Epicor to CAD Integration: How to Connect CAD to Epicor Kinetic
Engineering designs the product in CAD. Production builds it in Epicor Kinetic. In between sits a handoff that, in a lot of shops, still happens by hand: an engineer reads the bill of materials off the CAD model and re-keys it into the ERP. It is slow, and every manual entry is a chance to introduce an error that ends up on the shop floor as a wrong build or a scrapped part.
Connecting your CAD system directly to Epicor Kinetic closes that gap. The native tool for this is Epicor CADLink, and this article explains what it does, how the integration works, and what to get right when you set it up.
Why Connect CAD to Epicor Kinetic?
Manufacturers running CAD alongside Epicor tend to hit the same problems when the two are not connected:
- Manual BOM re-entry: Engineers re-key bills of materials and part records into the ERP by hand, which is slow and pulls engineering time away from actual design work.
- Version mismatches: When engineering updates a design but the ERP does not get the update, production builds from an out-of-date BOM.
- Scrapped parts and wrong builds: A BOM that does not match the current design leads to the wrong materials, the wrong quantities, and rework.
- Slow engineering-to-production handoff: Every manual step between design and production adds time to the product development cycle.
The data that fixes all of this already exists in your CAD system. The integration puts it into Epicor accurately, without the manual step.
What Data Moves Between CAD and Epicor
A CAD-to-Epicor integration is about moving engineering data into the ERP in a form production can use. The core records that flow across are:
- Item master records: Part records created in Epicor that mirror the parts modeled in CAD.
- Bills of materials: Multi-level BOMs that reflect the structure of the CAD assembly, including sub-assemblies.
- Part properties: Descriptions, materials, and attributes carried from the CAD model into the ERP part record.
- Revisions: Design changes reflected in the ERP so production always has the current version.
The goal is not to move CAD files into Epicor. It is to make sure the item and BOM data in Epicor matches what engineering designed.
Epicor CADLink: The Native CAD Integration
The native tool for connecting CAD to Epicor Kinetic is Epicor CADLink, powered by QBuild. It lets engineers create Epicor item master and BOM records that are identical to the CAD data with a single click, without leaving their CAD system.
CADLink is compatible with the major CAD platforms, including SOLIDWORKS, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, CATIA, Solid Edge, and NX. It also connects to PLM and PDM systems, including SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional, PTC Windchill, Autodesk Vault Professional, and Siemens Teamcenter. For most manufacturers, whatever they are designing is on that list.
The key characteristic is that it is a direct, two-way link. There is no exporting a file from CAD and importing it into Epicor. Engineers work in the CAD environment they already use, and CADLink handles the connection to the ERP behind the scenes.
How the CAD to Epicor Integration Works
One-Click BOM Sync
From within the CAD system, CADLink compares the CAD BOM against what exists in Epicor and shows the differences in real time. The engineer can visually review the BOM changes before finalizing anything, then create or update the Epicor item master and BOM records with a single click. It handles multi-level BOMs, shows thumbnail previews of parts, and even allows non-CAD items, like hardware or purchased components that are not modeled, to be searched and inserted into the BOM so the record in Epicor is complete, not just what was drawn.
Keeping Engineering and Production in Sync
The real value is not the first sync. It is every sync after that. When an engineer changes a design, CADLink lets that change flow into Epicor so production is working from the current revision, not last month’s. The review-before-sync step matters here: the engineer sees exactly what will change in the ERP before committing it, which prevents an unreviewed change from quietly altering a BOM that jobs are already running against. Keeping CAD and Epicor consistent is what protects you from wrong builds and scrapped parts.
How to Integrate CAD to Epicor
Connecting CAD to Epicor is not technically difficult with CADLink, but a few things determine whether the integration is clean or messy. Get these right from the start.
Establish part numbering consistency. The integration links CAD parts to Epicor part records. If your part numbering is inconsistent between the two, the link becomes unreliable. Sorting out a clear, consistent numbering approach before you connect the systems is the single most important preparation step.
Decide what belongs in the engineering BOM versus the production BOM. The BOM engineering designs and the BOM production builds are not always identical. Production may need additional operations, materials, or non-modeled items. Decide how that difference is handled so the sync does not overwrite production-specific detail.
Set revision control discipline. The integration is only as good as the revision practices around it. Agree on how revisions are managed, who approves changes, and when they sync, so the ERP always reflects an intended state, not a work in progress.
Here are the mistakes that cause the most trouble, and that the points above are designed to prevent:
- Letting part numbering drift between CAD and Epicor, which breaks the link between systems
- Syncing changes without a review step, so unreviewed edits reach production
- Overwriting production-specific BOM detail with the raw engineering BOM
- Treating the integration as one-directional setup rather than an ongoing revision process
How EC Solutions Approaches CAD Integration
At EC Solutions, when we help a manufacturer connect CAD to Epicor, the tool is rarely the hard part. CADLink does what it says it does. The hard part is the handoff between engineering and production, and that is a process question before it is a software question.
The most common issue we see is that engineering and the ERP end up holding two different versions of the truth. Engineering has moved on to a new revision, but the BOM in Epicor still reflects the old one, and nobody notices until a job builds the wrong thing. Setting up the integration is partly technical configuration and partly agreeing on how revisions flow, who reviews them, and when they commit to the ERP. That is where we spend our time, because that is what determines whether the integration actually prevents errors or just moves them faster.
If your engineers are re-keying BOMs into Epicor by hand, or if you have been burned by production building from an out-of-date design, connecting CAD to your ERP is worth the conversation. The setup is straightforward with the right preparation.