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Microsoft Dynamics 365

Production Floor Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365
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Production Floor Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365
Production Floor Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Efficient production floor management is an increasingly important part of any manufacturing operation. To keep production running smoothly, businesses need systems to track upcoming jobs and manage resources effectively. This is still a combination of legacy systems and manual processes for many businesses.

New products like Microsoft Dynamics 365 give businesses a comprehensive way to manage and automate their production floor operations, track jobs, and manage resources in one integrated system. This blog explores Microsoft Dynamics 365 and how it helps streamline production floor management.

Overview of production floor management

Production floor management is one of the most important parts of any manufacturing business. Production floor managers are responsible for day-to-day operations, scheduling, staffing, monitoring and control, quality assurance, and more.

Figure 1:Elements of Effective Production Floor Management

Elements of Effective Production Floor Management

Efficient Production Floor Management includes things like:

  • Scheduling: Planning and scheduling of activities and personnel on the production floor.
  • Staffing: Hiring, assigning, and managing personnel on the production floor.
  • Monitoring & Control: Ensuring that operations run smoothly and according to plan.
  • Quality Assurance: Assessing the quality of the products being produced.
  • Inventory Management: Keeping track of the inventory on the production floor.
  • Reporting & Analytics: Analyzing data from the production process to identify areas for improvement.

Production floor management involves communication between departments and being able to monitor and update existing workflows to ensure production is running smoothly and efficiently and that tasks are completed on time. Production managers spend a lot of valuable time ensuring compliance with industry standards and government regulations, all of which can positively impact a company’s bottom line.

These power users need a production floor management system that provides transparency into the entire production process and lets them monitor progress and make necessary adjustments. The right solution can help improve customer service and reduce overhead costs associated with production.

Production floor management tools make it easier for businesses to manage their production processes more effectively and efficiently. This system needs to provide real-time information about the status of each job or resource being managed. This helps organizations stay informed about their operations and decide how best to move forward.

Managing Production in Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 products include comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions that offer businesses a straightforward way to manage their production floor operations, resources, and more. Microsoft has spent years developing these products to help streamline and automate processes to improve efficiency.

Production floor management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 is easy to learn, simple to use and much more efficient than older, manual systems. Microsoft’s investments include millions of dollars to ensure their products are perfect for optimizing the flow of resources, reducing errors, and improving the overall efficiency of production processes.

The Production Floor Management module within Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows you to schedule and track jobs, manage resources, and gain insight into current and future production activities with a full range of tools and features to help you better manage your operations.

The Production Floor Management module allows you to easily create and monitor job tickets that list all the resources required for each production activity so you can assign tasks to specific resources, schedule jobs and check progress in real time.

This module also provides valuable insights on resource utilization, production efficiency, and capacity utilization. This helps you to optimize your production line, reduce wastage, and maximize profits.

On top of that, the Production Floor Management module gives you the ability to create custom workspaces for different types of users. These custom workspaces let you streamline complex production processes and provide an improved view of data.

Overall, Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a comprehensive solution for managing your production floor operations. With its advanced features and tools, it helps streamline your operations and ensure efficient production.

Production floor management and Microsoft Dynamics 365

One of the most important benefits of production floor management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 is improving efficiency. With a single source of information, organizations can access accurate data from any location, helping to make decisions faster. Organizations can also access data in real-time to stay ahead of changes in the market.

By centralizing information and automating manual tasks, production floor management in D365 helps organizations increase productivity, reduce operational costs, and free up resources for more strategic projects. With better insights into operations, companies can make more informed decisions, often leading to significant cost savings.

Managing upcoming jobs

Production floors can be hectic, with countless tasks and jobs to juggle. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is designed to help production managers stay on top of their workload by providing a comprehensive view of upcoming jobs and the resources required to complete them.

D365 allows users to create job tickets for each new task quickly. These tickets provide detailed information about the job, including resources needed, estimated duration, and other relevant details. This information is used to create a timeline of upcoming jobs, giving managers a quick view of how their resources are utilized and when projects must be completed.

