Every manufacturer wants to get paid faster but everyone has a different quote-to-cash process. Some manufacturers forecast demand, then build to stock and fulfill orders from inventory. Engineer-to-order manufacturers use CAD applications to design custom products based on customer designs or internally developed specifications. Configure-to-order manufacturers set up features and options to create new items based on customer preferences. Estimating is critical for job shops that rarely stock products they quote and sell to customers.
No matter which production style your business employs, you can benefit from automation. Do you have a modern manufacturing ERP solution that can automate your quote-to-cash process? With Acumatica’s Manufacturing Edition workflows, you get the flexibility of different quote-to-cash scenarios to manage sales, inventory, purchasing, manufacturing, shipments, and accounting.
“Because of Acumatica, we can now place orders faster and react to sales quicker. As a result, I think we’ll be able to reduce our total inventory by somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million dollars.”
MATT STONER, CFO, DAKOTA RED CORPORATION
Learn more on how Acumatica supports simple and complex processes for manufacturers. The quote-to-cash process comprises three phases and 14 unique steps that most manufacturers use with some variation. Here is how a modern ERP solution can help with each.
Phase 1: Prepare and Sell
Item Definition => Lead Generation => Pre-Quote Activities => Quote Creation => Sales Order Creation
Most manufacturing sales start well before the quote is created. Set up stock items for products and non-inventoried items for services. Leverage embedded marketing automation to generate business leads. Manage the sales cycle with lead assignment and opportunity activities. Acumatica Manufacturing Edition provides applications to create newly manufactured items for a variety of manufacturing environments. Create quotes and send them to customers for electronic approval. Convert quotes to sales orders and manage order details for a clean hand-off to manufacturing.
Phase 2: Produce and Fulfill
Production Order Creation => Scheduling => Material Planning => Production => Fulfillment
Manufacturing begins way before sales gets involved in make-to-stock environments – production begins based on forecasted demand and items are stored until the order is placed. In most make-to-order scenarios, manufacturing starts after the sales order is created. Make-to-order manufacturers typically create the production order directly from the sales order, project, or service order. Production orders are scheduled against finite capacity constraints. Purchase orders and production orders for dependent raw materials and subassemblies are suggested through the time-phased material requirements planning (MRP) application. Material and labor transactions are entered throughout the production process or backflushed automatically for work in process costing. The finished goods inventory is updated and ready for order fulfillment.
Phase 3: Account and Analyze
Accounting => Cash => Reporting => Supporting Processes
Accounting engages in the quote-to-cash process at various points for invoicing, vendor payments, and related activities. Invoices are typically sent after the order has shipped. However, some companies send multiple invoices for large items like capital equipment that take longer to make. Vendor invoices are received, vouchered, and paid. Collection activities are managed for past due invoices with phone calls and email communication. Additional activities and reports complete the process with sales commissions and detailed analysis. There are many other supporting applications and processes crucial to perfecting the quote-to-cash process that should not be ignored.
What’s Your Quote-to-Cash Process?
Manufacturers perfect the quote-to-cash process and get paid faster with a comprehensive and modern ERP application like Acumatica. Manage every step effectively and with the flexibility to adapt the system to the way you do business.
Streamline item creation for stock and non-inventoried items. Use manufacturing estimates, the rules-based product configurator, Acumatica for Arena Native Connector, and Engineering Change Control applications to manage finished goods. Acumatica’s embedded CRM includes marketing automation for lead generation with configurable sales processes and automation to manage complex product sales cycles.
Harmonize production plans with resource constraints and material planning processes to ensure maximum throughput. Backflush material and labor processes for accurate and faster transactions. Streamline operations with supporting accounting activities, sales commissions, engineering changes, subcontracted, outside processing, and more.
With Acumatica, you have a complete and connected business application with powerful tools to analyze data in real-time. Manage your business by exception with role-based dashboards, real-time reports and inquiries, and connected business analytics. Download this free playbook from Acumatica on Perfecting your Manufacturing Quote-to-Cash Process and give the Galeforce team a call to learn more about taking your manufacturing business to the next level with a modern, ERP solution.