Epicor Software Corporation, a provider of enterprise business software solutions for the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, recently conclude a deal with Knightsbridge Chemicals Limited (KCL), an international chemicals manufacturing company with operating subsidiaries in the UAE, Egypt and Pakistan. In terms of the deal, KCL is implementing Epicor’s next-generation ERP solution, Epicor 9, in its five manufacturing plants and head offices.
“We were running separate systems for accounting and manufacturing, doing most of the reporting on Excel spreadsheets,” explains Muazam Chaudhry, group financial controller and project manager for the Epicor implementation across the group companies of KCL. “With a growing business and more complex manufacturing processes we needed a system that could centralise data, improve our reporting and help us make better informed business decisions.”
KCL has a portfolio of five chemical businesses manufacturing a wide range of industrial raw materials for the coatings industry, plastics (PVC) industry, fibreglass products, soaps and detergents and textile industries. Its subsidiaries are established major suppliers to many well known multinational corporations in the Middle East, North Africa and the Subcontinent. The key criteria that KLC were looking for in an ERP solution included local availability in the Middle East, a flexible system on a modern platform that was easy to implement and affordable. Epicor includes full manufacturing capabilities and provides KLC with the single integrated system they required.
“We operate in a very competitive market and in order to gain more market share we knew that we had to streamline production and reduce costs to improve the margin, but without losing out on customer service. Epicor will help us do just that,” says Chaudhry. “It will give us access to historical data from customers, suppliers and from the manufacturing side of our business so that we can easily see trends and react faster to predict demand and supply.”
Reporting will also prove a major benefit for KLC who will no longer need to manipulate data in spreadsheets, spending time and resources on manually producing reports that were not wholly accurate, nor included historic data. “Once implemented in all Group companies, Epicor will help us to readily access data from across the various functions within the Group, and reports can be easily customisable,” says Chaudhry. “We also know that the reports will be accurate due to the various control points that we have set up. And because they will be available online, it will be easy for managers around the business to access the necessary reports they need. Epicor gives us visibility of our operations on a management level so that we can make better informed business decisions faster.”
“Designed with modern users in mind, equipped with full ERP functionality, and with strong manufacturing experience, Epicor should be on every company’s evaluation list when they look for a solution to support their growth across the region,” says Basil Daniells, senior director for Epicor in the Middle East. “We are delighted to see KLC going live with Epicor on four of their plants and we’re confident that they will continue to realise further benefits as the system become more embedded into their business.”
