by gfcpartners | May 30, 2023 | Business, Manufacturing & Distribution, Medical Startup, Software Customization
The demand for medical supplies is ever-increasing; this was made especially evident during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it is a field of opportunity, and tens of thousands of companies are catering to the needs of an industry generating over $450 billion in revenue annually.
Many have been in business for some time; with longevity comes legacy systems. Perhaps such software solutions served their needs well at the time, but with growth, tighter regulation, and increasing competition, those solutions fall far short of meeting today’s challenges.
This article will highlight two significant areas of difficulty for instrument and medical device manufacturers: Production Efficiency and Regulatory Compliance. Then, we’ll take a look at how Acumatica Manufacturing Edition has solutions for the pain points these companies experience.
Industry Challenges
Production Efficiency. With legacy systems, it is not hard to find inefficiencies, data silos, and bottlenecks in production. For example, many in this segment have not one, but multiple information systems that each provide functionality specific to one aspect of the overall operations of the company. Inevitably, the data overlaps between systems in areas such as customer profiles, job tracking, financial data, and more. This results, not only in duplicate data, but often unsynchronized information that is inaccurate and leads to mistakes. Because of this lack of integration, teams often devise error-prone manual processes, frequently in spreadsheets, for critical data interchange.
Other inefficiencies are found in the warehouse and on the shop floor. Often, there is hampered communication between administrative and production departments that impedes productivity or causes waste. Decision-makers lack insights into production activities that would help them make adjustments for greater profitability. What is more, as many medical products are composed of multiple parts in a kit, each with its own lot tracing data and expiration dates, inventory management becomes a very complex process that most legacy systems are not able to handle, leaving staff to devise more manual “solutions” to help them accomplish their work.
Regulatory Compliance. Since the quality of their products affects not only their reputation, but the lives of those who will use them, medical manufacturers are facing a wave of new government and industry regulations. GDPR, SOC Type 1 & 2, PCI DSS, and many other standards require strict recordkeeping to ensure compliance. Since such regulations are often changing, it can be a real challenge to update legacy solutions so medical manufacturers can conform to regulatory adjustments.
How Acumatica Helps Instrument and Medical Device Manufacturers Meet Those Challenges
Acumatica is a modern, cloud-based ERP solution that has been built from the ground up on a future-proof platform, providing powerful solutions for today’s challenges and the flexibility to adjust for future changes and growth. What are some of the features that benefit medical device manufacturers?
A Centralized Data Source. Storing all financial, administrative, and production-related data in one system allows you unparalleled visibility into your operations, along with dashboards showing you, at a glance, the health of your business. System alerts keep everyone on track, and reporting is done on clean, accurate, and up-to-date data on which you can rely to drive your business decisions.
A Single Solution. Acumatica has modules to cover the needs of every aspect of your business. Manufacturing, inventory, distribution, field service, CRM, and more, are available in a suite that works together seamlessly.
Easy Integrations and Customizations. Acumatica was made to be extensible. If you have a specialized need that the base product doesn’t cover, it has an extensive API to integrate other products, such as e-commerce or tax-compliance solutions. What is more, it is built with industry-standard technologies (C# and .NET) so developers are not hard to find, nor exorbitantly priced.
Scalability. Built on cloud technology, Acumatica is a solution that grows with you, adjusting to higher volumes as you grow without increasing employee headcount. Also, with unlimited users, you are able to provide access to anyone that needs it without breaking the bank.
Accessibility. Your Acumatica instance is available 24/7, 365 days a year, from any device, anywhere there is an Internet connection. This ensures business continuity and enables executives and representatives to be on the go and yet still on top of daily operations.
Security. Administrative controls in Acumatica give you fine-grained control over user access to the system and critical business data. You can rest assured that with multiple layers of security and data integrity, your information will be safe, secure, and compliant with industry and government regulations.
Industry-Specific. Acumatica understands the needs of the Manufacturing segment and provides the needed functionality so that even instrument and medical device manufacturers will be hard-pressed to find something lacking.
Warehouse Management. The job isn’t done when the product rolls off the line; warehousing and kit assembly are other critical and complex processes that require an industrial-strength ERP to keep them running smoothly. Pick-Pack-Ship operations are automated, dashboards display critical KPIs, and inventory data is easily accessed and analyzed to ensure production processes stay in motion.
How Can You Benefit from Acumatica in Your Organization?
The above list is only a select few features that instrument and medical device manufacturers enjoy. There are so many more, including product lifecycle management, quality assurance controls, change control, material planning, scheduling, product configuration and estimating, kitting with disassembly, lot and serial tracking, and much more.
Would you like to more closely examine Acumatica’s feature set, and compare it with your needs? Contact us today and get expert guidance from professionals that know your industry and have implemented Acumatica for many businesses like yours.
by gfcpartners | Mar 29, 2023 | Business, Manufacturing & Distribution
In today’s fast-paced digital age, manufacturing businesses face unprecedented challenges. These challenges range from global competition to supply chain disruptions. Manufacturers need to embrace innovative technologies to streamline their operations, boost productivity, and generate new revenue streams. Acumatica is a leading cloud-based ERP solution that offers a comprehensive suite of tools and functionalities to help manufacturers revolutionize their businesses from top to bottom. In this guide, we’ll explore 9 key strategies for success with Acumatica.
