Manufacturing is our passion

At Visual South, we create a lot of content for our website. We publish at least 52 blogs each year, along with videos and white papers. Our passion is to help manufacturing companies become better, more efficient companies. Not to brag, but we are good at what we do; we know a great deal about our industry and share what we know.

Because we have built such a large volume of information, every now and then I look to see what content gets the most views and downloads. I don’t necessarily do this to determine which articles are better than others—they’re all good—but rather where I think readers can get the most value. For example, there is a blog titled, “You Won't Fix Your Manufacturing Schedule with a Stand-Alone Tool.” Long title, but really valuable information. The article doesn’t get many views because it’s a niche topic. However, if you were thinking of buying a stand-alone scheduling solution, this blog would be of great interest, and would save you headaches and money.

The following list includes some of our most valuable resources and is a clear indicator of what people are looking for when they search the web for solutions we offer. I broke the list into five categories. Not surprisingly, ERP solutions and how companies can improve by using them is the common theme in all categories:

Infor Products

• [Video] CloudSuite Industrial (Syteline) Demo Gallery. A series of five “day in the life” demos showing how different areas of a company would benefit from CloudSuite Industrial.
• [Video] VISUAL Demo Gallery. A collection of 10 videos. The first is an overview of VISUAL and the other nine dive deeper into the different functional areas of the system.
• [Blog w/video] Infor SyteLine Review. A comprehensive review of SyteLine, now rebranded as CloudSuite Industrial.
• [Blog w/video] Infor VISUAL ERP: Bring Order to Your Orders. An in-depth look at VISUAL ERP and the areas where it excels.
• [Blog w/video] Infor ERP: Everything You Need to Know. A five chapter, one-stop-shop article explaining everything you need to know about ERP, including whether you actually need it, how to implement it, and everything in between.

Selecting ERP

• [Whitepaper] How to Select ERP. A very practical guide on how to go about selecting an ERP solution. It doesn’t give guidance on what to buy, but rather how to buy the right solution. This is a must-read if you are looking for ERP.
• [Blog] What Is The #1 Manufacturing ERP? (Hint, there is no #1). Another practical blog to help those looking for ERP develop a good strategy for their search.

Implementing ERP

• [Whitepaper] ClearFocus: 6 Steps to Successfully Implement ERP. A detailed whitepaper that walks you through how to execute the right plan and mitigate risks when implementing ERP. Buying a great ERP solution doesn’t solve a thing unless it’s implemented.
• [Blog] ERP Implementation Timeline & Project Plan. A good overview of what to expect with an ERP implementation, but with less depth than the ClearFocus whitepaper.
• [Blog] ERP Implementation Roles & Responsibilities: How to Build Your Team. An article focusing on how to build your ERP implementation team, so you can turn your good strategy into good results.

Improve Production

• [Blog] What Should Go in Your Weekly Manufacturing Production Report? A blog that lays out what data is important and why, helping to bring clarity on what needs your attention most.
• [Blog] 6 Shop Floor Management Techniques Learned From 30 Years of Experience. A definitive piece on how to use ERP data to manage a shop floor. Follow these steps and be successful.
• [Blog w/video] 5 Steps to Include in Your Business Process Review (BPR). An article that explains what should be in your BPR and why your ERP won’t be as effective as it could be if your business process isn’t defined.

General Information

• [Blog] A Full ERP Terminology Dictionary: 159 Terms Defined. One of the first blogs we wrote at Visual South and it’s still popular after all these years. ERP ushers in a bunch of new terms and acronyms—this post helps you navigate through it.
• [Blog] Infor vs. SAP: Why Visual South Chose Infor. A topic focused on giving a good overview of the ERP market and why our company went with Infor when SAP is the most recognizable name in ERP.