Users can assign tasks and resources to workers, allowing greater control over who is responsible for completing each job. This ensures that production floor operations are more efficient and reduces the chances of costly errors due to miscommunication. Additionally, job tickets can be customized with additional fields like a priority and special instructions, allowing managers to adjust workflow based on current needs.

With an intuitive user interface and powerful job-tracking capabilities, D365 makes it easy for production managers to keep track of their upcoming jobs and ensure they have the right people and resources to get the job done.

Managing resources

The ability to manage resources efficiently is key to successful production floor management. Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers many features and capabilities to help manage your resources.

D365 provides advanced tools for forecasting resource requirements that let you plan the resources needed for upcoming jobs and adjust staffing levels accordingly. This helps maximize resource utilization by scheduling jobs to ensure that resources are used as efficiently as possible.

You can monitor resource performance in real-time using dashboards and analytics to identify areas where performance needs to be improved quickly or resources need to be redistributed. D365’s resource management tools make it easy to ensure that your production floor is running smoothly and efficiently.

D365 allows you to track resource availability, check inventory levels, and schedule preventative maintenance to ensure that all necessary resources are in place when they’re needed and eliminates potential downtime due to maintenance issues. You also get the ability to control access rights, allowing you to control who has access to which resources and ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data.

Custom Workspaces

With custom workspaces, production managers can streamline their operations and stay organized. Custom workspaces in D365 can be set up in various ways to suit the production manager’s unique needs. For example, custom workspaces can include a dashboard that overviews current jobs, upcoming tasks, and other essential information. They can also display detailed data on different resources like employees, materials, and machines.

By creating workspaces tailored to their individual needs, production managers can easily keep track of their resources and jobs, enabling them to produce better results and increase efficiency. Furthermore, custom workspaces also provide a way to generate reports quickly and accurately so that production teams can make better decisions with greater confidence.

Custom workspaces in Microsoft Dynamics 365 allow users to monitor real-time performance and adjust as needed. This allows production managers to quickly identify any problems or issues and take corrective action before they become too serious. As a result, overall production performance is improved significantly.

Final Thoughts

Production floor management can be difficult and complex, especially for large-scale operations. Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers an effective solution to streamline this process and make it easier to manage jobs and resources.

Its intuitive user interface and powerful customization capabilities make it well-suited for managing all sizes and complexities of production floors. Production floor managers can easily keep track of upcoming jobs and resources and quickly adjust plans in response to changes in demand or capacity with a complete overview of the operations.

Features like custom workspaces provide the flexibility to customize the system according to the business’s specific needs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps production floor managers stay organized, maximize efficiency, and achieve better results. Contact us for more information.

Implement your ERP The Right Way to Boost your Company’s Efficiency
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Implement Your ERP The Right Way to Boost your Company’s Efficiency
Implement Your ERP The Right Way to Boost your Company’s Efficiency 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Running a business isn’t always easy, especially when there’s a lack of communication and no system in place to monitor data from your operations – problems all too common with legacy systems. The sooner businesses address these issues the better, and that means making sure whatever Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution you choose can support your business now, and in the future. Having the right solution in place will be the best way to ensure you’re able to keep meeting your goals.

Across industries, modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations have become increasingly common. According to Deloitte, nearly 53% of IT executives say that effective Cloud ERP implementation is their top priority. A recent report from Allied Market Research expects the global ERP market to reach $117.09 billion by the end of 2030.

In this post, we touch on the importance of implementing a modern ERP – like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 products – correctly and what they bring to the table.

Properly Implementing a Modern ERP

It’s true that modern ERP solutions like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management open businesses to more possibilities. Microsoft’s ERP solutions offer Direct integration to Office products, enhanced collaboration, advanced analytics designed to generate actionable insights and boost efficiency, and more.

Often forgotten, though, is making sure you can implement a chosen solution properly – and this means collaborating with a Partner that understands the needs of your industry.

Figure 1:Benefits of Working with an ERP Implementation Partner

Benefits of Working with an ERP Implementation Partner

Important benefits of working with an ERP implementation partner include:

Fully streamlined and automated processes

With older systems, manual task allocation, tracking, and monitoring are becoming tougher and tougher as the system generates more data for every transaction. As workflows become more complex, organizations have to make significant investments to keep them up to date.

