Supporting global growth with improved visibility and customer service
Waterco has implemented a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, which is designed to integrate and enhance processes across the group’s global operations and to support growth across multiple regions.
To provide the solution, Waterco chose Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organisations.
“We required an ERP system which could provide visibility over inventory and stock levels across multiple sites,” explains Bryan Goh, Waterco’s group marketing director. “We felt Epicor could better support a manufacturer with a vertical structure like our own and because of its strengths in this area, we believed it was the best fit for us.
“The Epicor program will allow us to become more agile and responsive and to streamline our business.”
Waterco will use Epicor to run sales, accounts receivable, accounts payable, light manufacturing, purchasing, distribution, finance and customer relationship management.
“Epicor will improve the overall efficiency of the company,” says Bryan. “We will be able to better manage our inventory to ensure we have sufficient stock to meet our customer’s requirements and to also ensure we are not overstocked with the wrong mix of goods. In addition, we will be better equipped to provide our customers with more information on back orders and the status of their current orders.”
The Epicor package also includes sales force automation and a customer relationship management module, which will provide all the required information to Waterco’s external and internal sales team to better serve its customers.
“In addition, we now have the ability to begin building reports and dashboards to extract meaningful information that will allow our guys to make business decisions,” adds Bryan.
Waterco was assisted during the ERP implementation process by IT consultancy, Biscit (Business Information Systems Consulting - IT). And with the first phase of the project complete – the solution has been rolled out in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand – Waterco has built a base for further growth and continued improvement of internal processes. Epicor will subsequently be rolled out in China, the US, Canada and the UK.
Shane Goh, Waterco’s manager for special projects IT, says: “We have successfully completed the project on time; the entire process was very well planned by the Biscit team. The implementation was broken down into several stages, of which the main stages were installation of hardware, analysis and design of the system, data migration, system implementation, user training, pilot system and execution for go live.
“We could see Epicor’s strength in manufacturing and especially liked the resource planning and ‘what-if’ scenarios it could provide for our manufacturing team. For sales, we could see the benefit in the dashboards and business intelligence and also appreciated how we could use this solution as a platform to build a future information portal for our customers.”
Craig Charlton, senior vice president and general manager for Epicor in Asia Pacific, says, “We congratulate Waterco and the Biscit team on a successful implementation, delivered on time and on budget.
“Epicor’s strength across multiple verticals and combined knowledge across manufacturing and distribution was a key factor in Waterco’s selection of Epicor next-generation ERP. We look forward to continuing our partnership and supporting Waterco’s multi-site, multi-national operations.”