf life of materials and reducing the amount of inventory kept on hand
Better identify the time and activity spent on each operation
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
The Encompass team has returned from DMC 2019 / DMSMS 2019 in Phoenix. We had exceptional conversations, learned quite a bit from industry leaders, and started on the path to a few strategic partnerships. All of these activities will benefit our current and future customers. Like all conferences, there are ups and downs, as well as ways in which the event delivered and fell short. This event was no different we’re glad to have the opportunity to share our findings with you. Here’s a high-level account of what we learned.
The Big Picture At DMC 2019
We had the opportunity to hear from and speak directly to the leading manufacturers supplying our defense forces. Companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics headlined the event. However, smaller manufacturers far outnumbered industry heavyweights. These SMBs keep the United States at the top of aerospace and Defense technology. Their achievements and efforts are no less integral or noteworthy.
At the Defense Manufacturing Diminishing / Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages Conference, additive manufacturing took center stage. This technology is a solution to the problem of parts and material shortages. Aerospace and defense industries, forces, and researchers are looking to additive manufacturing technology to deliver on the acquisition of parts and components that no longer have reliable procurement sources.
Unfortunately, according to the university professors, high-ranking military personnel, and manufacturers we spoke with, additive manufacturing is not where the technology’s marketers would have you believe it is. The technology is still very much in its infancy. It doesn’t have the reliability that industrial manufacturing processes possess. In short, 3D printing can’t yet meet the tolerances, conformance and compliance requirements that many aerospace and defense applications require. The tech is too new to be reliable. So, for now, 3D printing is relegated to consumer markets and non-essential components. However, everyone agreed that in a few year’s time, this technology will be much closer in delivering on those expectations.
Where We Fit In
Encompass Solutions maintains a wealth of industry knowledge in manufacturing, sourcing, and distribution. Not only this, but the Epicor ERP solution and peripheral products are perfectly aligned to assist our most integral and transformative defense industries. This helps in keeping our servicemen and women at the forefront of technological superiority. Many of the manufacturers supplying our defense forces have engaged Encompass to leverage our expertise and solutions. We look forward to continuing the conversations started at DMC/DMSMS 2019.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
The needs of aerospace and defense manufacturers are increasingly complex, requiring coordination and efficiency from decision-makers to staff carrying out day-to-day operations, just like the teams they are empowering in the field. Those needs are growing more complex by the day according to this review of the defense industrial base, conducted in 2018 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Here’s how ERP Software For Aerospace and Defense manufacturers delivers on those unique needs.
Benefits Of ERP Software for Aerospace And Defense Manufacturers
What you may want to consider is a purpose-built solution for manufacturing. In this case, Epicor ERP software for aerospace and defense manufacturers delivers:
Constant visibility of product scope and the entire manufacturing process
Project predictions and adjustments using comparisons to previous project data
Improve lead times and reduce waste through the implementation of lean strategies
Automate the compliance process
Recording and reviewing of the entire product lifecycle including audit trails and records of all project purchases
Framework and support for on-the-fly changes in the supply chain
Immediate recognition of deviation from product specification
Fully-embedded project management tools capable of facilitating the entire quote-to-cash cycle and supporting both cost and scheduling visibility to maximize efficiency
Product life-cycle management from cradle to grave
A complete audit trail of compliance standards for design, production, sourcing, and delivery stages
A proven framework to streamline business processes and workflows
A service-oriented architecture built around lean methodologies, which improves lead times and reduces waste
Complete workflows that include customer sign off at each critical stage, from design concept to final estimate
Seamless communication of project data
Intuitive and clear reporting for stakeholders
With more than 40 years of combined experience serving midmarket organizations and divisions of Global 1000 companies, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Going beyond just ERP software, Epicor’s intimate understanding of aerospace and defense industries drives increased efficiency and improves profitability. By providing product management, project management, customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and other essential tools, Epicor equips businesses in an increasingly regulated sector to succeed.
Epicor ERP Software For Aerospace And Defense Manufacturers
Epicor ERP software meets these complex needs by providing the tools necessary to refine operations, glean actionable insights from data, and maintain successful relationships with partners and customers. By streamlining processes to meet demand, without sacrificing quality or increasing costs, business performance improves. It’s one thing to make the essential goods that support critical infrastructure and defense systems, but are you paying the same attention to the quality of you in-house systems and processes that support your business’ longevity? Here’s how ERP software for aerospace and defense manufacturers addresses these unique needs.
Regulatory Standards, Compliance, And Quality
Manufacturing in aerospace and defense industries is highly regulated, and for good reason. Production is complex and due to the nature of use and products need to perform consistently over the course of a long service life. The slightest defect or deviation from highly-engineered components can lead to catastrophe. Managing a business in line with these standards is difficult, to say the least. Compliance, quality assurance, and meeting mission-critical deadlines means there is no room for error. Manufacturers must juggle these standards while maintaining a profitable business.
