About Sikich

About COSMO Partner Solutions

The integration of IconPro’s technology will enable Hexagon to offer advanced, AI-driven analytics and insights across its global install base, starting with its Stationary Metrology Division in its Manufacturing Intelligence Business Area.

“Acquiring IconPro aligns with our strategy to empower manufacturers with data-driven intelligence,” said Anders Svensson, President & CEO of Hexagon. “IconPro’s expertise enables us to deliver smarter services that help our customers optimise their operations and reduce downtime, ultimately advancing their journey towards autonomous manufacturing.”

The acquisition is expected to close in December, with complete consolidation anticipated shortly thereafter. In 2026, IconPro will generate ~2 MEUR in revenues, with profitability initially below that of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence Business Area.

About Hexagon

Hexagon is the global leader in measurement technologies. We provide the confidence that vital industries rely on to build, navigate, and innovate. From microns to Mars, our solutions ensure productivity, quality, safety, and sustainability in everything from manufacturing and construction to mining and autonomous systems.

Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has approximately 24,800 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 5.4bn EUR.

The make, move, and sell industries are under pressure to scale operations while managing labor shortages, supply chain volatility, and rising customer expectations. Yet many still rely on manual RFQ processes and disconnected systems that slow decision-making and delay orders.

Epicor Prism Business Communications – a vertical AI agent built for supply chain businesses – addresses these challenges and empowers users to eliminate the delays, errors, and manual effort that slow down RFQ and supplier communication processes. The agent meets users on a familiar channel they use every day – email communication – without requiring separate portals or predefined templates. Because Prism Business Communications understands Epicor’s unique ERP data structure built for the supply chain industries, the agent can carry on a conversation with a user and contextually translate email communications with suppliers such as “lead times,” “cost,” and “part ID” directly into the ERP. This empowers users to:

• Save time by automating handling and quote comparison across multi-supplier, multi-part RFQ scenarios
• Surface actionable insights from supplier quotes using AI-generated summaries and suggested next steps
• Improve procurement performance with metrics on RFQ cycle time, quote responsiveness, and supplier engagement
• Make smarter decisions by flagging missing data, quote inconsistencies, and priority items

By streamlining manual workflows, improving quote accuracy, and accelerating purchasing decisions, Prism Business Communications delivers enhanced operational value. And, with an ERP industry-first in outcomes-based pricing for an AI agent, users only pay for RFQs that convert to purchase orders.

“In our world, time is money, and Epicor Prism Business Communications helps us maximize efficiencies,” said Jason Bassett, IT Manager at Madsen’s Custom Cabinets. “Being able to convert an email conversation with a supplier into a purchase order at the click of a button, with all of the details populated, helps us save time and improve data accuracy.”

Epicor Prism Business Communications is part of the Epicor Prism portfolio, a network of vertical AI agents built specifically for the supply chain industries. Through intuitive, AI-driven conversational ERP, Epicor Prism agents simplify the way businesses and their workers access answers and recommendations to complex business needs and take faster action.

“Epicor Prism Business Communications delivers on our Cognitive ERP vision to empower the make, move, and sell industries in making faster, smarter decisions and speeding time-to-value,” said Arturo Buzzalino, Chief Innovation Officer at Epicor. “By automating RFQ workflows and accelerating supplier decisions, we’re helping users eliminate friction in procurement, freeing teams to focus on what matters most – delivering with speed and accuracy to help grow their business.”

Epicor Prism Business Communications is available for Epicor Kinetic and can be natively embedded as part of the Epicor Industry ERP Cloud experience.

About Epicor

Epicor equips hard-working businesses with enterprise solutions that keep the world turning. For 50 years, customers in the automotive, building supply, distribution, manufacturing, and retail industries have trusted Epicor to help them do business better. Innovative Epicor solution sets are carefully curated to fit customer needs and built to respond flexibly to their fast-changing reality. With deep industry knowledge and experience, the company accelerates its customers’ ambitions, whether to grow and transform, or simply become more productive and effective.

“We’re leading a new phase in ERP,” said Rick Berger, CEO of Rootstock Software. “Manufacturers and distributors are done with workarounds and complexity—they want intelligence built in. With our AI-powered ERP Agent, expanded financial capabilities, and the launch of our improved grid, we’re providing manufacturers with the capabilities to anticipate market shifts, accelerate decisions, and adapt with agility.”

