Due to the complex nature of Allergy Therapeutics' business, the company had been using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for several years. However, when it was time to upgrade its system, Allergy Therapeutic's head of business systems and supply chain, Andrew Giles decided to look for something new.
Giles says, “The process of upgrading the existing solution was going to be resource-heavy. We decided to explore the market, to find out if there was a new option that would suit our business better and offer us more business insight.” After researching the market, Allergy Therapeutics opted to work with the Epicor Tropos ERP solution. The Tropos system is specially designed for the pharmaceutical sector and it met Giles' requirements to work with an ERP solution that could evolve with industry demands.
Controlling the process
Using Tropos software, Allergy Therapeutics has an insightful overview of its operations and inventory at the click of a button. The company can plan and schedule stock replenishment and line side operations dynamically in response to customer demand. This means it can accurately control its manufacturing and sales order processes, bringing down raw material wastage and driving up return on investment.
Improved information flows from order to delivery means that Allergy Therapeutics is also able to faster adapt to changes in the market. When orders at Allergy Therapeutics are seasonal, this new ability to react to changing forecasts and pollen counts throughout the year helps the company to be agile. The team can now quickly alter orders and factory settings to suit, whether that's processing individual customer orders or large batches of popular vaccines.
Giles explains, “With the Tropos solution we can understand our product costs better and that, in turn, means we can make better business decisions. Using the software's knowledge of our inventory and sales orders, we're able to plan what we manufacture and take a flexible approach to changes in the market, rather than simply waiting for the next season before we bring out something new.”
An evolving industry
Epicor offers Allergy Therapeutics industry-specific upgrade options that are simple to implement. This gives Allergy Therapeutics a solution with a low total cost of ownership (TCO) and brings an end to resource-heavy upgrades.
Giles says, “It's the nature of our industry to continually evolve, so upgrades to our ERP software are necessary and essential. The incumbent solution had been expensive to upgrade but the TCO of the Tropos solution is probably lower than any other software that we work with.”
The pharmaceutical industry is constantly changing, so it's important that Allergy Therapeutics keeps up with the latest innovations and regulations. The Tropos solution, due to its open interfaces, can easily connect to new technologies.
Giles explains, “To stay competitive we are constantly introducing new technologies to our manufacturing processes. Barcoding allows us to track orders through the factory and working with connected devices makes our processes flexible and simple to monitor. These innovations have all been simple to integrate with the Tropos software.”
As the pharmaceutical industry is a highly regulated sector, it is vital that the ERP solution used by Allergy Therapeutics allows the company to remain compliant in each country that it does business. Epicor has an in-depth knowledge of the industry, and updates Tropos software to match industry regulations with quality control features, tracking capabilities and regulatory reporting standards.
Giles concludes, “Key to making sure we have the software that suits our needs is our open and honest relationship with the Epicor team. We know the development team well and we can always talk to the right person when we need to. They are aware of the intricacies of our business and the sector we work in and help us to find solutions, future-proofing our business as we continue to develop.”