Infor:COM is a part of the ERA integrated business automation solution, provided by EpicRus. The financial management part of this solution has already been implemented at Severstal-Emal.
   Before the launch of the project a special work group was created, made of EpicRus and Severstal-Emal experts. Implementation of financial management part of the program lasted for two months. According to Elena Afanasyeva, director of consulting of EpicRus, "This is a uniquely short time frame of implementing a large financial management complex for the entire company. We were able to do it so quickly because Severstal-Emal supported us at all levels from the general director to the line book-keeper. Besides that, EpicRus has a thoroughly developed and practically tested technique of implementing the system in such a short time frame."
   As a result of implementing the financial management part of ERA, Severstal-Emal received a unified corporate system (before that the accounting was done in several local programs on three different platforms - Paradox, Oracle, Clipper). ERA's financial solution provides full automation of financial and management accounting, warehouse accounting, payments accounting, fixed assets and intangible assets accounting, etc.
   "We have chosen the financial management system of ERA because we were thinking of tomorrow. The company plans to further automate business processes and EpicRuth can help us do that," said Alexey Pertin, general director of Severstal-Emal.
   "The company bought an intangible asset - a system of management, which will enable us to make business procedures clear and transparent. The management received an opportunity to control implementation of these procedures, while employees were freed from much of the routine work and were offered an opportunity to think more instead," said Oleg Urnev, deputy general director of Severstal-Emal.
   After successful automation of financial processes it was decided to implement the entire system of management, which is part of the ERA solution. Implementing Infor:COM will allow the company to provide precise management, effective planning, bottleneck solutions, improve the quality of working with both clients and suppliers.
   According to Alexander Gomonov, director of business development of EpicRus, step by step automation (first finance then production) will allow Severstal-Emal to save resources and assure high efficiency.
   Severstal-Emal is one of the largest producers of enamelware in Russia. The company makes over 7 million units of enamelware a year. The share of Severstal-Emal in the Russian enamelware market is 30%. Severstal's consumer good division was founded in 1973. From March 1, 2002 it was spun off and became a Severstal subsidiary - Severstal-Emal.
   The company specializes in manufacturing of dishware made of steel with enamel coating and dishware with non-stick coating. Its quality management system is ISO-9001 certified by Lloyd's Register. Severstal-Emal began its activity in the Russian market in 2002. Its international clients include Dannish, German, Spanish, Yugoslavian, Czech, South Korean and Baltic countries.
   The company restructuring has put the company in the new economic environment. Its entry into international markets required that Severstal-Emal had a better and more effective management system, which used a modern IT solution. Severstal-Emal experts studied the market of corporate IT products and chose ERA - the EpicRus product.
   EpicRus services over 300 largest Russian companies, including Vimpelkom, (Beeline), ICN Pharmaceuticals, Uralmash, Lomonosov Porcelain Plant, Uralhimplant and many others.