Microsoft’s D365 can automate and standardize even the most complicated workflows for efficiency.

Reduced cost

According to Deloitte, as much as 22% of operational cost savings happen with Microsoft ERP implementations. This has both a direct and indirect impact on overheads.

With powerful automation features, you can streamline how you schedule your resources. Microsoft’s D365 can easily automate tasks like task allocation, traceability, and report creation. This automation results in fewer errors and a reduced need for human intervention. This reduces organisations’ need to invest in third-party monitoring and optimization solutions.

Centralized data

Older, legacy solutions with siloed applications greatly hinder modern performance. This leads to excessive back and forth to access the correct data. This can be tough for any team, with the lack of instantly accessible data hampering performance and the ability to make quick decisions.

Advanced ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 give users immediate access to critical data without additional effort or wasted time. All critical data is available from one platform where your teams can access whatever they need.

Performance monitoring and Real-time collaboration

Continuously finding and resolving issues is a crucial part of organizational growth. Microsoft’s D365 provides an extensive 360-degree view of tasks and workflows, allowing organizations to generate reports with actionable insights easily.

Teams that stay connected remain result driven. A proper ERP implementation means everyone in your organization will have access to performance data in interactive reports that users can share with other stakeholders. Users can share data, discuss goals, plan strategies, and work more efficiently with other departments.

Improved flexibility

D365 allows businesses to adapt to any changes in market demand quickly. This includes updating workflows as needed, allowing them to scale as your business grows.

This highly depends on your partner’s understanding of your industry and how your software is set up.

Best practices, reducing failures

A report from Deloitte revealed that nearly 55-75% of all ERP implementation efforts fail, citing poor system selection, incompetent data migration, and lack of implementation best practices – all related to your implementation partner.

To reduce the chance of failure and increase the possibility for success in any ERP implementation means following best practices:

Identify your ERP implementation objectives

Before starting any ERP implementation project, it’s important to have a good understanding of the following:

  • Why do you need a new ERP? What is your proposed timeline?
  • Will your new ERP need additional customizations?
  • What functionality is critical to your business?
  • What kind of downtime can you afford?
  • What is the budget for your ERP implementation?

Selecting an ERP that aligns best with your goals

You wouldn’t wear dress shoes to a construction job, would you? The growing ERP market has different solutions, each with specific features. Make the wrong choice, and you could be stuck with that solution for years and years – this is where an experienced partner could guide you in the right direction.

For example, you may be leaning towards a lower-cost option, but is that solution scalable? Does it include access to everything you need, or will it require a significant customisation investment?

Microsoft has gone to lengths to ensure their Dynamics 365 ERP is a perfect fit for different enterprise types, combining CRM (Customer Relations Management), accounting, finances, marketing, planning, supply chain management, and more, unlike lesser ERPs.

Migrate data with utmost diligence

Lost, misplaced, or duplicated data is another major cause of failed ERP implementations. Even a single piece of critical data can lead to expensive fines, damage to a business’s reputation, or worse. This is why following best practices for migrating customer data is so important.

Data integrity should be at the top of the list in any ERP implementation.

Prioritize training

You may have worked with a certain ERP in the past, giving you a clear understanding of how it works – but not everyone has had the same experiences. This is precisely where Change Management comes in. Even if your chosen solution seems easy to use, your team must be comfortable with its capabilities. This means ensuring sufficient, ongoing training is part of the plan for any implementation.

If your users don’t receive the training necessary to complete their work in the new ERP system, you’ll never be able to achieve the results you’re after.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot that goes into making sure your ERP implementation goes according to plan. Make the wrong choice, and your business will be stuck with inefficient or sub-par functionality that requires heavy customization or the added cost of third-party add-ons – an expensive decision.

The best way to ensure you make the best choice the first time around is teaming with a partner that’s been there before.

Experienced ERP partners will understand the best practices for your industry and which solutions make the most sense. They’ll work with you to optimize your ERP implementation according to your needs, giving you the best chance for success and long-term enjoyment of a scalable solution.

