One of New Zealand’s leading metal manufacturers, has signed a $1 million dollar deal with Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth.

The deal will see Epicor deliver a modern end-to-end digital manufacturing platform, allowing Mulcahy to further its digital transformation and be a leading adopter of Industry 4.0 technologies.

 Mulcahy is one of the country’s largest fabricated metals manufacturing company, partnering with clients in the food and dairy, materials handling, original equipment manufacturing, agriculture, horticulture, and architecture industries. From design to production, Mulcahy partners with product leadership companies helping turn their ideas and intellectual property into a reality, acting as a one-stop manufacturing partner. 
 
Innovative technologies from Epicor, which are already helping manufacturers around the world streamline their business processes and break down barriers to growth, will deliver an end-to-end manufacturing platform for Mulcahy to automate its business processes and truly embrace the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution. 
 
The solution will provide much greater visibility and traceability – from organisation wide capacity planning and scheduling, job tracking throughout the facility to scheduling machine total productive maintenance (TPM) – helping the organisation gain efficiencies.
 
The Auckland-based, family-owned business, which celebrates 40 years this year, has grown from a small facility with five employees in Gleneden, to a 6,000 square metre plant in Avondale and a team of 140. Ongoing investment in technology is a key part of Mulcahy’s strategy, having invested in state-of-the-art machinery and boosted data capabilities to optimise business operations over the years. 
 
However, disparate legacy systems to manage finance, payroll and CAD capabilities developed over the past 20 years are limiting Mulcahy’s ability to gather consolidated data into its SQL database and draw actionable analytics from its connected machinery.
 
With ambitious plans to double revenue in five years, it became clear the legacy systems prevented the company from scaling up. Crashes, low visibility, siloed planning, lack of traceability and a high level of manual data entry were all growth inhibitors. 
 
Managing director Kayne Mulcahy said Epicor stood out from the competition, which included SAP, Infor and Abas, with its integrated business management solution to meet its complex process manufacturing, financial and reporting requirements. 
 
“Epicor’s deep manufacturing expertise gave us a lot of confidence – we speak the same language. We also liked their sound approach to project management and felt they were the right technology partner to grow with,” Mr Mulcahy said. 
 
“We don’t see ourselves as simply being a supplier of engineering services, but as a manufacturing partner to our clients. But to truly enable innovation for them, our back end needs more automation. 
 
“This is a significant business transformation project for us that will set us up to achieve our ambitious growth plans. The Epicor solution will allow us to make more informed business decisions, help us break into new markets and release new product offerings quicker.”
 
Commenting on the deal, Epicor Software Regional Vice President for ANZ, Greg O’Loan, said he and the team looked forward to helping Mulcahy tap into the full potential of Industry 4.0. 
 
“During these changing times, it is crucial businesses have the tools to transition into the ‘New Now’. The benefits of a solid, integrated technology platform are substantial. Mulcahy will get access to real time data, and our solution will help the organisation make sense of it, giving their team the agility to respond quickly to changing market conditions,” Mr O’Loan said. 
 
“We look forward to delivering a truly digital, automated and connected manufacturing platform and are excited to partner with Mulcahy on their exciting digital transformation journey.
 
“Fabricated metal manufacturing is a huge focus for Epicor throughout the Asia Pacific region. Our experience means we understand the very unique needs of this niche industry and deliver industry specific solutions to help businesses fully tap into their digital potential.”