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78 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 Epoch realized early on that, without any ERP tool, it would not be humanly possible to man- age the entire supply chain. Epoch has been utilizing Oracle EBS suit to operate its entire business operations since the early 2000s. To further enhance its internal supply chain, Epoch has augmented the ERP with a series of in-house-designed interface modules. One of the early modules designed was a "barcode interface module." is system has allowed the removal of all the manual entry into the ERP system by merely scanning the material as it moves from point of entry to the pro- duction floor. is system is very much integrated with the in-house developed MES system that monitors the move- ment of the product/material through- out the production stage. Storage and Delivery One area of cost that has been addressed by Epoch is the movement of raw material back and forth from inventory to production site. is has been achieved through the implemen- tation of an environmentally controlled Point of Use Smart Cabinet. e company has deployed a series of Feature Article by Meghan Zou EPOCH Driving cost out of the supply chain goes beyond reduction of raw material cost. ough many of the manufacturers today con- centrate on negotiation with their raw mate- rial supplier(s) the hidden cost of internal sup- ply chain goes undetected. To address the cost of the entire supply chain we should not only look at direct material cost but also at the cost of internal supply chain. At Epoch we looked at four areas in particular: planning/tracking, storage/delivery, inventory man- agement, and supplier relation- ships. Planning and Tracking At Epoch International, a pro- vider of engineering and manufac- turing services to a diverse customer in such fields as telecommunication, automotive, medical, etc., this chal- lenge becomes more acute due to the various sizes and diversity of produc- tion we run daily. Due to the vast vari- ety and number of components used in various product lines, Driving Down Cost in the Supply Chain