Business Automation and Software Blog

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software may not be top of mind when one hears the words “hot trend” the way video games and virtual reality might be. But, while ERP might not sound trendy, its developers certainly keep tabs on business and software trends to eventually filter into their products. 

As manufacturing itself continues to transform, manufacturing ERP systems evolve right alongside it, enabling manufacturing to embrace change in ways that business may still be catching up on. As these five developments prove, manufacturing continues to push to the forefront of trendiness.

Is your business looking to grow? Of course, it is. If you’re looking for ways to continue the growth of your business in 2018, you might need to look at your leadership. Is it a hierarchical style, also known as “pyramid” or “top-down”? Then you have some work to do: Studies show businesses that shift to a teamwork approach typically grow better, faster, and stronger than their hierarchy-led peers.

In other words, the better your staff works as a team, the stronger your organization will become. How do you shift from a directive-based organization to one that supports independent thinking, team creativity, and shared ownership of projects?

Sage 300 ERP offers a robust Basic (standard), Advanced, or Premium package to suit almost any type or size business. With the data you can obtain from such an ERP system, you can improve many areas of operations. That includes inventory management data.

The inventory contained within your business’ warehouse represents a valuable asset. Poor management of this asset leads to losses while improving inventory management techniques can lead to profits. Warehouse data collection systems can help you improve the management of your inventory so that you know exactly what you have, its age, value, and costs.

Inventory control methods such as physical counts are still needed, even in our technology-driven age. Although you might not use a spreadsheet or a paper-based tick sheet to mark items, you’ll still need to conduct a physical inventory at least once a year, or preferably more. Your accounting department needs an accurate inventory to measure the value of inventory for the balance sheet. Big discrepancies in value can lead to over or under-reporting on the company’s financials.

Business intelligence systems can be used to improve forecasting and make better business decisions. When circumstances around you are constantly changing, it’s important to have a system you can rely on. Data from your Sage 300 ERP or SYSPRO system can be used in conjunction with other modules such as CRM, HR, and more, through your business intelligence system, to create useful and insightful reports for decision makers.

Your Sage 300 ERP and SYSPRO accounting software make it easy for you to see at a glance how well your company is performing. But did you know you can also use it for better budgeting?

As you embark on a new budgeting cycle, you need data to begin the process. Actual spending versus budgeted amount, actual sales versus forecasted amounts, and other information is needed to begin your new budget. Even if you use zero-based budgeting, having accurate, timely information on this year’s activities is important so you can estimate next year’s as close to actual as possible.

Manufacturing business software has helped companies keep pace with the many changes resonating throughout the business world. The push for lean manufacturing processes, just-in-time delivery, mass customization, and more trickle down through nearly all types of manufacturing. The repercussions of new technologies are felt everywhere, including the procurement department.

As your company heads into the budgeting cycle, you may already have the tools in place to make the entire budgeting process easier: Sage 300 or SYSPRO. Both ERP systems provide you with data on previous performance, current sales forecasts, expenses, and much more. This is the information you need to build a sound budget.

Sage 300 remains a popular ERP system with manufacturing customers. Many people were happy to see that Sage is once again updating Sage 300 and offering new, expanded functionality. What’s in store for you with Sage 300 2018? Many positive improvements with more good things to come!

Practice makes perfect, or so they say. You can perfect the picking and packing activities in your manufacturing warehouse by incorporating some best practices into warehouse management.

Little mistakes can really add up when it comes to warehouse management. If even a half percent (0.05%) of mistakes in picking leads to returns, this can quickly add up in costs of customers lost, replacing stock in the warehouse, processing new orders and more.