Ependion

A Partnership Built Over 15 Years

Ependion has relied on IFS to run its manufacturing and business operations since 2010. In that time, the company completed more than 15 rollouts across its two business entities, Beijer Electronics and Westermo, building internal capability at every stage.

That history meant the transition to IFS Cloud was not a leap into the unknown. It was a deliberate next step — one shaped by trust, detailed planning, and a clear-eyed view of where the business needed to go.

Rising Complexity, Rising Expectations

The challenge Ependion faced was not that IFS Applications 10 had stopped working. It was that the world around it had changed.

The role-based permission model had become increasingly complex as the organization grew. Managing it demanded dedicated IT time and careful coordination with every new deployment. Meanwhile, new employees faced a steep learning curve on interfaces that reflected the conventions of an older era, and business leaders were waiting too long to act on opportunities that required system changes.

The clearest signal came from outside: AI was moving quickly, and staying on a conventional upgrade cycle meant Ependion would always be catching up rather than leading.

Choosing the Platform, Not Just the Upgrade

When Ependion evaluated the move to IFS Cloud, the conversation was not about features. It was about architecture and intent.

The evergreen model meant the company could upgrade on its own schedule, selecting specific releases based on business need and not vendor timelines. The managed cloud delivery model removed infrastructure overhead. And the relationship with IFS, developed across 15 years and more than 15 rollouts, meant Ependion knew exactly what it was getting.

The decision came down to one principle: the enterprise platform should operate with the same reliability the company demands from its own products.

Getting the Transition Right

Ependion approached the go-live with discipline. Rather than full data migration, the team chose a direct upgrade path from IFS Applications 10, preserving continuity and reducing risk.

Before the core system went live, the company established a new integration platform for all existing connections. Every integration was tested and ready before go-live day; nothing was left to catch up after the fact.

Permission management required a full rebuild. The team shifted from an inclusion-based model to an exclusion-based approach, which proved significantly more efficient to manage at scale. To support users through the change, Ependion created video tutorials and extended the test period to at least six months. Users could adapt at a realistic pace without disrupting live operations.

Ependion’s internal super user organization led the work throughout, handling configuration, rollout management, and coordination with IFS in close support.

Results: Less Friction, More Momentum

The outcomes after go-live surprised even the team that had planned for them. User support requests for the IFS application dropped unexpectedly, freeing IT resources for more strategic priorities. Upgrades and new rollouts now move faster, compressing the time between a business need and a working solution.

The biggest shift has been in AI readiness. When AI became a strategic priority at Ependion, the company was already positioned to act. IFS digital workers are now handling supply order management live in production. Customer order processing is next. AI-powered manufacturing processes, such as document scanning, are already running.

Workflow automation has also allowed Ependion to begin removing the customizations that had built up over the years, reducing technical complexity while expanding what the platform can do.

What Comes Next: AI at the Center

The immediate focus is on scaling what digital workers can handle. With supply order management live and customer order processing to follow, Ependion is building an information foundation designed to serve both human users and AI systems. This gives every tool, from IFS Cloud to business intelligence platforms, access to the same underlying data.

The goal is not simply to automate tasks, but to create an environment where digital workers, human colleagues, and the systems they use can operate together with confidence. For a company that builds products designed to operate reliably in the harshest conditions, having an enterprise platform that delivers the same reliability while enabling continuous innovation is not just a technology choice. It is a competitive position.