Fibrebond Corporation

Fibrebond was founded in 1982 to fulfill the emerging wireless telecommunications industry's need for strong, durable, aesthetic shelters to protect equipment. Fibrebond has since grown into a sophisticated, cutting-edge manufacturer of concrete, steel, and hybrid structures for the communications, power, and data center industries.

Today, these equipment shelters can be found in all 50 states and numerous countries worldwide. Working within a highly competitive marketplace, Fibrebond attributes its growth over the past decade to the ability to gain quick entry into new market segments and emerging industries. “Meeting changing market needs with new product lines has been essential for our success,” said Gerard Smolenski, bill of materials manager, Fibrebond. “This involves quickly and cost-effectively meeting stringent customer demands on time and then moving onto the next project without delays.”

Open access companywide

Fibrebond bolstered this effort with the implementation of the Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The goal was creating one open environment that would increase the visibility of multiple islands of information for a greater number of employees companywide.

“The Epicor system was just easier to use than all the others we evaluated,” explained Sharon Pulsifer, systems analyst, Fibrebond. “It was readily customizable, enabling us to place data in one place and flexibly access all forms of information through updatable dashboards.”

Newly enhanced Epicor ERP features (now known as Kinetic)

Most recently, Fibrebond expanded these capabilities even more when it migrated to the latest version of the system. Designed as a standardized, scalable method for mining data and seamlessly centralizing operational functions, the newly updated Epicor ERP system was developed to address real-world scenarios in a global economy. It also leverages a new mobile framework that provides information access to virtually any mobile device-anytime, anywhere.

“We take risk very seriously,” offered David Fox, IT director, Fibrebond. “This includes assessing the viability of product extensions into new markets and the addition of new structures to our existing lines. The access to real-time data has not only given us the insight needed to produce our products more quickly and efficiently, but also rapidly adjust to customer demands. We even have a much better feel for the labor and material that goes into every product. This has all combined to make us far more competitive and the leading provider in our lines of business.”

Tracking jobs and functions throughout the work cycle

Fibrebond's success depends on the ability to precisely produce multiple precast concrete shelters onsite every day, as well as complex and highly customized interlocking steel panel building designs. Prior to using Epicor, this process-from labor coordination to purchase-order generation-was performed manually. Today, these functions are tied to easy-to-use dashboards and graphical interfaces in the Epicor ERP system.

For instance, Fibrebond uses Epicor ERP to track nearly every aspect of the work cycle. This begins with job entry and then proceeds through the production of the bill of material (BOM) and engineering work orders, detailed tracking of inventory, and even issuing invoices and packing slips upon completion. Other benefits include using tablets with mark-up scanners on the shop floor to accurately assess inventory levels in real time.

“We couldn't function without Epicor,” added Kim Van Ness, purchasing agent, Fibrebond. “Thanks to Epicor, our tech support is second to none. We now have real-time inventory control that provides the location of every single part at any given time.”