“This is how it’s always been done,” is a dangerous statement for business leaders. Markets are far too competitive and change far too quickly for business-as-usual to deliver quality results. Today, you have to focus on how quality management processes can be completed smarter, faster, easier, and with more agility.
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.
Epicor ECN Manager is a web-based system designed to tightly connect your engineering design changes to what you are building on the shop floor. It allows engineering designers to create and modify engineering change notices (ECNs) from within their design software of choice—while they are making the changes. Epicor ECN Manager organizes all ECNs into a coherent and visual structure that is easy to manage so that both engineers and engineering managers can quickly access information relevant to their workflow. It can be customized to fit your company’s business requirements.
Streamline your ECN approval process with a clear visualization of your workflow and the flexibility to define the users and groups that you need.
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.
Proactivity is vital to improving quality management. With real-time visibility into quality and compliance—at every step and across all stakeholders—an organization tips the scales from reactive to proactive. Epicor Advanced Quality Management (AQM) acts as your intelligence gateway into global performance—delivering the objective, truthful information you need on all things quality.
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.
This discussion brief, together with its companion (The Economic Case for Deploying Epicor ERP in the Cloud) is designed to elevate discourse and provide guidance to organizations evaluating the best ERP deployment model (on-premises, single-tenant SaaS, or multi-tenant SaaS), unique to their business and technical environment.
It’s especially important to recognize that there is no universal answer to the question “Which deployment model is best?” as each customer presents unique business and technical requirements and abilities. The purpose of this document isn’t to provide absolute answers, but rather to arm readers with additional (and perhaps better) questions to assist in their internal evaluation of deployment options. This is an especially important conversation for potential (and existing) Epicor customers because of our unique position in offering Epicor ERP across multiple licensing and deployment options.
Except as incidental to framing conversations around cloud deployment, this paper makes no effort to explore core ERP features/functions, or traditional line-of-business topics. While analysis of the fit of the Epicor solution specific to your business needs is warranted as part of your product assessment, the reader is directed to content available at www.epicor.com on all matters of application functionality.
Key Take-Aways
1. The question “cloud or on premises?” presupposes an unnecessary tradeoff. The best answer is ‘both—and I reserve the right to change my answer over time as my business needs to change.’ Epicor encourages customers to demand absolute freedom of choice from their ERP vendor and to not find themselves artificially constrained to only one deployment option due to limitations imposed by their solution vendor.
2. The best ERP systems are ‘everywhere for everyone.’ Deploying in the cloud is (for most customers) the fastest want to tie together remote facilities and mobile employees, thereby streamlining enterprise-wide collaboration and access.
3. Your IT department is ready, willing, and able of doing so much more than ‘racking and patching’ your servers. Moving Epicor ERP to the cloud likely frees your IT resources to focus on more strategic, and mission-aligned tasks.
4. The topic of data security and residency is more nuanced than it may seem. In cloud deployments, the actual physical location of your data may not be obvious, and that may not (or may) matter to you. However the security and disaster preparedness of your Epicor ERP needs to be well thought out, and for many companies, passing that responsibility to Epicor may provide for an elevated level of security, reliability, and availability.
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, 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.
Baxter Manufacturing—a subsidiary of ITW Food Equipment Group—is a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing quality cookware and baking equipment. One of the advantages of being owned by the ITW consortium is that the company gives subsidiaries like Baxter resources to succeed, yet also lets them choose their technology systems. Several other ITW companies also successfully rely on Epicor ERP to grow their business, but Baxter stands out for staying on the leading edge of the system and being an expert in how to leverage the technology to help its customers create authentic experiences for consumers.
Success Highlights
Challenges
The dated ERP system lacked the flexibility to accommodate the business’ fast pace
Solution
Epicor® ERP
Benefits
Reduced production lead time from 2 months to 1 day
Offered out-of-the-box functionality with easy-to-use data mining capabilities
Provided real-time information with a 360-degree view of the business
Helped identify business opportunities with existing customers through manufacturing resource planning (MRP) and customer relationship management (CRM) modules
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.
Solarvest Holdings Berhad is one of the market leaders in Malaysia’s nascent but growing solar photovoltaic energy industry. Since its founding in 2012, the company has established itself as a household name in the residential solar business but has since expanded its commercial/industrial and utility-scale segments. Once a four-man company, Solarvest has grown into an impressive mid-sized business—they currently manage a staff of about 180 people and in 2018, the company raked in RM112 million in revenue.
Solarvest operates in the solar industry’s Engineering, Procurement Construction & Commissioning (EPCC) segment, and has become well-known for its capabilities across a whole range of project sizes. The company’s agile and experienced team has been involved in building not just large-scale infrastructure for commercial clients, but also smaller solar plants for residential homes. Solarvest provides end-to-end expertise in engineering and project managing clients’ projects, as well as round-the-clock customer support.
Success Highlights
Challenges
Managing a diverse range of offerings and operations
Working with many different market segments, using several different platforms
Trying to remain cost-effective, whilst being flexible to keep up with market needs
Benefits
Processes are more streamlined, with information easier to communicate
The entire companies information databases were digitized and brought onto a single platform
Reduce operational bottlenecks and mitigate the risk of human error
Boost productivity, resulting in taking on more projects
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.
Tuffaloy Products, Inc. is a South Carolina-based global manufacturer of metals and welding products for automotive and industrial markets. It’s a fourth-generation family-owned business with an 80-year history. Tuffaloy has a unique ability to adapt and change with the times, expanding into a wide array of products and services across six locations around the world.
Success Highlights
Challenges
Needed to update outdated system
Small company with no IT staff
Needed global visibility
Visibility for salespeople (open quotes, customer sales info)
Needed a flexible system to manage different manufacturing processes
Needed a simple, easy-to-understand solution
Needed scalability
Solution
Epicor® ERP
Left legacy ERP system
Felt Netsuite software was not a strong MFG solution and liked Epicor’s functionality
Initially on Multi-Tenant, recently migrated to the Public Cloud
Electronics and industrial fabrication MFG customer
6 companies with 5 locations in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Mexico
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.
