Introduction: Why Manufacturers Turn to Epicor Consultants
Manufacturing businesses rely on ERP systems like Epicor to streamline operations, improve visibility, and make data-driven decisions. But even with powerful software, real-world challenges persist, especially in core areas like inventory, finance, and production.
That’s where experienced Epicor consultants come in. Their role is not just technical. It’s strategic. By understanding both the software and the business context, they help manufacturers resolve persistent issues, unlock new efficiencies, and scale with confidence.
In this article, we will break down how Epicor consultants solve real-world problems in three critical areas:
- Inventory management
- Financial operations
- Production planning and control
Whether you are preparing for an upgrade, struggling with inaccurate data, or facing bottlenecks in your workflow, this guide will show you how the right consulting approach can make a measurable difference.
The Hidden Costs of Unoptimized ERP Modules
Before diving into each area, it’s worth understanding the risks of leaving these modules under-optimized:
- Inventory issues lead to overstocking, stockouts, and costly manual tracking
- Financial misconfigurations cause inaccurate reporting, compliance risks, and inefficient audits
- Production inefficiencies increase downtime, lower output, and reduce profitability
Epicor ERP provides the tools. But it is the configuration, integration, and optimization that bring them to life. That is the domain of skilled Epicor consultants like the team at Epicforce Tech.
1. Inventory Management: From Chaos to Control
Inventory is one of the most common pain points in Epicor environments. Whether you are a manufacturer, distributor, or mixed-mode business, a poorly implemented inventory module leads to real losses.
Common Inventory Problems Epicor Consultants Address
- Duplicate or inconsistent item records
- Incorrect bin or warehouse setup
- Inaccurate quantity on hand
- Disconnected BOMs and inventory data
- Manual cycle counts and reconciliation delays
- Lack of real-time visibility
These issues do not just affect warehouse staff. They ripple out into procurement, production, customer service, and accounting.
How Epicor Consultants Solve Them
a. Data Cleanup and Standardization
Epicor consultants perform comprehensive item master reviews, eliminate duplicates, and enforce naming or numbering conventions. This reduces confusion across departments and improves reporting accuracy.
b. Warehouse and Bin Strategy Optimization
Consultants redesign warehouse schemas, including bin levels, lot or serial tracking, and zone picking strategies. This makes Epicor’s inventory module more usable for real-world workflows.
c. Cycle Count Automation
Using Epicor’s tools like ABC classification, consultants enable systematic cycle counting instead of relying on year-end physical counts. This improves accuracy and reduces disruptions.
d. Inventory-to-Production Linkage
Consultants ensure tight integration between inventory and BOMs, job materials, and backflushing rules. This reduces shortages and job delays.
e. Dashboards and Alerts
Custom BAQs and dashboards give real-time visibility into on-hand quantities, slow-moving stock, and reorder alerts. This helps managers stay proactive.
Outcome
By resolving these challenges, manufacturers gain:
- Better stock accuracy
- Reduced carrying costs
- Faster fulfillment
- Higher customer satisfaction
2. Finance: From Reactive to Strategic
Epicor’s financial suite is powerful, but only if it is implemented and managed correctly. Many companies struggle with unclear charts of accounts, inconsistent postings, or manual reconciliations that eat up valuable time.
Common Financial Issues Epicor Consultants Fix
- Chart of Accounts (COA) complexity or misalignment
- Delayed or inaccurate month-end closings
- Manual journal entries or accruals
- Difficult bank reconciliations
- Poor audit trails and traceability
- Budgeting disconnected from operations
When financial data is inconsistent or delayed, decision-making suffers. Audits become painful. And forecasting turns into guesswork.
