Introduction
As veteran workers retire and new talent struggles to keep pace with digital transformation, companies risk losing institutional knowledge and seeing declines in productivity. Epicor Data Insights offers a powerful lever to close that gap.
By turning raw operational data into actionable workforce intelligence, manufacturers can identify hidden bottlenecks, prioritize training, and enable better decision-making, without overhauling their human resources strategy overnight.
The notion that technology could simply replace human skills is outdated. Instead, data analytics should be used to augment the workforce. Epicor Data Insights, built on the foundation of modern ERP, gives leaders visibility into how people perform, how they learn, and where real gaps lie.
The Manufacturing Skills Gap Is Real
Epicor’s “Future of Work in Manufacturing” survey found a worrying mismatch in worker morale: 57% of managers rate morale as high, but only 45% of frontline workers agree.
This disconnect matters because it’s about retention, engagement, and performance and not about feelings.
Even more concerning is how upskilling is perceived. While 91% of managers say training is a priority, only 70% of workers feel the same way.
These gaps suggest that well-intentioned leadership isn’t fully aligned with how workers experience skills development, leading to inefficient training, missed opportunities, and wasted resources.
Compounding the problem, there’s a looming workforce shortage. Epicor’s research highlights a projected shortfall of 3.8 million manufacturing roles in the coming years.
What Makes Epicor Data Insights Different
Epicor Data Insights is deeply embedded in Epicor Kinetic ERP, enabling a unified view of data across production, operations, and workforce processes.
Key capabilities include:
- Real-time performance tracking
You can monitor how individuals and teams are performing against key metrics. - Knowledge management
Training materials, SOPs, and best practices are stored, organized, and accessible so insights don’t live only in silos. - AI-driven recommendations
AI (e.g., via Epicor Prism) identifies knowledge gaps, recommends training, and helps automate learning pathways. - Self-serve analytics
Non-technical users, including shop-floor supervisors, can access dashboards without waiting for IT, democratizing data. - Continuous feedback loops
Because data is live, organizations can iterate: assess skill gaps, train, measure again, and refine.
This kind of insight turns workforce planning into a data-driven discipline. It helps leadership move from reactive training (“We need more people here”) to proactive capability-building (“Here is exactly where we lack mastery”).
How Data Insights Help Bridge Workforce Challenges
1. Identifying Hidden Skill Gaps
Rather than relying solely on annual reviews or subjective assessments, Epicor Data Insights surfaces patterns in performance data. For example, if certain machines or processes show repeated quality issues, leaders can probe whether those reflect skill deficiencies, procedural misunderstandings, or training gaps.
2. Prioritizing Upskilling Strategically
Once gaps are identified, companies can use data to decide which training investments will have the greatest impact. For instance, focusing first on high-risk processes or roles whose performance most affects productivity.
3. Improving Morale and Engagement
By giving workers tools to understand their performance and learn independently, insight platforms help close the perception gap of whether their employer values their development. Moreover, by tracking morale data (directly or via proxy metrics), leadership can spot disengagement early and intervene.
4. Retaining Knowledge Through Turnover
As experienced workers leave, their tacit knowledge often leaves with them. Data Insights can capture best practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and institutional know-how, making that knowledge accessible to new hires. With AI-powered guidance, new operators can be coached through complex tasks without the constant presence of a mentor.
5. Supporting Self-serve Analytics for Managers
Supervisors and team leads can use self-serve dashboards to monitor workforce KPIs without relying on central IT or BI teams. This accelerates decision-making and aligns frontline leaders more strongly with business goals.
The Role of Neolysi in Making This Happen
Implementing data-driven workforce analytics requires a consultative partner who understands both manufacturing operations and digital transformation.
Neolysi brings deep expertise in:
- ERP Deployment
We help manufacturers deploy Epicor Kinetic with the right architecture, ensuring clean, high-quality data flows into analytics systems. - Analytics Strategy
We design customized data models and dashboards for workforce intelligence. Our goal: align analytics with your unique operations, not just generic metrics. - Skill-Gap Mapping
Neolysi helps map real business outcomes (e.g., yield, scrap, downtime) to personnel performance. That way, training programs are activity-based and are outcome-driven. - Change Management
Adopting analytics means changing how teams work. We assist in rolling out training, enabling self-serve access, and building a data culture that front-line staff trust. - Continuous Improvement
Post-deployment, we support continuous refinement. As you generate new data, we help you extract new insights, adjust training strategies, and evolve workforce planning over time.
Business Impact: What Manufacturers Can Gain
- Higher productivity: Targeted upskilling addresses the root causes of inefficiency rather than applying blanket training.
- Reduced quality issues: When data reveals where mistakes cluster, you can train precisely and reduce rework or scrap.
- Greater retention: Employees feel seen and invested in when they can see how their performance aligns with business goals.
- Knowledge preservation: Processes and best practices are codified and made accessible, less dependent on individual memory.
- Agile workforce planning: Forecast future skill needs, not just react to current gaps.
Over time, these advantages compound. Rather than just plugging holes in workforce capabilities, organizations build a data-driven learning and development engine.
Risks and How to Mitigate Them
No solution is without risk. Some challenges when implementing Epicor Data Insights include:
- Resistance to adoption: Front-line workers may be skeptical of analytics.
Mitigation: Run pilot programs, involve them in dashboard design, and emphasize how data supports, not penalizes, their work. - Poor data quality: Analytics is only as good as its inputs.
Mitigation: Establish data governance practices, clear data ownership, and ensure transactional data in the ERP is clean and consistent. - Change fatigue: Introducing analytics, training, and new tools all at once can overwhelm teams.
Mitigation: Use a phased rollout. Start with high-impact areas, deliver quick wins, and scale gradually. - Over-reliance on dashboards: Decisions should not be made purely on data without context.
Mitigation: Pair analytics with human insight. Use data to inform, not replace, management judgment.
Conclusion
In manufacturing, the skills gap is a business risk. Without addressing it, companies may face higher turnover, lower quality, and loss of competitive advantage. But Epicor Data Insights offers a way forward: a data-driven, strategic, and sustainable approach to workforce enablement.
By partnering with Neolysi, manufacturers can implement this powerful tool in a way that aligns with their operations, preserves institutional knowledge, and builds a future-ready workforce.
If you’re a manufacturing leader looking to close your skills gap, Neolysi can help you unlock insight, drive upskilling, and retain talent.
Get in touch with Neolysi today to explore how Epicor Data Insights can transform your workforce strategy.