Schedule a Call today to see how we can help.

Building a More Resilient Supply Chain in Uncertain Times
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Building a More Resilient Supply Chain in Uncertain Times
Building a More Resilient Supply Chain in Uncertain Times 700 500 Xcelpros Team

In today’s rapidly changing economy, having a resilient supply chain has become more important than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of a major recession have led to uncertainty and the disruption of supply chains worldwide, leaving businesses struggling to stay afloat.

Companies need to ensure they have strategies to respond to unpredictable events to protect their bottom line. In this blog, we will discuss the importance of having a resilient supply chain focusing on remaining agile and competitive.

Defining supply chain resilience

When it comes to supply chain resilience, a lot of it comes down to a business’s ability to manage changes in the market and keep up with customer demands while still providing goods and services on time and efficiently – especially important critical periods of economic downturn when businesses from every industry are being forced to make tough decisions about their operations and cost-saving measures.

For most businesses, a stronger supply chain means having systems in place that let them detect and react quickly to environmental changes.

  • Products like Microsoft Dynamics and Power BI offer integrated inventory management and analytics capabilities businesses can use to identify supply chain risks and provide real-time alerts.
  • Investments in continuous training to ensure their teams have the skills and knowledge needed to react and adjust quickly to shifting customer demands.
  • Having contingency plans to mitigate risks from unexpected events can help businesses remain resilient in tough times.

Working to create a stronger supply chain means businesses can reduce the risk of being affected by market volatility and be better equipped to cope with any disruptions that could affect customer satisfaction, productivity, profitability, and more.

Assessing your current situation

The first step to preparing your supply chain for tough times is assessing your current operations. Taking a close look at your supply chain lets you identify any weaknesses and gives you a clear view of where you need to make changes or investments.

Figure 1:Steps to Assess Your Current Supply Chain

Steps to Assess Your Current Supply Chain

Full visibility makes it easy to track evolving customer needs, behavior, and trends. This information makes it possible to optimize warehouse operations according to what the end customer is seeking. While not always easy, it’s quickly becoming non-negotiable.

The main reason D365 is used by so many businesses for supply chain and warehouse management is the wide range of modern features it offers in one solution, including –

1.Evaluate Your Risk Management Strategy: Your risk management strategy should be tailored to the specific challenges and risks in your supply chain. A good risk management plan should include potential risks and strategies for addressing them.

2.Consider Potential Supply Chain Disruptions:Analyzing potential disruptions helps you better prepare for them. Think about potential challenges or risks that could affect your supply chain. It’s important to know how these disruptions could affect your operations and what steps you need to take to prepare for them.

3.Review Your Processes:Look at your current processes and assess if they are efficient and effective. Are the right systems in place to manage inventory, track shipments, and handle customer inquiries? Are there any areas that can be improved? Making changes to existing processes can help streamline operations and create a more efficient supply chain.

4.Assess Your Resources:Assessing your resources helps you determine if you have the capacity to meet customer demands. Consider if you have enough staff, resources, and technology to handle any potential increase in volume. You should also consider using alternate suppliers if one of your main vendors cannot fill your order.

Assessing your current supply chain gives you a better understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, and lets you identify areas that need improvement to prepare for whatever may come.

Identifying areas of improvement

When it comes to improving your supply chain, it’s important to get a complete view of your systems and any areas you may have identified needing improvement. Your assessment should cover the entire value chain, including suppliers, manufacturing processes, inventory management, planning, customer service, and more.

Once you identify areas that need improvement, it’s time to develop an action plan. This plan might focus on reducing risk, increasing efficiency, or improving customer satisfaction. You can use several strategies to achieve these goals, like more robust supplier contracts, streamlining your operations with automation, or improving communication with your stakeholders, all of which are available in a solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform.

The goal is to create a more resilient supply chain that can withstand economic downturns and other unexpected events. With the right plan in place, you can ensure your business is prepared for whatever challenges.

