Manufacture success with simple software

Challenges are a constant and expected factor for all business, but for manufacturers there are benefits that software can bring in order to overcome these and keep the business running like a well-oiled machine.

By StoneHouse Logic.

In the past, manufacturing systems were strong in some areas, but weak in providing a complete business management system encompassing financial management, stock management, marketing, sales and customer service. Now, software such as Sage 200 offer packages that encompass the whole business, enabling adaption and growth. Here’s what you need to know:

Generate and Track Costing’sAccurately producing costing’s of products can be a challenge with the variation of raw material or component prices affecting your margins. The billing of materials is the corner post of an accurate manufacturing system – factoring run times, sub contract operations, machine costs, labour costs and other expenses.

By using Works Order Processing (WOP) the software enables you to view changes in buying prices, difficulties in production causing additional labour and operation time, and waste calculations. WOP enables you to compare planned costs with actual costs on a job-by-job basis.

Making EstimationsWhere businesses produce custom or one-off products for customers, there can be a number of issues; producing accurate costs and measuring actual usage is essential in analysing planned and actual margins. The right software alleviates these issues, instead enabling you to successfully implement them.

Material PlanningChallenges arise when companies buy internationally or from complex supply chains. In turn, planning when materials are needed and when purchase orders need to be placed becomes very complex and time consuming.

An effective materials planning system will consider all demands for product including customer orders, forecasts and estimates with current stock and current purchase orders to provide accurate ordering and manufacturing advice.Batch TraceabilityFor quality control purposes it is essential to accurately track materials based on bathes or serial numbers though the product life cycle, from supplier delivery through production and out to customers. Again, manufacturing software allows this process to come to fruition with minimal input.