Fortunately, Epicor ERP software for aerospace and defense manufacturers delivers the visibility, governance, auditing capabilities, and management tools needed to satisfy intense regulatory frameworks such as ITAR, IFRS, and SOX.
With the power to trace compliance standards throughout the supply chain, businesses can maintain detailed accounts of their adherence to regulation every step of the way. These milestones and forms of compliance documentation are recorded and easily relayed to individuals and organizations that need to know they’ve been satisfied. By delivering superior visibility and making it easy to communicate compliance, costly fines and errors can be avoided. Examples of data visibility output include:
Leverage audit intelligence and apply global searches for results in seconds
Track and manage when internal audits are scheduled, due, and overdue
Report on nonconformance/corrective actions by type, category, area, personnel, etc.
Report on and analyze audit data across departments, plants, regions, and the entire organization
Managing the quality of assembly, component or subassemblies is a complex undertaking. Fortunately, ERP systems take the heavy lifting out of quality management with tools that make compliance a simple affair. They provide detailed audit trails of data, records, and other documentation throughout the supply chain. This can manifest in the form of a single data point, a full report or any combination of manufacturing data in-between. ERP systems provide critical data associated with jobs, parts, inspection plans, serial numbers, lot numbers, and more.
Managing Multiple Suppliers
Small and midsized manufacturers are typically not self-sufficient in that they rely on outside suppliers to provide certain parts for manufacturing operations. However, relying on a single source for critical components is an all too common practice among manufacturers supplying the U.S defense industry. The glaring problem being that if a manufacturers single source of parts goes belly up or can’t provide their necessary parts, manufacturing comes to a halt and the business can’t deliver on its orders.
Managing supplier relationships and building a network of reliable partnerships is critical to maintaining the quality and consistency customers depend on. Supplier relationship tools provided by ERP software make this job easier on the manufacturer. Not only can many processes throughout the supply chain be automated through Epicor ERP software, but it also empowers businesses to make better decisions and secure a more beneficial position in a competitive marketplace.
Your ERP system serves as your single source of truth and operates as a repository for buyer, part and supplier records, it helps you preserve accuracy, streamline workflows and remove redundant data entry, as well. Epicor ERP goes far beyond just supplier relationship management tools with a full suite of supply chain management tools, which includes:
Purchase Management
Supplier Connect
Supplier Relationship Management
Inventory Management
Advanced Material Management
Manifesting and Freight Management
Shipping and Receiving
Warehouse Management
Handhelds
Build stronger relationships with suppliers and own supply chain management processes. By leveraging the ability to request quotes for raw materials from multiple suppliers at once and filter RFQ criteria based on your company’s specific needs.
Product Lifecycle Management And Enterprise Security
A component of the Product Management module within Epicor ERP, Product Lifecycle Management is a key component of aerospace and defense industries. This component of the Epicor ERP system serves as the central command center containing all data and documentation associated with your products. Capable of integrating with more than a dozen computer-aided design (CAD) and electronic design automation (EDA) software systems, Epicor ERP offers a hub where changes are made and recorded. This makes essential review and response operations easy and efficient at every stage.
The topic of digital security is one that has been increasingly placed at the forefront of business’ internal and external conversations. Epicor Cloud ERP and Epicor ERP on-premise deployments utilize state-of-the-art security measure to ensure the security of digital assets, IP, and communications. In Epicor PLM specifically, users only have as much access as they are granted by the Epicor ERP admin. CAD models, engineering designs, drawings, communications, contracts, and private documents are all kept under lock and key with fully-encrypted password protection. Minimize risk and secure your essential data using industry-leading Epicor ERP software for aerospace and defense manufacturers.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
The Georgia Manufacturing Summit 2018 was a great event and an exceptional opportunity to showcase our services alongside the latest Epicor ERP software to some of the most influential experts and manufacturers in Aviation and Aerospace. While the Georgia Manufacturing Summit 2018 was an exceptional experience, we’re already looking forward to the 2019 Summit and more opportunities to reach out to our manufacturing partners and prospects in Georgia.
Georgia Manufacturing Summit 2018 Recap
We met with some exceptional people from factory workers to veteran consultants at the Georgia Manufacturing Summit 2018. Everyone was excited to learn about the latest technology at their fingertips. We are so thankful for the opportunity to make these new connections and work together moving forward with the booth visitors who want a firsthand look at Epicor ERP and Encompass Solutions’ services working together in unison. We’re looking forward to next year’s event from the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance!
The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA), based in Lawrenceville, GA, is a professional organization founded in 2008 to support Georgia’s manufacturing community. GMA provides monthly plant tours, educational sessions, tradeshows, and unique networking opportunities designed to help make profitable business connections for its members. The Georgia Manufacturing Directory, Georgia Manufacturing Summit, Georgia Manufacturing Calendar, and the BuyFromGA.com website are additional resources produced by GMA.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Platinum Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
