Using ERP to Innovate: Clients Leading the Fight Against COVID-19

Six S and Epicor customers across North America are joining the fight against COVID-19.

Six S and Epicor customers across North America are joining the fight against COVID-19. With the flexibility of Epicor they’ve been able to shift their production to create new products or change industries by providing personal protective equipment, medical devices and sanitation chemicals. They have gone through great lengths to innovate and re-tool on the fly. Our team is capable to help you if you need to innovate in this trying time with the power of Epicor. It’s worth highlighting a couple of these inspiring companies who are working harder than ever to make a difference.

Eclipse Innovations, Spartan Bioscience and Innovative Automation, three Ontario-based firms, have taken unique approaches to provide in-demand supplies including face shields, respirators, and portable COVID-19 testing kits.

All three are Six S clients using Epicor to deploy an optimized production strategy. We have more companies going through similar transitions with us, Six S, right now. Please read these heroic stories below:

Eclipse Innovations

Eclipse Innovations rose to the opportunity to help manufacture PPE face masks, specifically surgical and N95 masks, in short order when they announced their intentions in July of 2020.

After contacting Six S Partners, we were able to create a one of a kind tailored project to help them build their ERP and corresponding processes to be a ISO 13485 registration ready organization. By implementing their project in 6 weeks from launch, Eclipse demonstrated the commitment and partnership required for a heads down full time project that achieved its goal on time and on budget. For more information, watch the video below:

Spartan Bioscience: Portable, Fast COVID Testing Device

Spartan Bioscience is leading the way in developing the world’s smallest DNA testing device capable of detecting COVID-19. With a swab inserted into the machine, a reliable result can be generated within 30 minutes without sending to a lab. Spartan Bioscience is ramping-up production to deploy thousands of testing devices each week, which can perform over a hundred thousand tests and significantly reduce the testing backlog.

Spartan Bioscience is making COVID-19 testing faster and more accessible. Their expanded production will help reduce transmission and save lives.

While their testing platform has been in development for the past 14 years, it’s only recently become ready for production and largescale use. Having secured a government contract to support enhanced production levels, Spartan has transitioned every member of their team to making these units. Many of the operational changes made could be modelled and accounted for within their Epicor Kinetic ERP system which is keeping the process streamlined. Their ERP deployment will ultimately help ship more units and save the lives of people across the world.

Innovative Automation: Face Shields and Ventilators

To support front-line medical workers in the fight against COVID-19, Innovative Automation deployed a team of engineers to develop face shields and ventilators. With face shields beginning to roll off their production lines in late-March, their agility to quickly progress from conceptualization to delivery has already helped medical staff. Their ventilators have not yet entered mass circulation, but can be deployed in emergency situations to help prevent affected patients.

Innovative Automation is preparing Canada’s healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. Their newly engineered products will help improve survival rates among the most vulnerable.

Although they were relatively early in their ERP journey, we worked with Innovative Automation to optimize and speed production, add shifts, and adjust for the new processes needed to manufacture these new units. Their production process is based on data-driven best-practices and ensures they can supply an overwhelming global demand for both products.

“Our ERP implementation team (with a system go live date of November 2020) moved mountains this past weekend to allow us to use our new system on this special project. I’m in awe at the talent and spirit of my fellow Innovators! Special thanks to the team at Six S Partners Inc.  We are all in this together.”
– Kim Marshall, Finance and Resource Manager at Innovative Automation Inc.

Adapt Your ERP to Better Support Innovation

Scalable, adaptable business solutions like Epicor Kinetic ERP combined with the right support can help businesses innovate in any market. Whether reducing costs or enabling new production processes, ERP technology combined with well-trained staff can make a significant impact on the ability to achieve that goal.

If your business wants support deploying or fine-tuning an ERP system, contact us. It’s never too late to pivot your strategy; we can help you find efficiencies that make it possible.