CASE STUDY
container status as ‘approved’, ‘rejected’,
‘booked for job’, etc.,” he said. “Quantity of
parts at any moment is also stored in the
ERP system. In addition, the solution helps to
eliminate the risk of a mix-up.”
Pharma’s decision makers were also drawn
to the ease of use of Epicor ERP, both
technically and from an end-user point of
view, citing its user-friendly interface as a
particular boon to operational efficiency.
They were further impressed by the
support offered by Epicor partner, FITS.
“As a pharmaceutical company, we were
looking for a partner who could understand
our needs and industry, provide thorough
documentation and professional technical
and functional training and support,” Kayyali
explained. “FITS was the only candidate
that offered documentation that met our
expectations. It was looking to build a
success case, rather than just make money.”
Implementing strong inventory and
monitoring capabilities
Implementation took 10 months and
Epicor ERP was rolled out to 15 users.
Pharma began to see benefits immediately
on going live. The linking of department
transactions via a single database, the
introduction of 2D barcoding in the group’s
inventory system and the ability to track
everything easily, were considered the most
important value-adds.
“We ended up saving about 30% of
unnecessary warehouse-team transactions,”
said Kayyali. “We managed to reduce the
time taken to find or track an historical data
record or transaction, from hours or days
to seconds or minutes. We reduced the risk
of mix-up, which is critical in the pharma
industry. We eliminated the risk of using an
invalid or expired part as a starting material.
Having a validated ERP system helps us also
meet the expectations of medicinal product
agencies, both in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and around the world.”
Kayyali fully expects Epicor ERP to serve
Pharma as a platform for growth. He
hinted at plans in the pipeline, to launch
new services for the group’s sales function
and introduce other Epicor ERP modules,
including budgeting.
“Partnering with a vendor that strives to
deliver a successful implementation and
offers whatever is needed to sustain the
ERP platform is sometimes more important
than the application itself. I couldn’t be
happier with our selection of Epicor and
look forward to a fruitful partnership as we
embark on our ambitious growth journey,”
concluded Kayyali. •
A KEY ELEMENT OF EPICOR ERP THAT
IMPRESSED PHARMA’S PROCUREMENT
TEAM WAS THE AUDIT TRAIL.
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