Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.
Issue link: https://pm.epubxp.com/i/418671
ERP Shop Management Software productionmachining.com :: 39 making a signifcant investment like this, it is comforting to know that the people you are buying the system from are not going anywhere. Some of the products that we had looked at were later acquired by other companies. Tat would have presented a potential big problem had we been in the middle of migrating to their system. We know that in a situation like that, sales reps often change, and the whole support team we might have been working with could have changed, too." By early 2012, Mr. Roberts and his team had made their decision. Tey were going to migrate to Henning Visual EstiTrack and Henning Visual Books software. Te complete process took several months and involved every employee in the company, but before the year ended, Roberts Automatic had found their ERP system. Making it Work for Roberts Today, Henning Software is at the core of the entire Roberts Automatic operation. Roberts uses the software to track time, production, handle quoting and all accounting functions. In addition, the Henning team is currently enhancing its gage calibration software, which, when complete, will be ofered to all Henning customers. "As good as the Henning product is, there are certain things that we still feel were better with our old custom-built system, but we understand any software that you purchase, no matter how specifc to your industry, is not going to be perfect for all of your needs. But having said that, we have found, in general, that the product ofers almost everything we wanted. It is easy for our folks to get in and out of the program and work remotely—whatever we need. Additionally, we can print reports right from the system and send to customers. And truth be told, there are quite a few things about the system that work far superior to our old system." One part of the system that presented the greatest challenge was the quoting system. In their old custom system, Roberts had felds for numerous estimating parameters that could afect the quote. In the Henning system, a number of the features that Roberts had come to rely on were not initially available. Mr. Roberts was in favor of simplifying the system and going with the simpler approach that the Henning solution provided for handling quoting. However, many of his people still felt that they needed to include all of the diferent estimating features they had had in their custom system in order to provide an accurate quote. At the end of the day, the company arrived at a compromise whereby Henning's software engineers were able to add a number of the key parameters that Roberts once had. Tese included a work center specifc volume-based scrap calculator, a carrying cost calculator and a more robust lot and freight-based outside services calculator. Henning Software :: 330-650-4212 :: henningsoftware.com Roberts Automatic Products :: 952-949-1000 Leveraging Shop Management Software for Better ROI JobBoss shop management software is available in three editions, each based on a job shop's operational needs. Te design of the software is based on how shops operate. LINK :: short.productionmachining.com/ERPsw PMPA technical member since 1975. :: The software generates standard shipping labels and packaging slips verifying the parts counts. Copies are sent to accounting and invoices generated. Mr. Henning adds, "While our estimating system is certainly robust, working with a company such as Roberts provided the opportunity for us to expand our ofering even further." Another key addition to the software has been an expanded gage management system that Henning has written that presents gage specifc screens, allows for gage check in and out and helps track gage usage to determine when to retest and calibrate the gages. Te system even captures gage test results that, in turn, show a pass/fail rating for each critical gage dimension. Finally, Henning was able to write a custom Work in Process Valuation Report that was not a standard part of EstiTrack. Tis customization allows Roberts to calculate its WIP similarly to how it was handled in the old system.