“CIOs and operational leaders want to modernize their enterprise, unify data on a common platform, and automate their day-to-day operations—that’s exactly what we’ve enabled,” said Robert Rostamizadeh, CTO at Rootstock. “With this release, we’re delivering an ERP that saves time, supports data visibility, and boosts productivity across finance, inventory, and manufacturing operations.”

The Summer ’25 Release includes enhancements across four key areas:

1. AI-Powered ERP Agent: Context-Aware ERP Automation. Rootstock introduces a new Manufacturing ERP Agent, now in pilot. This conversational, context-aware agent helps users streamline core ERP functions—without leaving the Rootstock ERP home screen or navigating to different areas for various information. For example, with users providing spoken or typed-in prompts, the agent can:

• Summarize recent sales orders and identify customer-buying patterns.
• View and adjust inventory levels, including cycle count corrections and reallocations.
• Reflect scrap adjustments, create a supply order, and trigger replenishment.
• Search for work orders—or generate new ones based on real-time needs.

This new ERP Agent showcases how Rootstock is streamlining everyday processes—reducing clicks, improving accuracy, and enabling faster, more informed action directly within user workflow.

2. Financial Enhancements: Greater Flexibility, Automation, and Control. Rootstock continues to strengthen its ERP financial module with enhancements that streamline reconciliation, reduce manual effort, and support various accounting structures. Key enhancements include:

• 13th Period Support: Enables configuration of a 13-period fiscal calendar—commonly used by retail, distribution, and manufacturers to align reporting with weekly business cycles. This structure supports more consistent operational comparisons and internal financial planning, especially in environments with high transaction volume.
• Customer Refunds: New flows allow for Accounts Receivable / Accounts Payable (AR/AP) offsets and vendor-to-customer refund processing. This feature addresses a customer-driven request through Rootstock’s Idea Factory.
• POAP Match Attachments: Attach invoices and other documents within the POAP Match screen; files carry through to Payable Transactions for audit-readiness.
• General Ledger (GL) UX Improvements: A redesigned view now features contextual tabs, smart field groupings, and links to related records—making it easier to analyze and reconcile transactions.

3. Rootstock Grid: A Modern Data Experience. The new Grid makes its debut, bringing high-performance data interaction to the heart of ERP workflows. Built for speed, flexibility, and personalization, this configurable grid architecture allows users to:

• Perform inline editing and navigate records quickly using keyboard shortcuts.
• Personalize filters, columns, and display settings that persist across sessions.
• Work within linked grids for seamless cross-record navigation.
• Select rows across multiple pages and apply advanced filtering and sorting.
• Tailor grid behavior and function with robust admin configuration controls.

4. Operational Enhancements: Smarter Planning, Work Orders, and Routing. Rootstock continues to strengthen core manufacturing and supply chain processes with updates that improve inventory replenishment, work order processing, routing logic, and documentation:

• Greater DRP Replenishment Control – Exclude Supplies & Demands: Users can now configure Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) replenishment logic to exclude existing supplies and demands when calculating planned transfer or purchase quantities. This enhancement gives planners greater flexibility to manage location-level inventory based solely on desired stocking thresholds—especially useful in environments where supply and demand volatility can skew replenishment needs.
• Multiple Subcontract Operations per Routing: For divisions using Weighted Average Costing, users can now assign more than one subcontract operation to a single routing or work order—eliminating the need for artificial BOM levels and simplifying routing structure.
• Work Order Traveler for Disassembly and Labor-Only Orders: Users can now generate Traveler printouts for these specialized work orders, with logic that includes only relevant components and operations—improving documentation and streamlining execution.

The Summer ’25 Release is now available to all Rootstock customers. Grid enhancements, ERP Agents, and financial updates will continue to expand in future releases.

About Rootstock

Rootstock Software provides the leading ERP for product companies, empowering manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors to turbocharge their operations. Natively built on the Salesforce Platform, Rootstock is a modern, future-proof ERP with a fresh user experience. Users appreciate Rootstock’s focus on customer success and its AI capabilities that offer a human-first approach. IT teams value Rootstock’s platform as it minimizes the need to coordinate complex customizations and third-party integrations. All of these factors have contributed to delighted customers.

ProShop ERP is the trusted backbone of operations for hundreds of North American job shops and manufacturers. From quoting and job costing to compliance and quality management, ProShop empowers manufacturers to scale efficiently, stay audit-ready, and drive higher profitability. With Hawkins at the helm, the company is doubling down on its customer-first mission – to ensure that every enhancement, feature, and decision reflects the needs and ambitions of its users. In addition to its robust software platform, ProShop is committed to helping manufacturers learn, connect, and grow. Through regional events held across North America, ProShop brings shop owners and operators together for hands-on learning, real-world strategies, and peer-to-peer collaboration. The next educational event will be held in September 2025 in Chicago. Learn More.

