Visual South Insights

Teamwork in ERP implementation

Implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be a humbling challenge for any company. Four critical factors will determine the success of your new ERP implementation:

Crane manufacturers are increasing their focus on integrated service and quality

Over the past few years, many manufacturers have sought to extend the capabilities of their crane ERP software. Engineer-to-order and project-based manufacturing tools, along with planning and scheduling modules, have always been essential parts of any ERP software for the crane industry. But increasingly, crane manufacturers are recognizing the need to have an integrated quality system to help them address and comply with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. Additionally, integrated service management is becoming a critical part of ERP for crane manufacturers. In this article, we’ll explain why these trends are emerging and how they impact the industry.

ERP software assessments provide answers to your questions

Visual South assists companies with ERP assessments and implementations every day, and has since 1993. It’s what we do and we have been through the evaluation process hundreds of times.

However, companies typically only evaluate ERP software every 10 to 15 years (if that). The ERP selection team members may have never evaluated software, or may have done so only once before. This leads to the development of disparate processes -- some are good and others not so good. The Visual South team can help regardless.

Infor OS overview

The Infor Operating Service (or Infor OS) is a cloud innovation platform of Infor-built applications that significantly enhance CloudSuite ERP.

The Infor OS platform is included with the CloudSuite ERP subscription. Infor OS is composed of many applications that allow CloudSuite customers to maximize the use of their purpose-built ERP.

Project-based manufacturers have specific ERP functional requirements

To effectively address business needs, project-based companies must choose an ERP system that meets their specific functional requirements. This is critical for success. The first step is to assess whether the ERP you’re evaluating offers project-related functionality at all, in addition to its standard functionality.

On-premise vs. cloud ERP implementation

A cloud ERP implementation requires the same elements as an on-premise implementation from a methodology perspective, but not from a technical perspective. The difference lies in the level of responsibility.

How to know when ERP integrations with third-party applications are appropriate

The upside of buying enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is the economy of scale. Since it is written for the masses and not customized for one company, the cost per user plummets. For example, Microsoft Office certainly costs more to develop than the few hundred dollars it costs to license. One of the other upsides is that thousands of users create a robust community that quickly flushes out weaknesses in functionality, helping the software become stronger. The downside is that the ERP may not be totally in sync with the company’s culture, and that’s when most people start to think about ERP integrations. To give an instance, what some may call a production order, the ERP may refer to as a work order. Some of the ERP system’s screens may be laid out differently than what the company would have preferred. Or maybe the processes the software supports are not in total alignment with the company’s current processes.

Crane manufacturers have specific business system needs

What crane manufacturers have in common with other types of manufacturers is that they must plan for material requirements, schedule jobs, and execute the production of those jobs. However, crane manufacturers have many requirements and needs that are unique to their industry. In this article, we’ll review how those unique requirements can be addressed with crane industry software or crane manufacturing software.

An increased focus on visibility

More and more of our customers want to have visibility of variables affecting manufacturing. They need clear information about capacity and on-time delivery, potential capacity or supply chain issues, and job costs. Our customers are getting this visibility by leveraging the Infor ERP application’s manufacturing industry purpose-built functional abilities.

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