About Us — History

Nearly forty years of innovation and achievement

Epic Data was spawned at a Vancouver-based manufacturing company – Ebco Industries – from a need to eliminate manual data collection and transaction recording in order to remain competitive and profitable while undergoing significant growth from worldwide sales.

Ebco had become world-renowned in metal fabrication and precision machining with its components used in Boeing precision wings, Canadarm 2, a boring machine for the English Chunnel, and a cyclotron at UBC’s TRIUMF particle accelerator research facility. As Ebco grew, it experienced increasing difficulty tracking the costs associated with individual jobs.

When Helmut Eppich, Ebco’s founder, couldn’t find a data collection system that harnessed the new technology of the day, he created a technology division within Ebco and developed the data collection system he needed internally. The creation of this early Automated Data Collection (ADC) system for a metal fabrication plant shop floor eventually led to the formation of Epic Data Inc. in 1975.

Epic Data’s ADC technology was built upon four basic principles:

• to capture information on human and machine activities with efficiency and accuracy,
• to be easy for workers to use and understand,
• to deliver clean formatted transactions to central data repositories, and
• to optimize the organization’s work flow and thus enhance profitability and competitiveness.

Today, while the technology employed has evolved, these principles remain the backbone of Epic Data’s modern data collection and manufacturing operations management systems.

Epic Data has amassed an impressive array of customers – world-renowned leaders in their fields, which include Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Heavy Equipment Manufacturing and Medical Supplies. As a trusted development partner and technology provider, Epic Data helps its customers achieve their lean manufacturing goals and remain profitable and competitive in challenging times.