Champagne corks were popping at Epicor’s HQ in Austin, Texas last month as its ERP 10 software topped the influential SelectHub ERP System Leaderboard, scoring 83 points out of a possible 100.

Drawing on data sourced from over a thousand software selection projects and Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Epicor was named the buyers’ platform of choice when rated across twenty functional and business categories.

The result has given a major boost to Epicor’s continued growth within the ERP market, placing it above big-name rivals in the Top 10, including Sage ERP X3, SAP Business ByDesign, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.

The Leaderboard is also set to be a major resource for manufacturing businesses looking for a unified ERP system capable of supporting continuous growth and delivering bottom-line efficiencies. But with only three points separating Epicor from the sixth-rated contender, it certainly pays to look at the results in more detail.

 

Manufacturing requirements

When it came specifically to manufacturing processes, Epicor ERP 10 ranked first alongside Sage ERP X3 and SYSPRO 7 with 85 points. Epicor was praised for the efficiency of its Capacity Requirements Planning, which gives the ‘user the visibility to optimise production resources, and make knowledgeable overtime, subcontracting, and work transfer decisions’. This compared very favourably with SAP Business ByDesign, which was found to allow users to ‘enhance production planning by a large extent’ to meet ‘forecasted requirements’.

In short, the data visibility available in Epicor makes it simple to create efficient, profitable manufacturing processes – giving you maximum agility as production circumstances change.

 

Business critical functions

Of course, manufacturing businesses demand more than top-flight Capacity Requirements Planning to deliver lean, cost-efficient processes. We’d encourage you to analyse the Leaderboard in full, but business-critical areas in which Epicor leads the pack include:

  • Inventory Monitoring – giving you ‘the flexibility to track each lot specific to each distributors’ requirements
  • Distribution Management – offering ‘a comprehensive warehouse management system (WMS) with the functionality required for true end-to-end supply chain management
  • Advance Planning System (APS) – with ‘real-time capable-to-promise functionality, and advanced material planning functionality’
  • Customer Account Management – providing ‘a 360-degree view of the entire customer, supplier, or partner relationship regardless of position in the customer lifecycle’
  • Sales-Order Management – providing a ‘centralised, real-time inventory locator and order management… solution that enables any sales channel, POS systems, e-commerce, catalogue call centres to find inventory and fulfil orders across the enterprise’
  • Human Resource Management – automating ‘all aspects of the payroll process… saving the time and effort of performing these functions with an outside program.’

Where Epicor really does pull away from its competitors, however, is in providing best-of-class accounting requirements. Alone of the top 10 ERP systems, it scored 85 across five key accounting categories: accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed-asset management, risk management and tax management. This means that the efficiency of the system gives you effective financial management that is informed by every variable of the order, manufacture and sales process.

 

Should I choose Epicor software?

Impressive though Epicor’s performance in the Leaderboard is, it doesn’t mean that all manufacturing businesses should rush out and switch their systems to Epicor ERP 10. Although they scored less overall, systems like ERP X3 and Infor ERP SyteLine performed impressively in many categories. For example, both of these platforms were found to be slightly better at handling Bill of Materials Management.

The key is really one of mapping your business processes, and then selecting an ERP that best meets the requirements of your day-to-day operations. That said, it’s hard to ignore Epicor’s track record in the manufacturing sector. In our experience, Epicor ERP 10 is a strong choice in the discrete manufacturing sector because it offers an out-of-the box solution that can easily be mapped to your unique business objectives.

Or as Doug Patterson, VP of ExpeData puts it:
“You give me good people and a great process, and we’ll beat any organization with the best technology but a poor process and under motivated people.”

So if you’ve got the people and the process in place, using a business-specific methodology to implement a proven ERP system like Epicor ERP 10 is only going to pay dividends in terms of efficiency, competitiveness and profitability.

Indeed, in our experience a successful implementation of this kind, steered by technicians who properly understand the manufacturing sector, can boost ROI by up to 50% and take much less time than a less effective one-size-fits-all implementation. You can learn how to make it happen in our free guide Implementing Epicor ERP for growth & profit – it’s a short, practical read and it could help transform your bottom line.

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