How Epicor Consultants Solve Them
a. COA Redesign and GL Structuring
Consultants simplify the COA and align it with business operations, departments, and locations. This makes financial reporting cleaner and easier to analyze.
b. Automation of Journal Entries
By configuring Epicor to auto-generate recurring journals such as payroll or accruals, consultants reduce manual work and improve consistency.
c. Reconciliation Improvements
Epicor consultants leverage Electronic Bank Reconciliation (EBR) and other tools to speed up month-end and ensure data integrity.
d. Budget Planning Setup
They configure Epicor’s Financial Planning and Analysis tools to integrate budgets with real-time operational data. This enables rolling forecasts.
e. Audit Trail Configuration
With tools like Epicor Audit Logs and BPMs, consultants help ensure that all financial changes are documented, supporting compliance and transparency.
Outcome
With clean data and smart automation, finance teams can:
- Close the books faster
- Gain real-time visibility
- Reduce audit risk
- Support better strategic decisions
3. Production: From Bottlenecks to Flow
Production planning and control is one of the most complex areas in any ERP and also one of the most rewarding when optimized. Epicor consultants bring clarity and structure to otherwise chaotic shop floors.
Common Production Challenges They Tackle
- Inaccurate job scheduling and load balancing
- Disconnected demand forecasting
- Manual job releases and routing issues
- Late or missing materials
- Underutilized resources or machine downtime
- Poor tracking of WIP and labor
These issues often result in missed deadlines, rework, and unhappy customers.
How Epicor Consultants Solve Them
a. MRP and APS Tuning
Consultants fine-tune Material Requirements Planning and Advanced Planning and Scheduling settings to ensure accurate job planning and sequencing.
b. Routing and Resource Setup
They validate and optimize routing structures, labor standards, and resource groups to improve production efficiency and labor tracking.
c. Job Templates and Automation
Standardized job templates and automated job releases reduce setup time and errors.
d. Real-Time Production Visibility
Using Epicor MES and custom dashboards, consultants deliver WIP visibility and labor tracking to supervisors in real time.
e. Cross-Module Integration
Consultants ensure production is tightly linked to inventory, purchasing, and sales demand. This breaks down silos and increases agility.
Outcome
When Epicor production modules are optimized, manufacturers benefit from:
- Higher throughput
- Fewer delays
- Better resource utilization
- Accurate cost tracking
Why DIY Doesn’t Work: The Case for Consulting Expertise
Many manufacturers try to solve these issues internally, but Epicor’s flexibility can become a double-edged sword without deep expertise. Misconfigurations compound over time, data quality erodes, and user frustration rises.
An Epicor consultant, especially one from a firm like Epicforce Tech, brings:
- Cross-industry experience to benchmark performance
- Deep functional knowledge to align software with real operations
- Change management skills to train and support users
- Tools and accelerators to speed up optimization
These advantages go beyond implementation. They are essential for long-term success.
What Makes Epicforce Tech Different
While this article is focused on helping, it is important to understand the value of the consulting relationship itself.
At Epicforce Tech, our consultants do not just apply best practices. They custom-fit Epicor solutions to each client’s real-world operations. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all templates. Instead, we focus on helping manufacturers solve actual pain points using proven processes and Epicor-native tools.
Our approach is centered on listening, diagnosing, and guiding—backed by years of experience across inventory, finance, and production environments. We ensure your Epicor system works as intended and evolves with your business needs.
Final Thoughts: Turn Problems Into Opportunities
Inventory issues, financial delays, and production bottlenecks are not just operational nuisances. They are strategic risks. Left unsolved, they limit growth, drain resources, and reduce your competitiveness.
With expert Epicor consultants like those at Epicforce Tech, these risks can be turned into opportunities for improvement, automation, and agility. Whether you are running Epicor Kinetic or an earlier version, now is the time to fix the foundations and build for the future.
If your business is struggling with persistent ERP issues, we encourage you to explore what dedicated Epicor consulting can achieve.
Read More:
Top 10 Problems Epicor Consultants Help Solve for Manufacturers
Performance Troubleshooting: How Epicor Consultants Diagnose and Optimize ERP Speed
5 Ways Epicor Consultants Help Optimize Underperforming ERP Systems
