Demo: Epicor Kinetic for Aerospace & Defense Manufacturers

Epicor ERP Solutions for Aerospace and Defense

Aerospace and defense manufacturers operate under some of the most demanding regulatory and contractual requirements in the world. From government audits to fixed-price contracts and long program lifecycles, success depends on disciplined execution and complete operational visibility. Modern ERP plays a critical role in helping A&D organizations maintain compliance while controlling cost, quality, and risk across every phase of production.

A Unified ERP Platform Built for Compliance

In regulated environments, ERP is the operational backbone. Epicor Kinetic centralizes business data across departments, ensuring information is accurate, accessible, and auditable. Advanced security controls allow organizations to define access by role, group, field, or data set, while built-in audit trails capture who changed what, when, and why — supporting continuous audit readiness.

Epicor’s change logs, field-level security, and full transaction traceability ensure manufacturers can meet evolving regulatory requirements without slowing down operations.

Solutions Tailored to Industry-Specific Challenges

Aerospace and defense manufacturers must manage complex programs, fixed-cost contracts, and rigorous government regulations. Epicor’s partnership with Cre8tive Technology and Design enables industry-specific capabilities such as first article inspections, labor tracking, shelf-life management, and compliance with defense contract audit agency (DCAA) standards.

These solutions support lean manufacturing while delivering full quote-to-cash visibility, strict quality control, and project management tailored to A&D requirements.

Core Challenges in Regulated Manufacturing

Manufacturers in regulated industries consistently face several critical challenges:

• Compliance management across regions, products, and evolving regulations
• Consistent quality control without excessive cost
• End-to-end traceability from raw materials to finished goods
• Document control for SOPs, training records, and certifications
• Change management that minimizes disruption while preserving compliance
• Environmental regulations related to emissions, waste, and sustainability
• Ecosystem coordination across suppliers, partners, and internal teams
• Continuous audit readiness for unplanned inspections

Epicor Kinetic is designed to address these challenges through integrated tools, automation, and real-time visibility.

Embedded Analytics and AI for Smarter Decisions

Grow Business Intelligence (BI)

Epicor Grow embeds analytics directly into the ERP experience, delivering role-based dashboards and KPIs tailored to quality, finance, supply chain, and operations. Users gain actionable insights into metrics such as scrap costs, non-conformances, RMAs, and production performance.

Grow also functions as a standalone BI platform, enabling manufacturers to combine Epicor data with external systems, legacy data, spreadsheets, and cloud applications. This unified analytics approach supports faster reporting, deeper analysis, and better decision-making across the organization.

Epicor Prism AI

Epicor Prism is embedded AI that transforms how users interact with ERP data. Prism acts as:

• A knowledge assistant, summarizing help content and guiding users through tasks
• A data assistant, retrieving and filtering ERP data using natural language
• A multimodal analyst, interpreting dashboards and images to provide insights and recommendations

By reducing manual effort and improving access to insights, Prism enhances productivity while lowering the risk of human error.

Traceability, Auditability, and Quality Control

Epicor Kinetic provides full cradle-to-grave traceability through lot and serial tracking. Manufacturers can track materials from receipt through production, shipment, and beyond — capturing expiration dates, heat numbers, serial histories, and compliance attributes along the way.

Built-in audit trails, change logs, and right-click access to underlying transactions ensure transparency and accountability across the entire lifecycle of a product.

Advanced Inventory Planning and Optimization

With Epicor Inventory Planning and Optimization (IP&O), manufacturers can balance service levels, inventory investment, and demand variability. IP&O enables real-time visibility into inventory performance, supports what if scenarios, and applies statistical forecasting to account for seasonality and changing demand patterns.

By optimizing planning parameters, manufacturers can reduce excess inventory, improve fill rates, and increase margins—without compromising compliance or customer service.

Financial Planning, Analysis, and Reporting (FP&A)

Epicor FP&A extends visibility from operations into finance, enabling detailed budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting. Users can drill from high-level financial statements directly into underlying ERP transactions, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and faster insight.

Role-based workflows, comments, and approvals support collaborative budgeting while maintaining control and governance.

Enabling Better Outcomes for Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers

For aerospace and defense manufacturers, ERP is more than a system of record—it’s a compliance and execution engine. By unifying program management, quality, financial control, and traceability in a single platform, Epicor helps A&D organizations deliver on contracts, withstand audits, and operate with confidence in a highly regulated environment.

1. How does ERP software support DCAA compliance in aerospace and defense manufacturing?
Epicor Kinetic supports DCAA compliance by providing role based security, detailed audit trails, and project based accounting that tracks labor, material, and overhead costs at a granular level. These controls help aerospace and defense manufacturers meet government audit requirements while maintaining real time financial visibility across complex programs.

2. Can ERP systems manage fixed price and long term defense contracts?
Yes. Epicor Kinetic enables aerospace and defense manufacturers to manage fixed price and long term contracts by integrating project management, cost tracking, and revenue recognition within a single ERP platform. This ensures contract performance remains visible and auditable throughout the program lifecycle. 

3. How does Epicor ERP support traceability and first article inspections?
Epicor provides end to end traceability through lot and serial tracking, change logs, and inspection records. For aerospace and defense manufacturers, this includes support for first article inspections (FAI), enabling teams to document compliance and quality requirements from initial production through delivery.

4. Why is a unified ERP platform critical for aerospace and defense compliance?
A unified ERP platform centralizes production, quality, finance, and compliance data into a single system of record. For aerospace and defense manufacturers, this reduces audit risk, eliminates data silos, and supports continuous audit readiness across highly regulated operations.