CASE STUDY
HAVING THIS
INSIGHT IN REAL
TIME WAS GOING
TO BE CRITICAL
TO OUR ABILITY
TO MAKE GOOD
DECISIONS.
work with and able to directly manage
the entire engagement from pre-sales, to
implementation, to after-sales support.”
After a thorough business process review
– in which consultants from Epicor worked
closely with Dolphin stakeholders from sales,
finance, purchasing and production to map
out all requirements, as well as identify gaps
for improvement, the team rolled out Epicor
ERP across Dolphin’s seven companies and
11 facilities in the UAE.
Today, more than 200 Dolphin employees
rely on Epicor ERP to conduct almost all their
day-to-day tasks.
Positive impact on every department
ability to make good decisions and execute
on our growth strategy.”
A fitting solution for manufacturing
Tasked with finding an ERP solution that
would allow the company to digitise and
automate their production operations,
provide visibility and transparency across
departments, and improve day-to-day
decision making, Arshid and his team began
the process of compiling a request for
proposal and vetting out vendors.
However, it took Arshid just a couple of
preliminary discussions with each vendor
to realise that Epicor would be the best fit
for meeting all the business requirements
and serve as a platform for Dolphin’s future
growth. Discussing the two deciding factors
that led to the selection of Epicor, Arshid
revealed: “Our number one priority was
finding a vendor that offered an industry-
specific solution with a strong track record of
success in the region.
“This is what really sets Epicor apart from
most other vendors in the market. Epicor
ERP offers a rich feature set and robust
functionality – out-of-the-box – to meet
the unique requirements of discrete
manufacturers like us.”
“The second reason we decided to partner
with Epicor is their sales support and in-
house professional services.
“Based on previous, less-than-ideal
experiences with partners, it was essential
that the vendor we chose was easy to
www.intelligentcio.com
Since the implementation of Epicor ERP,
every department has realised significant
improvements. For example, access to
real-time data and improved transparency
and visibility across all departments means
that sales can now review stock levels and
production schedules before promising
customers a delivery date.
Availability of true costs has also allowed the
sales department to review all pricing, and
they have identified over 100 ‘low-margin’
customers for price negotiation something
that is expected to have a significant positive
impact on Dolphin’s bottom line.
The Epicor supplier relationship
management module allows the team in
purchasing to closely keep tabs on suppliers
via a rating system based on a host of
criteria, including on-time delivery (OTD),
product quality and cost.
Since all seven Dolphin business units
are now on one system, intercompany
transactions have been streamlined and are
as easy as a few clicks.
For finance and management, the rich
reporting capabilities available as a standard
offering in Epicor ERP allows them to easily
generate real-time, customised dashboards
and reports that give them a granular view
of business health and aid in forecasting and
decision making.
Finally, moving over to Epicor ERP from the
legacy accounting system has allowed the
team to close their books at the end of every
month, as opposed to just once a year.
Arguably, however, no department has
benefitted more than production. Modules
such as planning and scheduling, production
management, service management,
warehouse management, and the
manufacturing execution system (MES) have
allowed Dolphin to deploy several industry
best practices across the shop floor.
Arshid explained: “Most of what we
manufacture is made-to-order, and prior
to Epicor, each bill of materials (BOM) was
generated manually. This process was not
only extremely labour intensive, but it also
meant there was greater chance of human
error. The in-built product configurator in
Epicor ERP has allowed us to completely
automate this process. Now, all the operator
has to do is put in a top-level part number
and the system generates a detailed BOM
within just a few seconds.
“The service management module – with its
system-generated alerts – has allowed us to
be more proactive than reactive in terms of
maintenance schedules for all our machines.
“Also, with Epicor MES, we are now able to
capture all manufacturing data accurately and
in real time. The cumulative effect has been
a marked improvement in product quality,
employee efficiency, OTD and a substantial
reduction in material waste and costs.” n
WITHOUT AN ERP SYSTEM IN PLACE,
WE COULDN’T PLAN OURPRODUCTION
SCHEDULE EFFICIENTLY.
INTELLIGENTCIO
63