Strategies to enhance your supply chain

As the world faces challenging economic times, a resilient supply chain can mean the difference between success and failure and how quickly you can adapt to changes in the market. A business’s success in trying times often comes down to the technology and strategies they use to support its supply chain:

Figure 2:Increasing Supply Chain Resilience

Increasing Supply Chain Resilience

  1. 1.Diversify your suppliers : Managing multiple suppliers for key products or services protects you if any single supplier fails to deliver or goes out of business.
  2. 2.Improve data-sharing between departments : Effective collaboration helps create better visibility throughout the supply chain to make everyone aware of potential issues ahead of time.
  3. 3.Develop contingency plans : Having backup plans for different circumstances before they happen helps ensure day-to-day operations continue without interruption.
  4. 4.Automated workflows : Automating things like inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping reduces manual labor costs and increases efficiency and accuracy in production.
  5. 5.Invest in risk assessment and management: Risk assessment allows companies to understand where they are most vulnerable proactively. Risk management includes developing strategies to minimize and recover from any unexpected risks.

With the right technology and proactive steps to improve the resiliency of the supply chain, companies can weather economic downturns with greater success. It’s important to remember that strengthening your supply chain requires an ongoing effort, not just a one-time response to market changes. With consistent monitoring and strategic action, businesses can strengthen their supply chains and better prepare for future challenges.

Evaluate and adjust as needed

Building a more resilient supply chain is critical for things like reducing costs and increasing the efficiency of operations. Once you have strategies to enhance your supply chain, it’s important to evaluate the results and make any necessary adjustments.

  • The first step in evaluating the results of your efforts is analyzing the data from your supply chain operations. This means looking at cost savings, customer service levels, delivery times, and quality assurance. These metrics let you know if your supply chain is performing as expected and if any changes need to be made.
  • After you assess your current performance, you can make necessary adjustments. This might be altering existing processes or adding new components to your supply chain. Keeping up with changing needs in the market is key to staying competitive and being prepared for any unexpected events that may arise.
  • It’s important to re-evaluate your supply chain strategies periodically. Analyzing the data from your operations helps identify the latest trends and reduce costs. Especially helpful in uncertain times.

Schedule a Call today for more information and to discover how we can help.

References: Successful Strategies to Improve Your Supply Chain

Predictive Pricing and Dynamics 365 in the Chemical Industry
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Predictive Pricing and Dynamics 365 in the Chemical Industry
Predictive Pricing and Dynamics 365 in the Chemical Industry 700 500 Xcelpros Team

One of the biggest challenges facing the chemical industry today is implementing dynamic pricing — predictive or strategic pricing- allowing you to adjust prices based on market demands and information.

With strategic pricing, companies can enjoy more consistency in sales, higher profits and faster inventory turnover (and therefore less risk associated with carrying excess inventory). Thanks to cloud computing and the power of Microsoft Dynamics 365. Implementing strategic pricing isn’t as complex or expensive as it may seem. Here’s how predictive pricing can work for you in the chemical industry.

The Basics of Dynamic Pricing

The chemical industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world. To remain competitive and maximise profits, chemical companies must use data-driven dynamic pricing strategies. To ensure their prices are aligned with the market and their products are priced competitively. Dynamic pricing involves using data-driven strategies such as predictive pricing and price optimization to determine optimal prices for each product, market, and customer.

Commonly used in retail, dynamic pricing has become an effective way for chemical companies to optimize their pricing strategy. By leveraging data-driven analysis and predictive analytics, companies can accurately forecast customer demand, spot market trends, and identify opportunities to set the right prices for each product and market. With this information, chemical companies can adjust their pricing regularly to reflect changing market conditions and customer needs.

For chemical companies looking to gain a competitive edge, implementing a dynamic pricing strategy with Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a good way to get started. Dynamics 365 provides data-driven insights, intelligent insights, automated pricing recommendations and predictive price optimization capabilities that enable companies to make strategic pricing decisions quickly and effectively.

Chemical companies can optimise their pricing strategy by leveraging Dynamics 365’s dynamic pricing tools. To ensure they stay ahead of the competition and maximize their profits by accurately forecasting customer demand and optimizing pricing. Companies can set the right prices for each product and market, ultimately increasing their bottom line.

