OVERVIEW
Blackhawk Composites, Inc. is a skilled composite design, engineering, and manufacturing facility, supporting aircraft performance and capabilities with aerospace expertise and certified composite components. As a part of the Blackhawk Aerospace family of companies, Blackhawk Composites provides a dedication to excellence, producing high-quality composite solutions that are cost-effective, yield-effective, and delivered on-time. From its state-of-the-art facility in Morgantown, Kentucky, the company serves a wide variety of commercial and military aircraft operators.
- More than a dozen programs and 50+ projects have received manufactured and certified components.
- Clients receive cost-competitive solutions with available in-house advanced composites equipment.
- Lead times are shortened and costs are reduced with enterprise-level processes in place.
- Blackhawk Composites has extensive certifications to create composite solutions that comply with aerospace compliance requirements.
Every practice, process, and product that is idealized by Blackhawk Composites is designed and implemented to serve clients with the competitive advantage of increased performance.
CHALLENGES
Blackhawk Composites required a true understanding of data with a simple but effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution they could leverage. Initially, the company struggled to track information, which was scattered among an internal system with three separate programs and a less than helpful ERP. This made it difficult to manage or even trust the data as it was being sourced.
Additionally, the reporting process was found to be inaccurate. Just as many other businesses have been impacted by the pandemic, Blackhawk Composites has suffered from long lead times in the supply chain. That forecasting unpredictability added a roadblock to the reporting process and the accuracy of estimates. Without a correct reporting structure, decision making was impacted, requiring too many assumptions that called for a better understanding of actual operations.
SOLUTION
Blackhawk Composites connected with Cre8tive Technology & Design to integrate Epicor in the Epicor Government Cloud – a supportive solution that allowed for modern organization through a seamless transition. The software as a solution (SaaS) model was the first step to solving ongoing problems. Instead of dealing with constant hardware challenges, a cloud solution was the perfect choice for IT support, handling compliance, and more. With a proper ERP, using data effectively then became a reality. Cre8tive worked with Blackhawk Composites to create a consistent plan on a single platform, a process that is continuing in Phase 2.
While forecasting and purchasing remains complex amid the pandemic, Blackhawk Composites is making large strides in these areas. Cre8tive’s guidance has been at the forefront of providing a solution for custom reporting, from easy and fast data table creation to unique reports that address outstanding issues. Blackhawk Composites found that Cre8tive’s premier post go-live support mechanism, now known as the Managed Epicor Solution Program (MESP), is a valuable resource they can rely on. They receive accurate and timely operational reports, are able to incrementally use new features, and have a knowledgeable training ally to collaborate with. After completing the go-live period in March of 2021, company leadership and experienced staff have become skilled users of Epicor tools, enhancing overall operations for internal use and for clients.
TESTIMONIAL
“If you are considering a new ERP solution from Epicor and Cre8tive, I will tell you wholeheartedly that it is worth it. Having an experienced resource for training through the MESP and someone we can count on with a deep knowledge of the software has helped us get up to speed quickly. We use Epicor tools to our advantage so we can provide a better product and process for our client base.”
Alan Thompson, Quality Assurance Manager, Blackhawk Composites, Inc.