Dynamics 365 Business Central for the Manufacturing Industry

 

Dynamics 365 Business Central: A Game Changer for the Manufacturing Industry

 

Introduction

Dynamics 365 Business Central for the Manufacturing Industry –  If you are in the Manufacturing sector and looking to get a better understanding of what you need to look for when evaluating the best ERP for the manufacturing industry, then look no further! With so many enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions on the market and all with varying functionality, feature sets and pricing models – it can be difficult to determine which is the best fit for your unique manufacturing needs.

In our previous post we shared a recent Forbes Report which showed why Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central came out best (overall) Affordable ERP Solution for the Manufacturing Industry – check this blog out here.   In this post, we take a deep dive into why Dynamics 365 Business Central is the best ERP Solution for the Manufacturing industry.

What is Dynamics 365 Business Central for Manufacturing?

The competitive manufacturing industry makes for a challenging environment and is one of the key reasons manufacturing companies need to select the right ERP technology solutions.

Dynamics 365 Business Central for manufacturing enables the integration of the many and varied manufacturing processes within one ERP solution.

Due to the ever-evolving digital transformation landscape, changing and unpredictable market and economic scenarios, now more than ever, manufacturing organisations need a reliable ERP solution that helps them to be ready for all challenges.  With D365 Business Central for Manufacturing, users get access to a powerful manufacturing software suite.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Manufacturing Industry:

• Scalable & Agile Manufacturing
• Machine Centre Management
• Production Management
• Inventory Management
• Demand Forecasting
• Capacity & Supply Planning
• Production Order Management
• Production Bill of Materials
• Routing Management and more…

D365 Business Central enables manufacturers to transform their end-to-end operations and manage complex production processes quickly, accurately, and efficiently.

With Business Central you get a suite of tools within the one powerful ERP application which enables manufacturers to automate and streamline their end-to-end operations.   With D365 Business Central for Manufacturing, this solution integrates all business processes, from finance to inventory management and from production planning and right across the supply chain management.

With D365 Business Central, manufacturers get access to a 360 view  of their end-to-end business through a single, centralised application specifically geared to meet all your manufacturing needs.

Critical Features of Dynamics 365 Business Central for Manufacturing

D365 Business Central for Manufacturing offers tools to manage all aspects of your manufacturing business:

• Financial management, customer service, resource management, sales and marketing, supply chain management, warehouse and project management, collaboration and workflow automation tools.
• As your business needs grow and change, you can also deploy technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create even greater operational efficiencies.

Seamless Integration – One of the key benefits of Business Central is the powerful  integration with other familiar Microsoft and third-party applications.  This enables users to focus on the critical manufacturing processes.

Scalable Solution – Dynamics 365 Business Central is easily scalable and enables you to purchase what you need now and as your business needs change and grow, just select the addons and upgrades you need to meet evolving business needs.

Cost-Effective Solution –  Business Central offers users’ significant ROI in their ERP technology investment and offer value add entry level costs and where the efficiencies generated by the ERP functionality ensure you gain long-term ROI.

User-Friendly Interface – Ease of use is key for any ERP system and with Dynamics Business Central for manufacturing, delivers a user-friendly interface, along with quick and easy training and greatly enhances the User Adoption experience.

Powerful Real-Time Reporting & Analysis – With D365 Business Central for Manufacturing you have access to the real-time data which really matters to the manufacturing industry – enabling users to make informed data driven decisions.

Supply Chain Management – Business Central simplifies the supply chain processes within the manufacturing industry – from Inventory tracking to order management and delivery schedules and much more providing an end-to-end view of your operations.

Business Central Manufacturing Features – D365 BC for manufacturing has some outstanding capabilities including Bill of Materials (BOM), work orders, and version management – this functionality greatly enhances the manufacturing processes enabling  greater efficiencies and productivity.

Quality Assurance – Dynamics 365 Business Central provides manufacturers with access to powerful quality assurance capability enabling users to easily maintain product quality and  compliance requirements.

Financial Management – D365 Business Central has powerful financial management features and enables seamless integration to manage the full financial management process requirements across the manufacturing environment.

Multi-Currency and Language Support – Many manufacturers operate across multiple currency and geo locations and have a requirement to meet language and multi-currency requirements.  Business Central supports multi currency and multiple language needs and makes it so much easier for manufacturers to operate across global markets and environments.

Some of the critical feature highlights include:

Production Management: 

Production Planning – enables manufacturers to manage production schedules, plan production runs, and have real-time visibility across all materials and costs.

Planning Worksheets in D365 Business Central  – Planning production-based forecasting enables you to ensure you have the required level of part / component inventory items available as and when needed.

In Dynamics 365 Business Central, the MRP (Materials Requirement Planning) engine calculates suggestions and gives you a list to review, enabling you to review the list and process accordingly to meet your needs.