Streamlining Supply Chain Management with Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful supply chain management (SCM) tools to streamline their operations. Acumatica SCM capabilities allow manufacturers to effectively manage their entire supply chain, from procurement to inventory management and order fulfillment. Manufacturers can use Acumatica SCM to automate processes such as purchase order creation and management, material requisition, and purchase receipt. This automation reduces the risk of errors and saves time and money.
Acumatica SCM also offers features such as inventory management, demand planning, and order fulfillment. These features help manufacturers optimize their inventory levels and reduce lead times. By providing real-time visibility into inventory levels and demand, manufacturers can make informed decisions about when to reorder materials and when to produce finished goods.
Acumatica SCM also allows manufacturers to manage multiple warehouses and locations. Manufacturers can easily transfer inventory between locations and track inventory levels in real-time. The system also supports drop-shipping, enabling manufacturers to ship directly from suppliers to customers without handling the inventory themselves.
Enhancing Production Processes with Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful production management tools to enhance their production processes. The production management features of Acumatica allow manufacturers to plan and manage their production schedules, track production costs, and manage the production of complex products.
Acumatica production management tools allow manufacturers to create and manage bills of materials (BOMs) for complex products. Manufacturers can track the costs of each component in the BOM and manage the production of each component. The system also supports the management of work orders, enabling manufacturers to track the progress of production and manage resources such as labor and equipment.
Acumatica production management also offers features such as quality control and engineering change management. These features allow manufacturers to ensure the quality of their products and manage changes to their production processes.
Leveraging Advanced Analytics for Better Decision Making
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful analytics and reporting capabilities to help them make better decisions. The system provides real-time visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) such as inventory levels, production costs, and sales data. This real-time visibility enables manufacturers to make informed decisions about their operations.
Acumatica also offers advanced analytics capabilities such as predictive analytics and machine learning. These capabilities enable manufacturers to gain insights into their operations and make data-driven decisions. For example, predictive analytics can help manufacturers forecast demand and optimize their inventory levels. Additionally, Acumatica comes with customizable dashboards and reports. Manufacturers can create custom dashboards and reports to track KPIs and monitor their operations. This real-time visibility into their operations enables manufacturers to make informed decisions and drive continuous improvement.
Unlocking the Power of eCommerce with Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful eCommerce capabilities to help them sell their products online. The system integrates with popular eCommerce platforms such as Magento and Shopify, enabling manufacturers to easily sell their products online.
Acumatica eCommerce capabilities allow manufacturers to manage their online stores, including product catalogs, pricing, and order management. The system also supports customer self-service portals, enabling customers to place orders, track shipments, and view their account information.
Acumatica eCommerce also offers features such as upselling and cross-selling. These features enable manufacturers to increase their sales by offering complementary products and services to their customers.
Integrating Acumatica with other Business Applications
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful integration capabilities to help them streamline their operations. The system integrates with popular business applications such as Microsoft Office, Salesforce, and Amazon Web Services.
Acumatica integration capabilities allow manufacturers to automate processes such as data entry and document management. For example, manufacturers can automatically import sales orders from their eCommerce platform into Acumatica, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
Acumatica also offers powerful integration capabilities with manufacturing-specific applications such as CAD software and product lifecycle management (PLM) software. These integrations enable manufacturers to streamline their design and engineering processes and improve collaboration.
Ensuring Data Security and Compliance with Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers robust data security and compliance features to protect their data and ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA. The system offers role-based access control, enabling manufacturers to restrict access to sensitive data based on user roles.
Acumatica also offers features such as data encryption, audit trails, and two-factor authentication. These features ensure the security and integrity of manufacturers’ data while ensuring that their operations are compliant.
Providing Excellent Customer Service with Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers powerful customer service capabilities to help them provide excellent customer service. The system offers features such as case management, warranty management, and service contract management.
Acumatica customer service capabilities enable manufacturers to effectively manage customer inquiries and issues. Manufacturers can track customer cases from start to finish, ensuring that customers receive timely and effective resolutions to their issues.
Acumatica also offers features such as customer self-service portals and field service management. These features enable manufacturers to provide a seamless customer experience and improve customer satisfaction.
Training and Support for Successful Implementation of Acumatica
Acumatica offers manufacturers comprehensive training and support to ensure the successful implementation and adoption of the system. The system offers online training courses, documentation, and user forums. Acumatica also offers implementation services and support from certified partners. These partners can help manufacturers with everything from system installation to customization and integration. Even better is the ongoing support and maintenance services to ensure your manufacturing systems are always up-to-date and running smoothly.
Find out more why manufacturers choose Acumatica’s powerful tools and functionalities to streamline their operations, boost productivity, and generate new revenue streams. The strategies in this article can help manufacturers to unlock the full potential of Acumatica ERP and take their businesses to the next level. Whether manufacturers are looking to streamline their supply chain management, enhance their production processes, or leverage advanced analytics, Acumatica has the tools and capabilities to help them succeed. With powerful eCommerce capabilities, robust data security and compliance features, and comprehensive training and support, Acumatica is a game-changer for manufacturers in the digital age.
Contact Galeforce Consulting Partners to learn more about our winning partnership with Acumatica to help grow your manufacturing business.
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