About Trac
Trac Precision Solutions Ltd design and manufacture precision engineered parts for a range of industries. These include: civil aerospace, defence aerospace, power generation and naval gas turbines
Since we have just completed an upgrade to Epicor Kinetic on their behalf, we sat down for a chat with Amanda Bevington (Head of Business Intelligence and HR) and Chris Royle (ERP Lead) to understand how the project went and how the company is functioning with the new system in place.
Why did Trac choose to upgrade to Kinetic?
Chris Royle: “We had gone through a period of time when our ERP system was managed externally.”
“When I arrived [as ERP Lead] we started to manage the system in-house and began to look at MRP, scheduling and other ways to improve our processes.”
“Realistically, however, we knew we would need to upgrade since we were running a version several versions back from the most recent release.”
“Once we engaged with CBO, we understood that many of the challenges we were looking to resolve could be fixed by simply upgrading to Kinetic.”
“More fundamentally, support from Epicor was about to expire, so there were a number of reasons to get back to the front of the technological capabilities and get on a firmer foundation with the improvements we wanted to make.”
Why did you choose CBO?
Chris Royle: “CBO worked alongside several other providers on our initial move to Epicor in 2018. At the time, they carried out some of our customisations and licensing.”
“Once we started to look into getting more from our system, CBO was the first team that came to mind. The fact that we had a pre-existing relationship, that they are UK based and possess a wealth of knowledge meant that we were quick to rekindle the relationship.”
What requirements did you have from Kinetic and from CBO?
Amanda Bevington: “It’s essential that we have good data to meet the significant number of regulations and parameters within our industry.”
“Working with aerospace for example requires products of the highest standards to be made at an almost micro scale.”
“We have to be able to record and track all relevant data within a central system and this means the reliability of Kinetic is of paramount importance.”
“Upgrading to Kinetic had been long overdue and any challenges with the upgrade could easily bring the business to a standstill.”
“Moving to a suitable system without disruption was obviously very important.”
Chris Royle: “This was also my first company-wide project since taking the ERP Lead role.”
“With a project that affects the whole business, we needed an experienced and reliable team to help guide us through”.
“Working with David, Pat, Mike and James allowed things to roll on smoothly and we tackled problems as they arose.”
“David (CBO Project Manager) was consistently feeding back to us as the project progressed and this was obviously reassuring.”
Amanda Bevington: “Working together so well allowed us to stick to both budget and timescales, which were also key requirements.”
“This has really enhanced our relationship with CBO.”
“The likes of David Riley and Mike Armstrong worked closely with us throughout and were a credit to the business.”
“They repeatedly went above and beyond to keep us on track and within scope, communication was fantastic throughout and we actually came in under budget – which is rare for a project like this!”
“From our end, the team ran a very thorough testing process which meant we didn’t encounter many issues, but if we did, these were resolved quickly and with little fuss.”
Did you encounter any challenges and how were these dealt with?
Chris Royle: “It was a straightforward lift and shift project that took us to the latest version of Kinetic.”
“There were no planned changes or developments or new customisations required within the process, but we did have a timeframe of about 3 months that we wanted to stick to.”
“I would say challenges were kept to a minimum and could be fixed with more exposure on the part of CBO to our business.”
“One technical issue was caused by us firing up new servers alongside the project, which created a few issues such as SSRS reports not redirecting themselves, but this was quickly fixed.”
“Almost all of the customisations worked during the first test but whenever some codes needed to be corrected, Mike Armstrong was on hand to fix them.”
Chris Royle: “From a project management perspective, the project was a dream because things ran so smoothly.”
What were the best things about working with CBO?
Chris Royle: “The consultants were very helpful and always patient. This allowed me to use the experience to learn as much as possible from them as we worked.”
“Developing these skills now allows me to carry out fixes on the system myself.”
“Similarly, I’ve tried to empower our staff to carry out more admin and development and be self-reliant.”
Amanda Bevington: “As Chris says, we really have utilised the skills provided to us by CBO to enhance how we work with the system going forward.”
“This was a significant project for us, and it came with some risk attached: therefore, it needed to go well – and it did!
“Our confidence in CBO has only grown and our relationship continues to blossom. We look forward to working with them on future projects (be that technical or behavioral) to build on this recent success.”
Do you want to learn more about how CBO can help your business improve processes and get the best from Epicor Kinetic? If yes, please click here to chat with one of our experts.