The planning worksheet can also calculate the MPS (master production schedule) for end  line items. When MRP and MPS are evaluated, Business Central generates ideas for the user to manage the order process enabling them to create, change, or cancel the orders across the end-to-end production cycle process.

Inventory Management:

The Inventory Management enables users to rack inventory levels in real-time, automate the replenishment process and manage multiple warehouses and locations.

The integration between the Manufacturing and warehouse management functionality is seamless and where the WMS easily manages the picking and inventory processes and much more.

Bill of Materials (BOM)

The Production Bill of Materials (BOM) within Business Central is a default list of components that go to produce a finished inventory item and has the flexibility to quickly and easily cater for all changing BOM needs and requirements.

Routings in Business Central

Manufacturing companies use routings to visualise and direct the manufacturing process.  Within D365 Business Central the routing is the foundation across the process scheduling, capacity scheduling, scheduled assignment of material needs, and manufacturing documents. With the production Bill of Materials (BOMs) the routings are assigned to the manufacturing end items.

Supply Chain Management –  Easily Streamline the supply chain with effective management of purchasing, vendors and the order fulfilment processes.

Quality Control – Utilise in-built tools to manage the ongoing quality control processes and monitoring.

Robust Reporting and Analysis – enables manufacturers to dig deep into the manufacturing insights and take corrective data-driven decision making as and when needed.

The Impact of Dynamics 365 on the future of Manufacturing industry

The impact of digital transformation has been felt in every industry and none more so than manufacturing.   One of the key objectives of all manufacturing companies is to transform the way they do business in the digital age.  Some of the key areas they will achieve this is through enhanced quality, quicker time to market, and offer a customer service excellence approach.

To be successful, manufacturer’s need to boost efficiency and to cut costs and to do this they need to ensure they have the latest business technology solutions to help them to succeed in todays evolving digital environment.

The future of manufacturing will be driven by aligning business vision and investment with  the right technology – and where the future now lies in the ever-evolving field of AI driven business management software solutions.

Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 for manufacturers?  

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is one of the leading AI driven ERP software solutions and leads the way in advancing AI technology.  Microsoft continue to make significant investment in Research, development and innovation to ensure that the D365 platform offers the ever-evolving cutting-edge technology to meet the manufacturing industry and customer demands and expectations now and into the future.

Offering one integrated ERP solution such as Business Central enables manufacturers to continually transform how they do business in the digital era and where the solution is designed to easily adapt and grow with rapidly changing technological advancements and changing market and business landscape and is why it is one of the leading to ERP solution of choice for manufacturers.

Integrating IoT in Manufacturing with Dynamics 365 Business Central Business Central

Leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) data in Dynamics 365 Business Central has never been easier.   Today, you can easily integrate the use of IoT in Manufacturing with D365 BC and the following are just some of the key examples of where and how this is achieved:

• Tracking deliveries
• Checking real-time inventory levels (what is the real-life stock scenarios in the  warehouse?
• Leverage guided manufacturing processes using IoT telemetry from industrial machinery
• Monitoring machines to discover real and potential maintenance issues before they even arise and be prepared to deal with any machine technical issues even before it occurs such as machine-breakdowns.

Manufacturing Costing

• Because Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Manufacturing is cloud-based, you can expand, and contract as needed to keep up with demand. Since you’re paying by the month, you won’t have to spend big amounts of money upfront to set up the infrastructure.
• Business Central’s flexible integration options enables you to quickly and easily customise your ERP platform to meet all evolving needs.
• Employees can access Dynamics 365 Business Central across devices and remote locations.
• You get a 360 view of you end to end operations enable you to make informed real-time data driven decisions for better business outcomes.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is best for midsized manufacturing companies needing an affordable ERP solution to manage their end-to-end manufacturing processes but can also be easily scaled up to meet the needs of large enterprise manufacturing organisations.

Some of the reasons why D365 Business Central came out tops in the recent Forbes Report:

• Free trial offers
• Affordable pricing
• Usable on any device / location
• Low-code Power App building options that allow for customised and boosted capabilities and more…

Conclusion

Manufacturers have a lot to consider when choosing an ERP system – such as best features, the capabilities, cost and scalability. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers one centralised ERP solution which is ideal to meet the needs of the manufacturing sector.

An effective D365 Business Central deployment will enable you to reap many benefits and see significant  return on investment from a successful  implementation of D365 Business Central to cater for all your manufacturing – from accurate and speedier production processes to enhanced efficiencies and productivity to reduced costs.

If you’re interested in learning how Dynamics 365 Business Central can help your manufacturing business – contact our D355 team now, we’re here to help

 

To learn more about how your organisation can drive your Business Success with the right ERP Selection Process – Contact Us Now or why not request a Free 30 Minute Consultation with our Dynamics 365 ERP & CRM Specialists Now – we’re here to help