Wilsonart

Choice Without Complexity

A business built around giving customers more options needs systems that keep pace, not get in the way.

For more than 70 years, Wilsonart has been bringing distinctive design and high-performance surfaces to life, from kitchen worktops and bathroom surfaces to high-pressure laminates, wall panels, and commercial interiors. Today, it is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of engineered surfaces, supporting a broad portfolio of products, applications and customers.

Delivering this breadth of offerings requires speed, accuracy, and operational agility. However, a legacy Epicor ERP system created stability problems, and outdated processes that demanded too much manual intervention. Andrew Boyes, UK Applications Manager at Wilsonart, summarised, “The system required frequent restarts. People were losing faith in it.”

The move to Epicor Kinetic deployed in the cloud—along with a robust suite of Epicor modules—has automated critical workflows, streamlined warehouse operations, improved inventory management, accelerated financial processes, and given the IT team greater agility.

Partnership Accelerates Possibility

With a team of just three people, Boyes needed additional expertise and Clear Business Outcome (CBO), a trusted Epicor partner, delivered. CBO’s support team monitors tickets, while its development team works with Wilsonart to evaluate and execute ideas.

He highlighted, “The knowledge within the CBO team is unbelievable. They supported our original migration to the cloud as well as helped us determine where existing functionality can be adopted or where new development is required.”

Familiar Process, Expanded Capability

Working with CBO, Wilsonart assessed several ERP options including SAP, ultimately selecting Epicor Kinetic deployed in the cloud.

A key advantage was the ease of transitioning existing processes and data. “Employees could continue working within familiar business processes but in a modern, user-friendly browser-based interface,” Dan Elsom, Application Support Engineer at Wilsonart, explained. “For our team, the low-code/no-code functionality was huge.”

Today, completed orders are processed automatically overnight, and invoicing takes as little as 3 minutes, an 85% reduction in processing time.

Application Studio, for example, lets Wilsonart tailor screens to individual departments by removing unnecessary fields and adding required fields, pop-ups and business rules.

The flexibility has also strengthened collaboration between IT and the business, allowing end-users to work with IT to define solutions and participate in developing them. “Epicor created a more intuitive experience and has empowered users to predict what issues might arise and mitigate them before we need to step in and develop it,” Boyes noted.

Cutting Hours to Minutes

Some of the most tangible improvements have come from Automation Studio, including streamlining order intake, shipments, invoicing, stock reporting and intercompany processes.

Order processing and invoicing offer a compelling example. Previously, manually importing and updating an order could take 4 to 5 minutes, followed by up to 10 minutes for shipment processing and another five for invoicing—about 20 minutes per order. “Today, completed orders are processed automatically overnight, and invoicing takes as little as 3 minutes, an 85% reduction in processing time,” Boyes revealed.

Furthermore, employees can now focus on higher-value work, including customer calls, delivery follow-up, and returns. Plus, overtime has been virtually eliminated.

Before we didn’t use MRP at all, so this has been a major step up, helping us plan properly and better service our customers. We’ve jumped from 60% On-time In-Full to 90% in a couple of years.

Visibility Drives Performance

Epicor has also transformed Wilsonart’s warehouse operations. Handheld scanners guide employees through inventory movements, picking and shipping, and proof-of-action photographs.

Employees log in and receive their task lists directly on their scanners, which also support cycle counts and stock takes instead of relying on manual quantity adjustments—providing greater inventory accuracy and better control over working capital.

The technology has improved inventory visibility and reduced unnecessary site transfers. Material queues clarify priorities, while real-time data helps identify inventory issues and adjust minimum and maximum levels through MRP.

“Before, we didn’t use MRP at all, so this has been a major step up, helping us plan properly and better service our customers,” Boyes imparted. “We’ve jumped from 60% On-Time In-Full to 90% in a couple of years. It also gives us better control of working capital. We know what’s in our warehouse at any point in time.”

Better Data, Faster Decisions

Epicor Kinetic allowed Wilsonart to expand its use of business intelligence. The IT team developed BAQs and dashboards to help users analyse customers, part numbers and product ranges, while APIs feed data into Tableau for deeper reporting and trend analysis. Rather than simply delivering IT-generated reports, the team works with users to define needs and collaboratively build and refine dashboards, making business information more accessible and actionable.

A key benefit has been a dramatic improvement in financial processes. “Month-end close used to take 2.5 weeks and now takes just 3 to 5 days, a massive productivity lift,” Boyes divulged.

Three Businesses, One Solution

The Epicor journey is not limited to Wilsonart. The company is using the platform as the foundation for consolidating its UK operations, with Shore Laminates currently on a three-month migration, and Bushboard to follow shortly.

Moving to a common ERP eliminates the complexity of maintaining multiple systems. Elsom articulated, “We’ll be moving from three separate customer service functions to a seamless, connected environment.”

Epicor Prism is particularly exciting, with potential to optimise inventory, predict changes and see how decisions—such as changing a material—flow through the system and ultimately affect the bottom line. That’s what everyone wants to know.

Again, the benefits extend to finance: “Soon, the head of finance will be able to access consolidated reporting from a single dashboard, including cross-company reporting and a broader view of business performance,” Boyes described.

For the IT team itself, consolidation means specialisation. Rather than stretching resources across different systems, the team is developing deeper knowledge and dividing responsibilities. Elsom shared, “Epicor is facilitating our career development, freeing each of us to specialise in areas such as finance, operations and sales.”

Built to Scale

With its ERP foundation established, Wilsonart continues to expand Epicor’s role across the business. The roadmap includes moving additional EDI processes from legacy Service Connect to Automation Studio, expanding API integrations, implementing case management, advancing paperless warehouse initiatives, and exploring inventory planning and optimisation,

Boyes noted, “Looking ahead, Epicor Prism is particularly exciting, with AI potential to optimise inventory, predict changes and see how decisions—such as changing a material—flow through the system and ultimately affect the bottom line. That’s what everyone wants to know.”

Additionally, the company is deepening integrations with major retail partners. APIs provide live inventory data, pull orders directly from retail systems and return shipment and tracking information, replacing the manual work of logging into portals, downloading orders and converting files for import. “The Epicor API connections will reduce many of the administrative tasks usually associated with account support,” Elsom shared.

I recommend cloud to everyone. Just concentrate on the application, let someone else deal with the hardware.

The impact extends beyond efficiency: Wilsonart now onboards new accounts without increasing headcount or administrative workloads. Improved integration capabilities have even helped win business. “Integration with retailers has been a major boost,” Boyes elaborated. “Epicor’s advantages allowed us to win back B&Q, an account we had lost due to the On Time In-Full issues we previously had. Plus, we’ve secured three additional large, new accounts as a result of our improved capabilities.”

Confidence for the Future

For Wilsonart’s IT team, one of the biggest benefits of cloud deployment is the freedom it provides. “Being cloud deployed gives you the perfect combination of control over your data and system with ultimate flexibility and reliability,” Boyes acknowledged.

“I recommend cloud to everyone,” Boyes commented. “Just concentrate on the application, let someone else deal with the hardware.”

The self-service Cloud Management Portal makes upgrades easier to manage and gives Wilsonart greater control over when and how it adopts new functionality. The team can perform backups and restores, recycle applications, and access newer versions without the hardware and server-management demands ofthe legacy environment.

Boyes concluded, “As we celebrate our 70th anniversary, Epicor is moving us forward.”