Capacity planning is almost always involved, whether directly or indirectly, with the work Visual South does with manufacturing companies. Over the years, we’ve learned the best processes for capacity planning, but let’s first define the term, so we all begin on the same page.
At Visual South, we always recommend that our customers have solid business process documentation templates. Companies often have written procedures for quality control, human resources, safety, and the like, but not always for enterprise resource planning. Not having processes documented for your ERP software creates risk that can have disruptive effects and negatively impact the bottom line.
Your ERP forms the backbone of your company. It is the platform that people use to support and execute the processes that make your company work. ERP software is a “tool” for a job, but how you use that tool is what separates good companies from great ones. ERP is also a large, often one-time investment. The partner you choose to help you bring this tool to life and apply it to your business to get the most out of your investment is of vital importance and should be carefully considered. Of all the Infor Channel Partners, here are some reasons we think Visual South is the best.
The power of an ERP solution is highly dependent on the knowledge of the company using it. One company can use the software really well, while another company, well, not so much. We often use the analogy of an airplane; the airplane is built to fly, but it only works if there is a pilot sitting in it that knows what he is doing. Is your company flying the plane, or figuring out how to open the cockpit door?
Visual South’s number one criterion in hiring consultants is experience in manufacturing. Almost all of our customers are responsible for making or repairing something, and the entire business usually revolves around work orders. With this being the case, our consultants have to understand manufacturing. Typically, they held a leadership position in a manufacturing company, such as controller, CFO, plant manager, CIO, COO, or other similar titles.
Companies put a lot of time, effort, and money into evaluating, purchasing, implementing, and maintaining ERP systems. They are worth the effort, but if managed incorrectly, you can slip backward and revert to being the company you set out to correct when you initially purchased your ERP.
Searching for and evaluating ERP software is difficult. Really difficult. There are so many different terms, products, markets, deployment models, and technologies, that it can be hard to narrow down your choices to a select few. I talk with people all the time who have undertaken this challenge, and clarity is a challenge. Occasionally, companies pay a selection consultant for help figuring out which solutions to learn more about.
There is no shortage of three-letter acronyms in the software industry. Sometimes it can be confusing to try to figure out what they mean, much less what the solutions do. Let’s take a closer look at both.
If you aren’t sure about what configure price quote (CPQ) software is, or you want to improve your baseline understanding, you can check out my other blog, “What is CPQ?”. If you are specifically looking for Infor CPQ software, you can read a review here.
There are a lot of benefits provided by CPQ software, but probably the biggest one is the ability to make it easier for non-engineers to correctly configure a complex solution. As simple as it may sound, a lot of companies struggle with the issue of salespeople, customers, resellers, and others designing a solution (a part or material) that engineering cannot create, and one that manufacturing departments cannot manufacture. When there’s no CPQ solution in place, it creates very long lead times, and complex back-and-forth discussions due to the difficulty in managing all of the emails, drawings, and conversations that have to take place before actual manufacturing can occur.
Before we jump into specific functionality, get up to speed on what CPQ software is by reading my blog on the subject.
Infor CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is a solution that has five distinct modules:
You can learn more about each module below.
