Epicor mobile apps slash time-per-transaction …and then deliver more efficiencies across the shop floor
In our previous post, we reported the results of a head-to-head test performing a purchase order receipt function in the Epicor ERP interface and in Bezlio’s mobile ERP app for Epicor. We found that using a mobile app for manufacturing took far less time per transaction, delivering a savings that more than pays for the Bezlio subscription from the start.
But is the receiving dock the only place where Bezlio can increase efficiency and drive the savings that manufacturers desperately need right now? Of course not!
If you visit our Epicor page, you’ll see that we’ve built a variety of Epicor mobile apps—we call them bezls—for everything from labor entry to finished goods receipt. What happens when a manufacturer implements a full complement of bezls to tame various processes? Let’s find out.
Test Results: 54% Greater Efficiency with ERP Mobile Apps
Once again, we compared the time it took to enter information directly into Epicor with the time required to do so in Bezlio. The same user performed both transactions from login to completion and saw some impressive results:
As previously reported, purchase order receipts took 111.4 seconds in Epicor but only 26.8 seconds in Bezlio, a savings of 76%.
Production labor entry required 78.91 seconds in Epicor and 52.89 in Bezlio, for a 33% efficiency boost.
The numbers for timesheet transactions were 119.4 seconds and 46.72 seconds, a 61% difference.
Location transfers took 51.95 seconds and 30.12 seconds, a 42% swing to the good with Bezlio.
Issuing materials required 51.88 seconds in Epicor but just 25.71 in Bezlio, a time-savings of 50%.
Finished goods receipts went from 53.72 seconds to 19.99 seconds, a 63% efficiency increase.
The efficiency improvements vary based on the type of transaction, but performing functions in Bezlio is 54% faster, on average. That’s a meaningful time-savings that goes directly to the bottom line!
Let’s Talk About Labor
Anyone scanning the list above might ask whether it’s worth switching production labor tracking to an Epicor mobile app. After all, these transactions show the smallest efficiency gains (although 33% is nothing to sneeze at).
To focus only on the transaction time-savings—as important as that is—does miss the larger picture, however. And production labor tracking is a perfect example.
Manufacturers know that tracking how much employee time goes into their products is essential in driving process improvements and pricing goods appropriately. Unfortunately, time studies quickly fall out of date and small inaccuracies can have large impacts on profitability.
Real-time data is far more reliable, but production labor information is among the most challenging to capture in Epicor.
That’s because the full Epicor ERP suite runs on a PC and most manufacturers can only position a few of these kiosks around the shop floor. To track production labor means asking employees to stop between each change of task, walk over to the kiosk, log in, and note the job they finished and the new one they’re starting. This is inefficient!
Manufacturers understandably worry that they’d have to find incredibly large time sinks across their production processes (or raise their prices too much) to make up for all the minutes added by trying to track labor on a kiosk. Otherwise, they’d be going backward.
But this concern essentially disappears with Bezlio. Because labor tracking occurs on a smartphone or tablet—or maybe even a wearable device—there’s no time lost by employees strolling across the shop floor (and no pausing to chat along the way). Tracking the time devoted to particular jobs becomes a quick, seamless operation conducted at each team member’s work area.
These time-savings aren’t included in the transaction efficiencies documented above. The increased user-friendliness of the Bezlio interface certainly matters in streamlining login and data entry, but Bezlio apps in employees’ pockets maximize efficiency in so many other ways!
Boost Efficiency 50%...and Then Keep Going
Exactly how much efficiency improvement will you see when implementing Bezlio for various ERP transactions? The answer will depend on your operations.
How many kiosks do you have and how long does it take each employee to get to one?
How many opportunities to digitize processes are you skipping because kiosk-based data entry isn’t viable?
How much more efficiency could be achieved if employees could instantly find out where materials are in the warehouse or search for the customer information they need from their phone?
I can’t set up a head-to-head test to measure your potential efficiencies from where I sit in Ohio, but I have witnessed other customers’ transformations. Companies like VME tend to start with a single bezl but the efficiency improvements become addicting and they soon find they can’t stop at just one.
With the challenges facing manufacturing right now, it is vital to take advantage of any untapped efficiencies as soon as possible—especially ones this easy to realize. About two hours start to finish is all it takes to deploy your first bezl and start reaping the savings. .
Why not begin now? Simply schedule a demo today!