Predictive Pricing

Chemical companies can also benefit from predictive pricing that allows them to optimize their prices in response to changing market conditions. By understanding the customer’s demand, the chemical company can set its prices according to the optimal price point for each individual customer. This helps the company remain competitive in the marketplace. As well as maintain a healthy profit margin. To be successful, predictive pricing requires three things:

  1. 1.Key price drivers
  2. 2.Full control of storage and capacity
  3. 3.Integrated insights

Figure 1:Predictive Pricing with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Predictive Pricing with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a great resource for chemical companies implementing a predictive pricing strategy. It enables users to access data quickly and easily, identifying key price drivers and making informed decisions about pricing and other business matters. Microsoft Dynamics 365 also provides customers with an intuitive platform to manage their accounts and business processes, enabling them to develop a comprehensive pricing strategy that meets their needs.

By leveraging predictive pricing with Microsoft Dynamics 365, chemical companies can better understand their customer base, anticipate changes in demand, and adjust their prices accordingly. This helps them stay ahead of their competition while optimizing profits and margins. The ability to quickly adjust prices based on real-time data helps chemical companies stay competitive and increase their sales.

Dynamic Price Optimization

Companies need to have the right pricing strategy to stay ahead. One of the most effective strategies that can be used is dynamic pricing, which allows companies to adjust their prices in real-time according to changes supply and demand. By leveraging data-driven dynamic pricing strategies, chemical companies can optimize their prices to maximize their profit margins and stay competitive.

Dynamic pricing relies on predictive analytics to inform pricing decisions based on customer behaviour, market trends, and other factors. With Microsoft Dynamics 365, chemical companies can access powerful data insights that allow them to understand market dynamics and react quickly to changing conditions. This real-time analysis helps companies set pricing strategies to maximize profits while still meeting customer demands.

By leveraging predictive analytics and dynamic price optimization, chemical companies can take a more strategic approach to pricing that allows them to react quickly and effectively to changes in the market. This data-driven approach allows them to adjust their prices in real-time based on current market trends and customer behaviour. Ensuring they remain competitive in a highly competitive industry.

Using dynamic pricing, chemical companies can optimize their pricing strategies with increased accuracy, providing customers with competitive prices while still maximizing profits. By leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 365, chemical companies can use powerful data insights to drive their pricing decisions and stay ahead of the competition.

Trade agreements and pricing

When it comes to pricing in the chemical industry, it is essential to have a well-defined strategy in place. Trade agreements and pricing structures are constantly changing, making it difficult for companies to forecast their financial performance accurately. Fortunately, data-driven dynamic pricing and predictive pricing in chemicals can help to address this challenge.

Trade agreements are the main way discounts and pricing is configured in D365 Finance and operations, defining the logic the system uses to set different prices. You can set up and enable trade agreements that control pricing (sales pricing, purchase pricing) and discounts (Line, Multiline, and Total discounts) for items, customers, and vendors. Once these agreements are configured, pricing and discounts can be applied to orders, invoices, and quotes.

Agreements are usually configured to apply to a specific Item Code by preference:

  • Table – The first agreement the system looks for, targeting a single customer, vendor, or item.
  • Group – If there are no agreements coded: Table, the system checks for agreements that can apply to a group of customers, vendors, or items.
  • All – If agreements aren’t found coded for either Group or Table the system checks agreements that can apply to all customers, all vendors, or all items.

In total there are four types of agreements that can be activated:

  • Price agreements – Sale and purchase pricing for items that can be different for a customer or Vendor.
  • Line discounts – Line discounts for items that can be different for a customer or Vendor.
  • Multiline discounts – Just like Line Discounts, only usable with the item code set to Group or All.
  • Total discounts – Discounts for entire orders, these cannot be used with Group or Table item codes.

With the added power of Microsoft Dynamics 365, chemical companies can gain real-time insights into trade agreements, enabling them to adjust prices accordingly and remain competitive. In addition, using predictive pricing in chemicals can provide companies with insight into consumer demand and help them anticipate customer needs.

