How Job Shops Can Get More Hours in Each Day Using NetSuite

 

“I need a couple more hours in my day…” We’ve all heard it; most of us have said it. When you’re running a job shop or contract manufacturing company, the desire to get more done each day is significant.

 

What if you had a solution that allowed you to get more done during every work hour? What if that solution would optimize processes throughout your organization, allowing you to spend more time on what really matters: getting new customers and expanding into new markets?

 

You can do all that and more with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like NetSuite. These powerful solutions not only improve the way you run your business, they pave the way for profitable, scalable growth.

 

ERP systems are all about giving you unlimited real-time visibility into your business: visibility into your estimates, orders, labor, inventory, transportation, A/R and A/P, and more. Armed with that data you’re able to measure and make decisions based on fact, not just gut instinct. An ERP system integrates all functions within your organization. Cloud-based ERP systems are arguably the best because they eliminate the need for investments in hardware (like servers) and associated costs.

 

Here are a few of the time saving benefits you’ll realize after implementing a cloud-based ERP system in your job shop:

 

Knowing which products are making you more money gives you a strong basis for either increasing your price on those products, or putting the time spent making those products to better, more profitable use.

 

You lose time and money each time you put out an estimate that doesn’t accurately reflect all the costs associated with a job. ERP systems pull all the costs incurred in producing a product, from quote to cash: labor (even cost by employee), benefits, equipment overhead, general overhead (like utilities and administrative work), materials, outside services and taxes.

 

It costs far more to get a new customer than it does to serve an existing one, and with an ERP system like NetSuite you’re able to closely monitor all their experiences with your company – estimates, orders, deliveries, returns, discounts, refunds, etc. Plus, all information is presented in real time so you have the opportunity to act quickly to remedy a situation that could otherwise affect customer loyalty.

 

An ERP system allows you to create a customer portal that lets them view their order status, purchase history, discounts, delivery schedule and much more, reducing the time required of customer service reps to do the same. That means reps can spend time on more value-added activities, like upselling.

 

Everyone in your organization will be working with up-to-date facts and figures when you implement an ERP system (and you can determine who in your organization sees what). They’ll know the status of customer orders, inventory, shipping and more. In addition, the ERP system will automate much of the communication involved in processing an order, sending alerts, emails, updates and other information to the right people at the right time.

 

An ERP system takes many of the day-to-day tasks off the desks of employees (e.g., filing sales order acknowledgements, matching invoices with receipts), making these people available to do work that has greater potential to affect your bottom line.   

 

ERP systems have built-in process flow best practices that are based on hundreds of job shops, and often new ERP users will adopt these processes and, as a result, boost productivity because they’ve reduced the number of steps needed to get orders in and products out.

 

When it comes to running a job shop, gut instincts are good, but they’re not enough to keep you competitive in today’s competitive marketplace. You need a tool that’s working 24/7/365 to keep you up-to-date with information that leads to better decision-making. With an ERP system in your job shop, you’ll have the basis and ability to pursue new customers, new products, and new markets, and to deepen your relationships with existing customers.

 

Want to know more about how a cloud-based ERP system can pave the way for the profitable growth of your job shop? Reach out to one of our manufacturing specialists today!