“ProShop exists to serve our customers—it’s that simple,” said Ms. Hawkins. “We know that when a manufacturer chooses our software, they’re trusting us with the operational heartbeat of their business. That’s a responsibility we take incredibly seriously. Every product improvement, support interaction, and strategic initiative is centered on helping our clients achieve more.”

Hawkins previously served as ProShop’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, where she led transformative initiatives in operational alignment and customer success. She now joins the founding team – Paul Van Metre (Chief Evangelist), Kelsey Heikoop (Chairman of the Board), and Matt Carrico (Chief Architect) – to further strengthen the company’s customer-focused culture and product innovation roadmap.

“Alison brings a relentless focus on customer value and impact,” said Paul Van Metre, co-founder and Chief Evangelist. “She listens deeply, acts decisively, and never loses sight of the fact that our clients are at the center of everything we do.”

“Our customers don’t just use ProShop—they rely on it to grow,” added Kelsey Heikoop, co-founder. “Alison’s leadership will help us serve more shops, more meaningfully, at every stage of their journey.”

“Alison is a systems thinker and a servant leader—a rare combination,” said Matt Carrico, co-founder and Chief Architect. “She understands that scaling responsibly means staying close to our customers.”

With Hawkins as CEO, ProShop is expanding its bench of product, operations, and customer success leaders – all united by a shared mission: to deliver unparalleled value to manufacturers and become the most trusted operational platform in the industry.

About ProShop ERP

ProShop ERP delivers cloud-native, paperless ERP/QMS/MES software that helps job shops and manufacturers streamline operations, meet compliance standards, and accelerate growth. Built by machinists for machinists, ProShop integrates enterprise resource planning, quality management, and manufacturing execution in one cohesive system—trusted by top-performing shops across North America.

Data transfer to a new Cetec ERP system is often done manually by clients, with countless hours spent typing information from multiple BOMs (Bills of Materials) using a series of complex Excel sheets. Common consequences of these static entries are incorrect, duplicate or overlooked items, disruptions and delays of workflows, and the risk of human errors, potentially leading to costly mistakes and rework.

Through the QBuild CADLink feature, clients now have the option to seamlessly transfer data from their SolidWorks/PDM BOM into their Cetec ERP system. Integration with CADLink ensures the accuracy of BOM items, reduces time spent on data transfer and is user-friendly for the engineering team. It can improve the design-to-manufacture workflow and help ensure data integrity between engineering and production. It offers a practical, high-value solution that brings measurable time savings and better data accuracy to complex manufacturing environments.

Clients can especially benefit from data integration through the CADLink software when multiple types and levels of data transfer are required. Such examples include custom and revision controlled BOMs, make-to-order, engineer-to-order with real-time product data management, and manufacturing execution system (MES) integration.

“Partnering with Cetec ERP is a natural fit for QBuild’s mission to streamline the flow of data from engineering to manufacturing,” said Gaël Benoit, Sales Engineer at QBuild Software. By combining Cetec’s cloud ERP platform with QBuild’s Engineering and ERP integration expertise, we’re empowering manufacturers to work smarter—with tighter collaboration, fewer errors, and faster time to market.”

“This integration tackles a huge friction point for engineers and production leads —how to move BOM data from CAD into the ERP without double-entry or costly mistakes,” said Scott Ryan, Senior Consultant at Cetec ERP. “With QBuild’s CADLink integration into our ERP system, teams can now sync engineering and production in real time.”

About QBuild Software

QBuild is the industry leader in connecting CAD, PDM and PLM software to ERP and a one-stop shop for Item & BOM synchronization and management, engineering change process controls, and automatic nesting data integration. With decades of customer-centric service to over 2,000 manufacturers and experience with 50+ engineering systems and 50+ ERP systems, QBuild is a partner of choice in creating a streamlined, cost-effective, and consistent engineering process.

About Cetec ERP

Cetec ERP offers a robust ERP solution that is practical, scalable, and priced for small to mid-sized businesses. Developed and built with a focus on manufacturing, Cetec ERP provides detailed functionalities and fits any production environment.

The cloud-based Cetec ERP system is designed to adapt to unique challenges and to grow with your business. It is straightforward to implement and affordable, ensuring all manufacturers can use an end-to-end solution.

