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How to Turn Your Manufacturing Business into the Factory of the Future

How to Turn Your Manufacturing Business into the Factory of the Future

by | Oct 28, 2022 | Business, Manufacturing & Distribution

For manufacturers to succeed in today’s digital economy, a modern factory is essential using innovative technologies to transform their businesses.  These tools will automate processes, improve quality, increase throughput, lower costs, bolster sales, and bring you higher profits.

Unfortunately, entry-level applications and legacy ERP solutions are hindering your growth with having to invest in costly customizations or complex, expensive, and disconnected hardware, system, and processes.  Replacing those systems with new, innovative cloud ERP solutions can modernize your factory and business operations.

There’s a better way, and it just takes a little planning.

Steps to a Digital Transformation

Without a complete plan, it’s challenging to modernize your manufacturing operations. How do you know that you have the right technologies in place to take your business to the next level? Are you confident your ERP system has the features you need, and they are set up correctly for your business?

The strategies you implement to automate your factory depends on how far you are in your digital transformation journey. Manufacturers who are just starting will have few automated processes using basic technologies. Manufacturers further along will have more automated processes using progressively more advanced technologies. The first step is to understand where you currently are before developing a digital transformation plan. Use the diagram below to chart your journey.

ERP Graph

Once you have an understanding of where you are, and where you want to be, you need to research options, prioritize activities, and develop a detailed plan.

  1. Foundation: Technology has evolved quickly. Does your current business system easily integrate with other applications or have an open architecture? Are there modules available to purchase to improve factory operations? Do you get instant, real-time data in reports and dashboards to help you make business decisions or are you waiting for days for reports to be pulled together?
  2. Research: Review your current system features and find where there are functional gaps. Not only now, but for future needs.  Then conduct a thorough business process review to identify areas that can be improved with automation.
  3. Prioritize: Reviewing the list of functional gaps, decide which ones are most important based on costs and benefits.
  4. Develop a Plan: Your plan should define your desired goal, supporting technologies, and a timeline and process for conducting the implementation from start to finish.

Turn your business into the factory of the future. It’s not just faster; it allows you to extend the abilities of your entire team, enabling them to do things they never imagined possible. Learn more about Acumatica, the cloud ERP and how you can modernize your operations.

“Acumatica provides the best business and industry management solution for transforming your business to thrive in the new digital economy. Built on a future-proof platform with an open architecture for modern technologies, rapid integrations, scalability, and ease of use, Acumatica delivers an unparalleled experience for users and customers alike.”

Ready to get started?

GaleForce Consulting Partners has the experience and expertise to help turn your business into a factory of the future.  We have helped businesses just like yours, pulled in multiple directions, leveraging a mess of disparate applications, and unable to get accurate information.  It doesn’t matter what system you’re using, how old it is, how bad your data is. We’re experts at taking what you have and determining what you ultimately want to do with it all. Then we dig in and figure out how to make it happen.

Give us a call and let’s talk growth. 1-833-432-7278.

In the meantime, download this free playbook and learn more: Download PDF – Prepare for the factory of the future with Acumatica Manufacturing Edition Playbook

  • Which eight feature categories to look for in your next manufacturing ERP.
  • How a modern ERP can support your use of 14 emerging technologies.
  • Four simple steps to digital transformation.
  • The four phases of creating a modern factory.
  • Why Acumatica Manufacturing Edition is ideal for transforming your manufacturing business.
  • You’ll also get a handy checklist that will help you assess your organization’s progress in building the factory of the future. Download the playbook now.

Read some of our successes and see how we’ve helped other manufacturers like you:

Dukathole Group boosted growth to meet the needs of the housing crisis.

Erickson International replaced Sage 100 with Acumatica and connected 7 locations and numerous disparate systems.

FSC Lighting improved processes and scaled rapidly with Acumatica, a modern ERP solution.

 

Project Accounting, Simplified

Project Accounting, Simplified

by | Oct 13, 2022 | Project Accounting

Project accounting can be complicated.  Project-based organizations, such as engineering and construction firms, marketing companies, consultants, and law firms have distinct requirements, and they need to view their business in three dimensions: accounts, organizations (departments or business units), and projects. It’s the project piece that can make it complicated because you have to manually tie projects and project data into all your other systems.

“Acumatica works perfectly. It handles project accounting, cash flow, project monitoring; but Acumatica is not just confined to project-based operations. Other departments like sales and marketing love it as well.”  Elizabeth Barratt, Manager: Project Excellence, Ask Afrika

If you are struggling with processes related to your project-based business, it’s time to look at a truly integrated project accounting ERP solution.  Project-based ERP is a form of enterprise resource planning that is specifically designed to meet the needs of a project-based business like yours.  It helps you manage everything from budgets, project tasks, billing, to reporting so you can easily identify, win, and deliver successful projects time and time again.

What is a Project-based ERP Solution?

Project-based ERP solutions leverage project management practices and features, providing a holistic view into processes, KPIs and other important metrics, project by project. It also streamlines the flow of project information from an opportunity to a quote, to a sales order, and on to a customer invoice, from a purchase order, to an accounts payable bill, resulting in expenses and inventory transactions that culminate in entries in the general ledger and project modules. The result, for decision makers throughout the organization, is timely, accurate insights at their fingertips.

In addition, project-based ERP systems, like Acumatica Project Accounting, allow for managing budgeting, inventory, change orders, time sheets, billing, and reporting all based on project data which can involve multiple employees, tasks, and materials.  It then seamlessly integrates your project information with the General Ledger, Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivable (AR), Sales Order Management, Purchase Order Management, Inventory Management, and more.  All of this is also available on any browser, and any web-enabled device, giving your remote employees access to keep projects up-to-date in the field or at client sites.

Look what Acumatica Project Accounting can do for you.  Download this free guide, Project Accounting Guide for Professional Services and learn more.

Project Accounting Dashboard

Features of Acumatica Project Accounting

TRACK PROJECTS AND COSTS

  • Gain a complete view of projects, including costs for materials, labor, services, and inventory features.

INVOICE WITH CONFIDENCE

  • Vary billing rates by type of work, employee, customer, or specific project.
  • Recognize revenue based on completion percentage or task progress.

GET CONTROL OF BUDGETS

  • Enable remote employees, installers, contractors, and others to submit work orders and timesheets from any browser-enabled device.

MULTI-CURRENCY PROJECTS

  • Enter project transactions in different currencies and maintain projects in both the base currency and the project currency.
  • Review actual revenues and costs, committed costs in the project currency, and present customer costs in the customer’s currency.

COMPANY-SPECIFIC PERIODS

  • Companies within the same tenant can have different fiscal year-end dates. This is crucial for companies that share vendors, stock items, and employees.
  • Company-specific financial periods are defined for each branch location.

WORKFLOWS

  • Manage tasks and resources with less error.
  • Automate processes to assign bill rates, project managers, machines, and more.
  • Define workflows and approvals for the client and change requests with full audit control.

Companies need tools that offer a high level of control from an accounting perspective plus the flexibility required to manage projects of all kinds. By managing projects and functions in a single platform, project-based ERP systems are able to gather and analyze data for projects with regards to the accounting system to give you and stakeholders the critical business information needed to operate and manage their business.

Clearly, it is a daunting task to select a Project Accounting solution that meets the needs of both accountants and project managers while also serving the business’ current and evolving needs. Contact us today and let us show you how a true project accounting ERP solution can help your business.