ERP for Medical Device Manufacturing: 4 Things To Know About Epicor

With increasing pressure to reduce price in a business climate of expanding raw material cost, transportation cost, and reduced labor availability, medical device manufacturers are streamlining and adopting new technologies to automate business processes for more competitive lead times and reduced waste.

The drive is for a comprehensive framework for managing product innovation by leveraging solid product data management, quality process controls and comprehensive traceability- with core business processes tied to real-time analytics for greater visibility from the office to plant floor operations and, of course, warehousing too. For today’s medical device manufacturers, operational visibility and increased efficiency are constant targets. You may know know that Epicor offers an ERP for startup medical device manufacturers, Epicor Express, which is an edition of Epicor ERP that is delivered in a SaaS model and targeted at small growing businesses.

Here are four things you may not realize about Epicor Express – and what it may mean for growing medical device manufacturers.

1. Product Data Guidelines: Product and program specific data for medical devices is especially stringent due to governmental and industry standards for recording products at the design, production, sourcing, and delivery stages. Support for stringent product traceability, product documentation, revision change control, and electronic signature are core to the system. Epicor extends product data with end-to-end quality procedures, including online test results for easier audits. Full non-conformance management and corrective actions, preventative maintenance and workflow support high quality standards and traceability. Additionally, the Epicor robust Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a complete end-to-end solution developed to manage all aspects of a product’s lifecycle, as well as enabling enterprises to control the enormous amount of electronic documentation that they produce.
2. Focus On Product Traceability: In all regulated life sciences sectors, the need for traceability is critical. Epicor for Medical Devices features strong control and visibility over lot tracked and serial tracked parts from cradle-to-grave, including serial genealogy of component products. Additionally, Epicor for Medical Devices offers strong fulfillment processes to allocate parts directly to customer orders, including serial and lot designations. These strict disciplines for traceability ensure customer and industry requirements are met—all while streamlining the shipping process. Additionally, Epicor for Medical Devices supports reference designator and manufacturers’ part cross reference requirements for tracking of electronic devices.
3. Robust Technology Framework: Epicor is uniquely positioned with a complete suite of applications based on 100% services architecture protecting your investment in software and services well into the future. Why are web services so important to businesses, particularly in medical devices? Outside of all the reasons organizations look to web services for deployment; speed, stability, reusability, and more; for midsize businesses, the incentive is imminent to drive electronic connection more firmly into their supply chain. Web services are fast becoming a necessity to doing business. Epicor for Medical Devices is uniquely positioned on this technology today and comes with a suite of web services tools such as Epicor Service Connect, Business Process Management (BPM), and Epicor Mobile Access that make internal and external collaboration a reality.
4. Because Customers Are EVERYTHING: For medical device businesses, customers are central to development of new innovative techniques and technologies that drive the industry. Responding with agility and speed to customer demands preserves competitive advantage. Customers can have a wide range of understanding of medical devices and meeting the needs of the customer can be multifaceted. It can mean helping a patient with an implanted device, working with an in-home care worker who services or uses the medical device, responding to a surgeon or doctor with questions, educating and deploying via a global multinational channel, or responding to the demands of a Tier 1 or Tier 2 medical device manufacturer looking for reduced cost and improved quality. The Epicor embedded Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functionality provides a centralized customer repository alongside comprehensive help desk functionality. Customer service details are streamlined for rapid response to inquiries as they happen. Embedded workflow for issue escalation and resolution, along with full document control and audit trial, maximizes your use of time.

CompuData and Epicor understand that growing medical device manufacturers face a unique set of challenges.

Contact the Epicor experts at CompuData to manage product innovation with solid product data management, quality process controls and comprehensive product traceability.