Hunter Buildings

Engineering Protection

Most of us rarely, if ever, think about the safety of the buildings where we work. Not everyone is so fortunate. For those employed in industrial blast zones, extreme environments, or dangerous locales, the workplace is much more than four walls and a desk—it’s the buffer between them and potential tragedy. Because when the unthinkable happens, hundreds of workers can be thrown into harm’s way and companies stand to lose hundreds of millions, if not billions, in damages, lost operations, and tarnished reputation.

Building on this crucial need for safety, for close to three decades, industry-leading Hunter Buildings has provided customers across remote and dangerous corners of the globe with blast- and ballistic-resistant buildings and protective structures engineered to safeguard teams and critical equipment from explosions, fires, toxic materials, break-ins, and blunt-force trauma. In sectors such as oil and gas, chemical processing, mining, and energy, Hunter Buildings delivers modular construction solutions to help customers reduce on-site risk, accelerate deployment, and maintain operational continuity in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

From Friction to Flow

Working in complex and remote environments requires teams to access real-time information seamlessly, maintain strong process discipline, coordinate tightly, and use systems that advance these objectives. Steven Rocha, Systems Manager at Hunter Building, explained:

We have been an Epicor Kinetic customer for several years and knew that we needed to move to the cloud. I led the effort to proactively manage the migration and modernize how our teams interact with the system.

By moving entirely to a browser-based environment, Hunter Buildings removed friction from daily operations and ensured employees could access critical information anytime, anywhere, Rocha highlighted. “The cloud is a simpler, faster, and far more scalable way to operate.”

Deploying Epicor Kinetic in the cloud fundamentally changed how Hunter Buildings teams work. Previously, users relied on VPN connections and client installations, which created challenges, especially for field teams working in remote locations. Now, employees log in directly through a browser without worrying about connectivity issues or technical hurdles. Teams access real-time project data from anywhere, anytime, eliminating delays and improving customer interactions. Rocha acknowledged, “We all know what it feels like to have technical difficulties in front of a customer. Epicor Kinetic, deployed in the cloud, has eliminated those situations.”

More importantly, Epicor Kinetic eliminates unnecessary communication loops and helps deliver instant answers to the most frequently asked questions. Rocha pinpointed:

 “The Activity feature in Epicor Kinetic has been a game-changer. Instead of jumping between trackers or multiple screens, everything you need—orders, POs, invoices, project status—is in one place. It’s fewer clicks, less guesswork, and a much more intuitive way to understand what’s happening across the business. That level of visibility is incredibly powerful.”

He added, “The result is faster decision-making, fewer bottlenecks, and a more proactive approach to project management.”

The Milestone Billing Challenge

Like many project-driven businesses, Hunter Buildings identified milestone billing as a key operational challenge, with a direct impact on cash flow. Any missing documentation, such as quality certifications or project photos not attached to invoices, could delay payment, often extending the cycle from 30 days to 60 or 90 days. This created unnecessary strain on working capital and excessive, frustrating back-and-forth correspondence with customers.

In tandem with Epicor Kinetic, Epicor Content Management (ECM), a system for organizing, storing, and accessing documents electronically, helps provide a single, seamless repository for all project-related documentation. Rocha admitted, “We know the value is there with ECM—we just need to take full advantage of it.”

“When properly set up, ECM drives significant improvements in productivity. It does this by automating and streamlining documentation workflows. ECM attaches the right documents, routes for approvals, and automates purchase order acknowledgments and shipping notifications,” Rocha stated. The result? Manual effort, errors, and customer inquiries are reduced by removing potential obstacles to prompt payment.

Just as importantly, ECM enforces process discipline. By embedding requirements into workflows, the system ensures that teams do not skip critical steps, such as attaching documentation. Rocha elaborated, “It’s about tightening our processes using the tools we already have.”

As Hunter Buildings continues to mature its use of Epicor, the team targets real-time data access and reporting as critical objectives. Rocha remarked, “Epicor provides visibility into forecasting, trends, and operational performance, enabling us to better analyze project performance, understand financial drivers and true costs, as well as bottlenecks and areas for improvement.”

Training that Matters

Recognizing that successful transformation extends beyond technology, Rocha shared that the company has recognized that technology alone does not deliver transformation. Adoption does. He leverages critical training to unlock the full value of Epicor solutions by reinforcing best practices, standardizing processes, and providing refreshers for infrequent but critical activities. For example, he invited finance and warehouse managers to participate in an Epicor ‘back to basics’ training module on year-end inventory. The outcome was a smoother, faster, and more efficient process compared to previous years. He recalled, “I learned that they went back and re-watched segments during the inventory process, which demonstrates the value!”

Scaling Smarter, Not Harder

Building on these efforts, with the move to Epicor deployed in the cloud, Hunter Buildings is investing in creating a better-connected, scalable, and data-driven operation. Now, Rocha is leading the effort to evaluate existing customizations against native functionality, expand automation via ECM workflows, and clean data and ensure accurate data capture.

Rocha is excited about the near-term potential for additional Epicor solutions to further transform the business. These include Epicor Grow business intelligence, Epicor Automation Studio, and the ability to plug HubSpot into Epicor Kinetic. “Epicor keeps adding new click-and-play products that enable us to become more effective and efficient,” Rocha commented. “I can’t wait to take advantage of them.” He is especially interested in Epicor CPQ to help accelerate the quoting process. Rocha noted, “We are in the instant gratification age, where we need to be able to provide estimates as quickly as possible. The configurator would help us speed up the base quote stage.”

Underlying all these initiatives is a consistent theme for Rocha: doing more upfront to enable smoother execution downstream. He emphasized, “The more effort we invest in setup, structure, and process discipline, the greater the long-term ROI.”