What are Job Shops in Manufacturing ERP and Why are they different?

 

What are job shops in Manufacturing ERP?

Job Shops software provides small manufacturers with ERP tools to manage their shops workflow, including materials, build and delivery scheduling, job costing, time tracking and inventory.

·         Helps you ensure financial compliance and reduce the risks associated with non-compliance.

·         Allows you t track all of your equipment to determine which is generating most revenue and which isn’t delivering ROI.

·         Helps you determine the right inventory and pricing mix to satisfy your needs and your customers.

·         Tracks inventory to help you avoid having too much on hand.

·         Automatically triggers orders based on inventory.

·         Allows you to create an online employee portal that’s stocked with frequently requested documents and information, like training videos, forms, manuals and others, cutting cut down on training and HR time.

·         Tracks outstanding invoices to make contact easier and more accurate. 

   

           Major points covering job shops: -

v  Billing

           Milestone and cost plus

           Percentage of Completion, T&M & Fixed Fee

           Earned revenue worksheet 

v  Work in Process (WIP)

          Auto-post WIP

          Auto-post Recognition

          Audit Trail 

v  Procurement

         Demand based purchasing

         Buy direct to jobs

         Subcontracts and outside processing

         Open PO Visibility on Job Statistics window 

v  Labor Tracking

         Time collection stations

         Clock in / Clock out with shift tracking

         Scanner Interface

         Web services option for remote Time Entry

Some characteristics of job shops and identifies some of their unique challenges for ERP software:

1. Make to order supply chain strategy

2. Limited finished goods inventory; inventory mainly held in raw material form

3. Products made to each customer’s unique design and demand pattern

4. Small batch production runs (as compared to repetitive manufacturers)

5. Complex routings with long production lead times due to high product variability

6. Relatively simple Bills of Material, often just a single raw material

7. Functionally-organized plants (e.g. Milling separate from Grinding separate from Machining) with moves and queues between each step-in manufacturing process

8. Flexible, multipurpose equipment with low capacity utilization

9. Complex scheduling requirements

Why are job shops different?

Integration. Look for ERP features that remove manual processes and duplicate data entry. The system should let data flow seamlessly, integrating information to get quotes out as quickly and accurately as possible.

Maintenance and Scheduling. Automated features should help your company schedule maintenance. Tracking maintenance puts companies in a better position to reduce the risk of lost production and costly downtime.

Parts Tracking and Job Tracking. How well does the system improve visibility throughout the shop? Is it easy to see exactly where a given job is throughout the production cycle? The system should provide production tracking, including both detailed and summarized reports.

Document Management. Many organization experiences bottlenecks when documents, work instructions, blueprints/drawings and quality reports.

Data Collection. Many shops capture data on paper and then “hand-jam” the data into a legacy ERP system or stand-alone spreadsheets.

Business Intelligence. The ERP system should offer business intelligence features that help users “take action” so relevant shop floor and production data gets in the hands of those able to make improved business decisions.