Single-Source Technology Partner Creates Competitive Advantage Through Data-Driven Insights and Improved Efficiencies
Founded in 1952, Owen Mumford designs, develops and manufactures medical device solutions for the world’s leading pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies. The industry trailblazer markets a broad range of advanced injection devices for drug delivery, innovative blood sampling products and a number of other devices to aid in the safe, comfortable and accurate diagnosis or treatment of debilitating diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Nearly a decade ago, Owen Mumford chose Epicor as a global technology partner across the company’s UK, U.S., France, Germany, and Malaysia sites, deploying a full suite of Epicor solutions, including Epicor Kinetic, Epicor Quick Ship, Epicor Mobile Warehouse, Epicor QMS, Epicor Advanced MES and Epicor EDI.
In 1999, family-owned Owen Mumford was a $13M medical device pioneer. The newly hired Financial Controller, Gavin Jones, saw that the company was poised for significant growth and obtained the support of the Board to invest in technology as a competitive differentiator. In 2014, Jones – now Group Finance Director – continued to push innovation by implementing an IT strategy to ensure business continuity and facilitate a continued aggressive growth pace.
The core tenet of that blueprint was to standardize business units on Epicor solutions wherever possible. Jones recalled, “Epicor helped offering us a solution that wouldn’t require a lot of customisations and integrations, keeping it simpler to maintain. Furthermore, having all our locations on Epicor meant we would be able to tap into global functionality, streamlining processes and operational efficiencies.”
To help pave the way for success, Jones established a team of Epicor evangelists to guide the company through deployment. “We had a team of functional area leaders and subject matter experts (SME) who were keen on technology to help cascade Epicor through the business,” Jones explained. “We started with education on change management and then collaborated on the appropriate Epicor solutions with SMEs so that they could be enthusiastic, positive point-people for any questions and issues.”
Prior to Epicor, Owen Mumford possessed plenty of data, but not enough useful information. The company relied on multiple specialty systems which generated disparate, unconnected views of the business and too much native knowledge which created an inadequate snapshot of the business.
Jones shared, “The single source of truth that we get from Epicor data is very important. And the breadth and real time availability of the data is a massive improvement because it is driving timely discussions in the right areas.”
For instance, using Epicor Kinetic, manufacturing teams can concentrate on variances, speeding time to improvements, eliminating waste and positively impacting the bottom line. Jones observed, “It’s a double benefit. Product costs are lower which generates more profit, and from a sustainability perspective, we are using less material.”
“Epicor help us to identify waste percentages, set targets for improvement and track our performance against that goal. As an example, we have achieved a £300,000 per annum waste reduction in just one of our factories,” he added.
For commodity products, data from Epicor helped the management team to decide to move some manufacturing to a site in Malaysia, enabling Owen Mumford to keep pace with declining market prices. Additionally, sales teams can slice and dice the data to see which products are most profitable, which are growing, to compare margins and to assess customer usage.
Inventory control and visibility also markedly improved. Jones described, “it is a fact that the more stock you have, the more potential for waste because many products expire or become obsolete. Less stock means more cash to invest in new products and services. During the pandemic, shipping times doubled or tripled, spawning an increase in orders and ultimately creating surplus inventory throughout the supply chain. Epicor data was able to inform inventory management, allowing us to drop inventory by over £3 million over a four-month period, while still keeping up with market demand.”
Another transformative solution has been Epicor QMS, a cloud-based quality management system designed to enhance processes to improve financial results and drive competitive edge.
Epicor QMS empowered Owen Mumford to automate paper-based workflows, dramatically improving productivity while also eliminating a massive amount of paper, another business/sustainability win-win.
We’ve had phenomenal growth, from £16.5M when I joined to over £104M last year, and Epicor has been an important partner supporting that growth.
“Instead of emailing, printing, and scanning documents, and all the associated potential opportunities for lost paper, many of our processes are now online,” Jones remarked.” That shift also reduced the amount of complex non-biodegradable polymers from discarded Owen Mumford toner cartridges.”
Amongst many other devices, Owen Mumford manufactures an autoinjector for one of the world’s most important drugs. That commitment required the company to provide large amounts of data to help the customer analyse any changes in process parameters to maintain the highest possible quality levels.
Since moving to Epicor Advanced MES, we have had almost six years of 100% on-time delivery and perfect quality audit scores. Given that success, we are now looking at rolling out the solution more widely.
Owen Mumford deployed Epicor Advanced MES on the machines that produce the specific device. Jones revealed, “Since moving to Epicor Advanced MES, we have had almost six years of 100% on-time delivery and perfect quality audit scores.” He added, “Given that success, we are now looking at rolling out the solution more widely to the benefit of our other customers.”
Epicor has also supported Owen Mumford in meeting software compliance requirements across the countries in which it operates. Having a single system in all locations has significantly improved compliance, streamlined auditing processes and help to enable the testing and validation once, rather than doing so in every country. Country Specific Functionality (CSF) packs have also allowed Owen Mumford to meet the unique needs of different regions, such as sales tax.
Epicor solutions have helped enable the Owen Mumford team to automate the day-to-day processes and concentrate on new product and service introductions. “Epicor helps to enable us to manage by exception, so we can invest brainpower in the right areas, including the next innovation,” Jones divulged.
Owen Mumford is one of the first medical device companies in the world to achieve B Corp certification and has set science-based targets to achieve net zero by 2045. These efforts require the company to capture benchmark data, track the data, and deliver a roadmap. Jones emphasized, “Epicor is front and center on our sustainability initiatives by helping to deliver the data we need to advance that journey.”
He added, “We’ve had phenomenal growth, from £16.5M when I joined to over £104M last year, and Epicor has been an important partner supporting that growth.”
