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"Sales tax isn't an issue for us because all of our customers are exempt."   - Finance Manager, Manufacturing Co.

ARE YOU SURE YOU'VE GOT IT RIGHT?...

You know your plant better than anyone, and most likely you'd admit that there is room for improvement. Perhaps too many defects are causing costly issues down the road, or maybe your production is behind and orders are shipping late? Do you know what needs to be improved? Do you know about the root causes of the problems that you’re experiencing? Is it fair to say, you don’t know what you don’t know … yet?

MES helps you dig into the problem and better yet, SOLVES the problem!

What Is MES and How Does It Work?

Many companies still enter data manually or share work instructions on paper. Most of them, however, know there’s a better way to organize the mass of activity happening on the plant floor. MES provides visibility to that activity as well as the underlying data and uses that data to improve how that activity is done and makes it repeatable. MES connects multiple sites, integrates with equipment, and raises the effectiveness of business applications all to better optimize operations.

The 3 Pillars of MES:

1. Establishing a plan and staying on schedule...

MARCH… "in like a lion and out like a lamb"

Problems = Risk

Boy, it sure seems like we’ve seen our fair share of March “LIONS” over the past few years, wouldn’t you agree? Those lions have manifested mostly as external global problems outside of the control of any given person or manufacturing operation. As we know, problems = risk.

So, how do businesses respond to risk, specifically when it comes to their ERP system? We all deal with risks in our jobs every day. It is our response to the risk that makes all the difference. Creating short-term, midterm, and long-term response strategies ensure that a company can not only handle a fast-changing situation or emergency but also make the investments needed to seize opportunities and become more resilient.

To create these response strategies, manufacturers should examine:

• How did we get here?
• Where are we now?
• Where are we headed?
• What to do about it?

In order to really dig into each of these areas, our customers have successfully partnered with us to review a particular part of their business that they feel is at risk and sometimes have asked us to review everything…soup to nuts. This review is done through an ERP Utilization Review. In this review, we can dig into such things as...

Manufacturing Goals: develop high-quality products and services in response to the demands of the market, improve efficiency and maximize capacity utilization.

Operations Goals: utilize resources, labor, material, and equipment effectively in order to match supply and demand.

Finance Goals: analyze revenue growth opportunities, control costs, and maximize profitability.

So, who WINS?

Year-end is always a busy time and it is easy to forget things that must be done in your ERP system to close out the year properly and also set you up for a good start to the following year. Here are some things that you should make sure to add to your to-do checklist:

The year-end close process provides an opportunity to:

_____ Remove discontinued items.

_____ Remove sold purchase receipts.

_____ Remove lot attributes for sold lots.

_____ Update standard cost based on current cost field (for environments without Manufacturing only).

Prepare for Year-End Close

_____ Conduct full physical...