Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry specific enterprise software to promote business growth, announced today that Focus SB has chosen the next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Epicor ERP. Focus SB will implement Epicor ERP in order to help gain full visibility over the whole organisation and in turn, help to support the company’s growth plans.
Focus SB is a UK-based manufacturer of bespoke electrical accessories, including designer and high quality switch and socket plates for high-end residential, luxury hotels and commercial interiors. The company has an annual turnover of 4.5 million and 55 employees across two factories. Previously Focus SB concentrated on plate manufacturing alone and relied on other suppliers for electrical parts. However, more recently the company has taken the decision to manufacture for the whole supply chain.
Following the recent change in its business model, Focus SB was presented with foreign export opportunities which could double the company’s turnover within the next two to five years. Whilst the change brought considerable advantages, it also presented challenges, highlighting the immediate need for the company to update its ERP system to reap the benefits from these export opportunities.
The company’s previous ERP system was preventing it from having clear visibility over useful business data and inhibiting even basic business decisions. However, these were key business requirements Focus SB needed to meet in order to move forward and continue to grow as well as to stay one step ahead of its competition.
“Our old system was hindering our plans for growth, we were unable to extract the information we needed to monitor the progress of orders or plan for bottlenecks in production. By implementing Epicor ERP we’re confident that we will be able to plan order processing and staffing more effectively resulting in a more streamlined business to match our plans for growth,” said Gary Stevens, managing director, Focus SB.
Focus SB evaluated several ERP solutions, but chose Epicor ERP as it felt it was the only available software application on the market that suited the company’s business needs. Implementing Epicor ERP will provide it with the tools it needs to support its imminent business growth and to streamline some of the existing processes within the business.
Focus SB plans to implement Epicor ERP across the whole organisation, including finance and purchasing. However, the team anticipates it will have the greatest impact on the company’s internal sales processes and production. Being able to achieve ‘at a glance’ business updates will allow the company to plan better and offer its customers not only better service, but quicker lead times and will help to decrease the turnaround time of customer quotes. In addition to this, Focus SB will also gain more control of the current demand in capacity throughout production.
“With the help of local Epicor consultants, we received all the information we needed on how Epicor ERP would help meet our particular business needs, which certainly helped us make the final decision,” said Stevens.
“It is gratifying for us to see a business like Focus SB plan for growth and select our ERP software to help meet its goals. Focus SB is a good example of a company that will benefit hugely by implementing Epicor ERP and will quickly reap the rewards of having a greater understanding of its business and processes — we look forward to helping the company grow,” said Andy Archer, regional vice president UK and Ireland for Epicor Software.
