Selecting the right manufacturing solution for your business can be overwhelming. There are so many different options and choices now days, where do you begin? The best manufacturing software for your specific business will manage every aspect of your manufacturing business in one place. Not only will it boost efficiency, but it will provide critical features needed for production and your business’s other entities. When exploring manufacturing ERP solutions, you need to start with the benefits, standard features, and what your specific business needs are. Here is some information to get you started. Make sure to download the complete manufacturing ERP handbook from Acumatica.
Flexible Production Methods
Not all manufacturing ERP systems have the flexibility you might need. Are you a discrete manufacturing business or process manufacturing? What’s your production methodology? Do you use BOMs or recipes / formulas? What sort of materials and operations do you do?
All these answers will make a difference when you start looking at systems. Some manufacturing specific solutions support make-to-stock, make-to-order, engineer-to-order, configure-to-order, repetitive, batch process, and project-driven manufacturing environments. Others do not.
The leadership team of any small or medium business considering an ERP system is doing themselves a disservice if Acumatica isn’t on their list to investigate.” Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter
Manufacturing Methods
No two manufacturers work the same way, even if they make the same products. How do you plan? Are you a make to stock or make to order shop? Do you keep a safety stock of supplies or plan quantities solely based on estimates and percentages? You want to make sure which ever systems you are looking at provide the fundamentals needed to run your business, your way. Learn about all the options in Acumatica Manufacturing:
- Make to Stock (MTS)
- Make to Order (MTO)
- Assemble to Order (ATO)
- Configure to Order (CTO)
- Remanufacturing (REMAN)
- Engineer to Order (ETO)
- Mixed Mode (MM)
- Job Shop
- Repetitive Manufacturing (REM)
- Batch Process
- Project-Centric
- Lean Manufacturing
Size, Specialized or General
There are many different ERP solutions designed for manufacturers, but there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Most systems have standard features for accounting, sales, purchasing, inventory, and commerce, but you need to look deeper at industry specific features. For example, do you need to track lot expiration dates, or use flexible units of measure? Many businesses also need more flexible security options and compliance audit capabilities. Some businesses need integrated CAD for bill of material management, engineering change orders, product configuration, and more. Depending on your industry, you will have specific ERP needs.
Engineering and Design
Streamline product design with native Engineering Change Control and tailored approval workflows. Harmonize engineering bills of material from CAD or PLM applications with production bills of material. Chief Technology Officers (CTO), engineering directors, product managers, and manufacturing engineers often work outside the ERP application in CAD or product lifecycle management (PLM) applications. However, much of the information they need is stored in the ERP database. Staff rely on this information so connectivity between engineering and your ERP solution is crucial for research and development. Don’t make engineers waste time finding information. Ensure proper handoff during your design for manufacturing (DFM) process.
Planning and Scheduling
Every manufacturer is looking to fine tune their business, saving money and time. With Acumatica’s built-in dashboards, you can monitor every corner of operations. Increasing production and reducing downtime through better material planning and production scheduling.
Acumatica gives you the tools to manage schedules and material plans. View production pipelines with summaries of manufacturing opportunities from CRM, open estimates, and quoted jobs. Built in dashboards and reports give you instant data so you know exactly how much money is tied up in work in process (WIP) and how much you made on each order with notifications when things get out of control.
Discover Acumatica
Acumatica Manufacturing Edition includes core manufacturing, distribution, financial, and reporting applications with flexible options to add in additional pieces to fit your unique manufacturing business needs.
- Bill of Materials and Routing
- Inventory Management
- Production Management
- Sales Order Management
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
- Purchase Order Management
- Advanced Planning and Scheduling
- Requisition Management
- Manufacturing Management
- ERP Business Intelligence and Analytics in Acumatica
- Product Configurator
- Financial Management
- Engineering Change Control (ECC)
- Project Accounting
- Manufacturing Data Collection (MDC)
- Customer Management
- Acumatica for Arena Native Connector
- Service Management
- Manufacturing Estimates
Learn more about Acumatica Manufacturing, download the Manufacturing ERP Handbook and contact us to help you figure out your unique business needs. For more information, call Mark Bodnar at 440-498-9920 x179 or email markb@parallelsolutons4u.com.
