Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is nothing new, and is actually quite commonplace in the manufacturing industry: Recent Aberdeen research found that 97% of leading manufacturers utilize ERP. However, with 88% of “followers” also using it, it’s not a question of whether or not an organization has implemented the software, but how well they use it. The recent Aberdeen Group report, Creating a Modern, Effective Manufacturing Environment with ERP, looked beyond the yes/no question to find out what leaders were…

Have you heard about Industry 4.0? It’s a new strategy manufacturers are using to build a “smart factory” by automating computing and the exchange of data. Industry 4.0 includes innovations such as Internet of Things (IoT), self-learning systems, and cloud computing. Industry 4.0 technologies could very well give you the competitive advantage you’ve been looking for. But don’t make any moves until you’ve set the right foundation. According to the Aberdeen Group’s newest Whitepaper, the manufacturing industry is in a…

The process of selecting the perfect manufacturing ERP software to fit your business can be either a stressful or a calm endeavor – but it’s up to you. The Aberdeen Group’s latest Whitepaper breaks down the steps to take to easily choose the right ERP solution for your manufacturing business; all you have to do is check it out, follow the steps, and watch your business grow. If you’re a manufacturing business looking to implement an ERP solution, I have…

In the United States alone, wholesale/distributor sales equal approximately $3.2 trillion, which also accounts for roughly 7% of private industry GDP since 1987 – Invest in technology to make data driven decisions now It is possible to give your entire organization access to all the information that is buried in your ERP system, to share this data across different departments and to use that data to give your company the competitive advantage it needs to successfully compete in the market…

In this digitized world, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day Imagine if your entire sales organization had access to information on customer buying patterns, could identify small customer accounts with large growth opportunities or could develop a full proof – data driven plan to address marginal service drain customers. Now, imagine a little further that the data your sales organization had available to them could spell out actions they needed to take to improve your company’s bottom…

Release 2.1 of FieldOffice contains numerous enhancements to help distributors who manage the inventory of their products for customers. This process is commonly known as VMI, or vendor managed inventory. VMI is a service that suppliers provide to their customer where the supplier commits to count and to replenish the customer’s inventory to predetermined levels. FieldOffice leverages the functionality in Infor SX.e to improve the efficiency of the VMI process for both tool crib and consigned vendor managed inventory situations.…