“Greg Bean brings unparalleled expertise to the manufacturing industry and Global Shop Solutions customers,” says Dusty Alexander, President and CEO of Global Shop Solutions. “His impressive skill in manufacturing accounting—an often overlooked yet critical discipline—empowers customers to easily understand complex financial concepts. Greg’s unique ability to lead a specialized team who can translate numbers into clear insights allows our manufacturing customers to focus on what they do best: making exceptional products.”

Indeed, Bean and his team’s main focus is tying a company’s operations to its financial statements, called inventory accounting. In addition to his virtual expertise, he often travels to manufacturing locations to provide in-person guidance, helping ensure their business processes and financial records are seamlessly connected for accurate decision-making.

With Global Shop Solutions’ customer base growing steadily over the past two decades, Bean developed a new process for training employees straight out of college to help customers resolve questions faster than before. In addition to his passion to train college-aged kids in manufacturing ways, he keeps his office open for other employees to seek advice and often takes them along to customer visits, giving them hands-on experience with his methods and processes.

In addition to Bean’s inventory accounting mastery, he also devotes time to community service. When disasters such as hurricanes wreak havoc on his local South Texas community, he joins volunteers to help homeowners save money by removing the parts of their homes that require demolition. He also helps raise money for Eagle Scouts and high school sports programs.

Twenty years may seem like a long time to stay in one place, but not with Bean. “I love what I do and the people I work with,” he says with a smile. “I expect to be here for many more years helping our employees and customers be the best they can be.”

About Global Shop Solutions

We simplify your manufacturing. Global Shop Solutions ERP software provides the applications needed to deliver a quality part on time, every time from quote to cash and everything in between including shop management, scheduling, inventory, accounting, quality control, CRM and 25 more. Available in the cloud or on premise, our manufacturing customers benefit from real-time inventory accuracy, improved on-time delivery, lower administrative costs, increased sales and improved customer service. Headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas includes a state-of-the-art R&D facility and Global Shop Solutions training center. Through its offices in the U.S., Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom, the company supports thousands of manufacturing facilities in over 25 countries and nearly 30 industries. For more information, please visit globalshopsolutions.com.

• AI Adoption and Usage Trends: The survey shows that over 77% of manufacturers have implemented AI solutions, a rise from 70% in 2023, with applications spanning from production (31%) to inventory management (28%) and customer service (28%)—reflecting AI’s growing role in optimizing day-to-day operations.
• Preference for Copilots: Manufacturing professionals favor “copilots” (53%), which support human roles, rather than fully autonomous agents which could replace human resources. This indicates a strong preference for collaborative AI capabilities that enhance workforce productivity while maintaining human oversight.
• Expanded AI Applications: AI for supply chain management (49%) and big data/analytics (43%) rose as leading drivers for AI investment, highlighting a strategic focus on balancing demand, supply, and production with AI’s predictive capabilities.
• ERP’s Central Role in AI Adoption: ERP solutions remain crucial for successful AI usage, with manufacturers relying on an ERP to contextualize and manage data. However, 56% of manufacturers expressed uncertainty about their ERP systems’ readiness for AI integration, underscoring the ongoing need for ERP modernization.

About Rootstock

The transponder ID is linked to the existing order data. Depending upon the process step and order status, order information can then be displayed on the SIMATIC RTLS ePaper transponders, providing a paperless solution. Location Intelligence also offers users the opportunity to track individual workpieces or the entire order in real time. When the order ID is entered, the real-time positions of linked transponders are shown on the customer’s digital card.

The transparency achieved by this technology enables the individual optimization of production and logistics processes. The key to this is virtually defined areas known as geofences. They can be created in the software using drag-and-drop and are used to detect entry into and exit from defined areas. The associated entry and exit events can be statistically evaluated, visualized or linked to additional actions.

In addition, the combination of location and business information leads to transparent processes: searches are reduced to a minimum because the positions of all relevant objects on various terminals are visualized in real time. Bottlenecks or deviations from the production schedule can be avoided easily using geofences. At the same time, previously untapped potential for optimization in the factory can be identified through these real-time analyses and rapid decision-making is supported.

Siemens Digital Factory (DF)

Siemens Digital Factory (DF) offers a comprehensive portfolio of seamlessly integrated hardware, software and technology-based services in order to support manufacturing companies worldwide in enhancing the flexibility and efficiency of their manufacturing processes and reducing the time to market of their products.

About Siemens USA

Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. With approximately 379,000 employees in 190 countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $94.0 billion in fiscal 2018. Siemens in the USA reported revenue of $23.7 billion, including $5.0 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.