The Royal Australian Mint is a listed entity within the Commonwealth Government portfolio of the Treasury and is the sole supplier of Australia’s circulating coinage. Since its establishment, the Mint has produced more than fifteen billion circulating coins and now has the capacity to produce two million circulating coins per day. The demand for uncirculated coins has led to the expansion of the Mint’s manufacturing capability of high-quality and innovative collector coins.
One of the main reasons we chose Epicor was that the solution met our organisational goals of flexibility and simplicity. The user interface—which was delivered out of the box—fit perfectly with the Mint’s strategy of not having to customise significantly.
One of the main reasons we chose Epicor was that the solution met our organisational goals of flexibility and simplicity. The user interface—which was delivered out of the box—fit perfectly with the Mint’s strategy of not having to customise significantly.
In addition to producing Australia’s coinage, the Mint produces coins for other countries—along with medals, medallions, tokens, and seals for private clients both national and international.
The Royal Australian Mint is also a tourist attraction. It educates students and visitors on the history of Australian coinage, and it explains how technology is being used in its modern manufacturing environment.
In 2010, the Royal Australian Mint implemented a manufacturing resource planning solution to facilitate the production of circulating coins and numismatic coins. The solution was designed to provide integrated manufacturing, sales, dispatch, financial, maintenance, HR, and document management capabilities. As the solution was reaching its end of life, a significant investment was required to upgrade.
The business of the Mint had also changed since the solution’s initial implementation—driven by the requirement to increase production efficiencies, improve process maturity, and the need for greater information sharing across the business. The original solution had been significantly customized, making it difficult to update regularly. This meant the solution became outdated and difficult to use, hindering the Mint’s ability to improve business processes.
Ricardo Alberto, chief technology officer at the Commonwealth Treasury, said, “We are seeing a decline in the amount of circulating coins in Australia. Because this part of the business is funded by the government, we needed to grow the commercial side of the business to cover the shortfall. To do this, the Mint had to become more commercially focused—something that is unique for a government agency.”
Alberto explained, “We needed to find efficiencies across the business to deal with the increasing demand for collector coins. This was a big challenge, as the collector market has lots of different coins which are higher in value.”
Consequently, the Mint needed an adaptable and flexible manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that could drive production efficiencies and improve processes. The solution also needed to enable information sharing across the business, real-time reporting, and online capabilities so the Mint could have visibility across its entire operations.
Alberto said, “Every efficiency that we can get out of manufacturing workflows and financial reporting translates into a significant benefit for the business. We needed a solution that would effectively address business process efficiencies.”
After identifying its challenges, the Mint needed to decide on the right approach to solve them. The business knew it could either upgrade its legacy system or test the market and look for a new manufacturing ERP solution.
The Mint wanted a simple and user-friendly solution that was preconfigured and would deliver value almost immediately.
Alberto said, “We didn’t want to spend 12 months writing specifications, designing, and building the solution. Typically, these projects take 12 to 18 months just to start the implementation phase. We were looking for something that was known within the industry, with standard setups to complete basic manufacturing and financial functions, and with a user-friendly interface.
“The Mint has a diverse workforce, and the chosen solution would be used by factory staff, as well as administrative, finance, and senior executives. It needed to be a simple solution, as we would need to explain how to use the system to approximately 240 of our employees across all branches.”
The Mint went through a thorough evaluation process before finally selecting Epicor Kinetic.
As Alberto explained, “One of the main reasons we chose Epicor was that the solution met our organisational goals of flexibility and simplicity. The user interface—which was delivered out of the box—fit perfectly with the Mint’s strategy of not having to customise significantly.
Epicor also demonstrated its expertise and experience in the manufacturing industry. We wanted a specific manufacturing solution, and it was evident that the Epicor technology has been designed with all the intricacies associated with manufacturing in mind. Using an out-of-the-box solution, the team hasn’t come across any instance where additional functionality is needed to complete tasks. There are multiple options to choose from, allowing the team to map work practices to at least one of those options.
For example, the costs of the different parts in the manufacturing process are aligned with the correct financial accounts. The system can be configured and integrated without having to apply any additional code. Thanks to the Epicor solution, we didn’t need to code any specific workflows.”
The Mint now has Epicor Kinetic that manages its daily operations across the entire business. The solution lets the Mint manage quotes, sales orders, packing, and dispatching orders, as well as manufacturing processes—including planning, scheduling, purchasing of raw materials, and labour. Epicor Kinetic also allows all costs to be recorded so reporting can be completed accurately.
Epicor Kinetic is integrated with the Mint’s retail sales channel—including its eShop and its customer relationship management (CRM) system. It is also integrated with Australia Post’s eParcel system to track shipping deliveries recorded in the system.
The Mint worked with Precise—an Epicor partner—to implement a point of sale (POS) system in the retail store, which integrates with the Epicor Kinetic software.
Alberto noted, “Previously, the Mint did not have any integration with the POS system. The time it took to do reconciliations between the retail store and roadshow sales has been significantly reduced thanks to the Epicor solution. We save up to several days per month on reconciliations for the mobile coin fairs and a few hours per week in the retail store.”
Alberto continued, “The prime benefit for the Mint has been in dispatching orders. Before the implementation Epicor Kinetic, the process of dispatching orders was not efficient—especially when we were experiencing a period of high sales, such as when a new product was released. Epicor has provided an electronic way to sort through orders, providing greater efficiencies and allowing customers to receive orders in a timely fashion.
Simplicity and reliability have been the key themes throughout this project. One of the greatest advantages of using Epicor Kinetic is that we can track and trace everything. For example, if we are questioned about an inventory transaction, we are able to track all actions that have occurred with that inventory.
Using the Epicor best-practice manufacturing solution to drive change management, our employees have become really engaged, and the project has challenged staff to think about business processes. It has put the whole business on a new footing, and employees are taking responsibility for these processes. The Epicor solution has proven to be a powerful support tool for our employees, and the easy-to-use user interface meant that the employees have adapted to the new technology quickly.
"We are confident that Epicor Kinetic reflects what is happening in the business, in every area, every step of the way,” he stated.
In terms of supporting the company’s future growth, the Mint now has the flexibility to accommodate new ideas and new ways of approaching the market.
Alberto concluded, “Epicor offers the flexibility to support the business wherever we want to expand because we don’t need to customise the solution. This means we can use native processes to deliver solutions and stay up to date and regularly upgrade the solution.”
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