MasterTag realizes business & productivity
gains due to a 'critical partnership' with ePS

Tom Wiewiora, Director of Technology at MasterTag, built his career in the heavy trucking industry before moving into the world of print, and remarks how “the partnership that the company has built with eProductivity Software (ePS) is ‘critical’ to achieving its strategic goals.”

“The honest communication on both sides has been crucial to the success of our relationship,” says Tom, adding: “ePS is one of the best software vendors I have worked with over my career.

With traditional ERP systems, you are alone in a sea of customers in multiple industries, but ePS has built their products and services to fit our industry, so they understand us.

They are responsive when you need them. It’s a huge contribution towards our business remaining competitive, efficient, and able to deliver value to our customers.”

This fourth-generation company, which boasts a base of over 2,000 customers, has undergone a period of tremendous change. MasterTag has sought to significantly increase the speed and efficiency with which it can process orders from its advanced eCommerce hub through its workflow and out to production and shipping.

The MasterTag^® Online eCommerce hub and systems are tightly integrated with the ePS Packaging Suite, which has allowed them to drive OTD to over 98% while reducing overhead costs and lead times by cutting preproduction touchpoints by 50%.

Following the implementation of the ePS Packaging Suite (Radius 8.1 ERP solution and eCRM module), overall system order capacity improved by 46%. They relied on ePS’s software and expertise to reduce warehouse transaction times by over 25%.

Now they can quickly turn orders during peak demand and are positioned well for growth. Radius is a highly scalable and flexible business efficiency solution which provides estimating, scheduling, inventory management, planning, and shop floor data collection.

Additionally, the eCRM module delivers smart, data integration that leverages organization-wide customer master data for sales and customer management process improvement. It also eliminates islands of information and connects teams and departments into a shared, streamlined workflow.

Tom emphasizes that eCRM has “all the functionality we needed at a better price point, and it is already integrated with the Radius ERP system.” He adds: “We had so many moving parts and data feeds for customer data; that bringing all of that together and having it fed by a single source of master data was an incredible achievement.”

Tom also explains that the cost savings eCRM has generated for MasterTag have been significant: “First-year savings realized with the use of eCRM was able to cover the cost of the implementation while being a positive overhead reduction going forward. This means we implemented critical integration and functionality to drive our business that was cost neutral in the first year– that is huge.”

The competitive edge that MasterTag maintains is an absolute focus on their customers, including retailers, brand owners, growers, brokers, and consumers.

“We are committed to delivering high quality products, with accurate and relevant content, that are proven to sell, and proven to work in the field. We are committed to delivering high-quality products, with accurate and relevant content, that are proven to sell and proven to work in the field. We focus on delighting our customers, executing well, and not overpromising. With MasterTag® Online we allow customers to transact on their timeline.

We always have the voice of the customer in mind, and it is our mission to make their working lives easier–enabling their businesses to work more efficiently and effectively. With the help of our software technology investments, and efficiencies, we are able to do all this with no incremental cost.”

MasterTag decided to invest in Radius and eCRM because the company recognized it had found a partner in ePS who could help drive success by leveraging the same customer-centric values. As Tom explains: “We feel that ePS shares a customer-centric philosophy with us. A traditional ERP system just doesn’t meet the specific needs of a manufacturing operation such as ours in the print industry.

You really need a specialized platform backed up by a team with specific sector knowledge.” “Another very important facet of our relationship with ePS is its overall business support framework. The Connect user conference is a great example of this.

We can utilize high-quality rich expertise, while being surrounded by industry professionals who can share best practices. You simply don’t get that kind of print-industry expertise with traditional ERP providers.”