With data-driven dynamic pricing tools, companies can create an optimal price point to maximize revenue and profits while increasing customer satisfaction. Predictive pricing is a key element in crafting a successful pricing strategy in the volatile chemical industry.

Overall, dynamic pricing and predictive pricing in chemicals offer an opportunity for companies to gain a competitive edge by staying ahead of the curve. Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 to monitor trade agreements and adjust prices accordingly, chemical companies can remain competitive while optimizing their profitability.

Next Steps

With the advent of data-driven dynamic pricing, the chemical industry is constantly changing. Companies must stay on top of the game. Leveraging a pricing strategy built on data insights can help chemical companies increase profitability and stay ahead of their competition. To implement such a strategy, chemical companies should partner with industry experts familiar with predictive pricing models and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Experts in the field understand how to use data-driven dynamic pricing to optimise profits. They can help chemical companies set up a pricing model that considers market conditions, competitors’ strategies, and customer demand. This allows chemical companies to set prices that will maximize their profits accurately. Experts can also assist with implementing price optimization tools using Microsoft Dynamics 365. To provide a comprehensive platform for the chemical industry to manage pricing and sales.

Another advantage of utilizing industry experts is that they can provide valuable guidance on creating a strategic pricing plan tailored to the company’s objectives and goals. With the help of experienced professionals, chemical companies can learn how to set prices that capture maximum value for their products and services. Moreover, these experts can offer real advice on maintaining dynamic pricing and other pricing models over time.

Implementing dynamic pricing and predictive models within the chemical industry requires expertise and insight. Industry experts have the knowledge and experience to help chemical companies create an effective pricing strategy to maximize profits and drive success.

Working with the right partner can help chemical companies leverage data-driven dynamic pricing, optimize prices and use Microsoft Dynamics 365 to make informed decisions about their pricing strategy. Contact us today to see how we can help.

Streamline Your Supply Chain with Advanced Warehouse Management and MD365
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Streamline Your Supply Chain with Advanced Warehouse Management and MD365
Streamline Your Supply Chain with Advanced Warehouse Management and MD365 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Warehouse management is a key aspect of modern supply chain management that demands the full attention of a business to be efficient. In this post, we look at warehouse management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

Overview of Advanced Warehouse Management in D365 F&O

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is one of the most well-known ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions offering innovative, AI-driven assistance for Finance, Operations, and Supply Chain Management. The Warehouse Management module of D365 offers a wide range of optimized capabilities to manage even the most complicated supply chains.

Worldwide, manufacturing and distribution companies of all sizes rely on D365 warehouse inventory management to support their supply chain operations at a core level. When a system like D365 is implemented correctly, it’s easy to gain efficiency and flexibility at every level. Furthermore, D365 enables warehouse owners to set up multiple priority-based storage areas within a warehouse making it easy to gain visibility into their supply chain. According to research from World Economic Forum, challenges like high overheads, growing competition, and evolving customer expectations continue to cause severe impediments.

When it comes to supply chain efficiency, gaining full visibility has become extremely important, permitting businesses to build a direct link with consumers and partners. Supply chain visibility is critical to building a strategy to reduce risks, drive innovation, and build customer trust.

Key Warehouse Management Processes

Figure 1:Key Warehouse Management Processes

Key Warehouse Management Processes

Full visibility makes tracking evolving customer needs, behaviour, and trends easy. This information makes it possible to optimize warehouse operations according to what the end customer is seeking. While not always easy, it’s quickly becoming non-negotiable.

The main reason so many businesses use D365 for supply chain and warehouse management is the wide range of modern features it offers in one solution, including –

  • Placement and Storage D365 let you define the stock based on query-defined rules that make tracking products easy. Users can define location and storage policies down to item and warehouse levels to ensure that RFID (radio frequency identification) capabilities are accurate and updated. You can streamline the storage facility greatly by dividing the warehouses into different zones, defining the storage needs, and even specifying an item’s location with the aisle, rack, and shelf details.
  • Inventory Dimensions D365 gives you visibility into specific inventory details like warehouse and location, as well as basic characteristics like size, color and more. Users have full control over how the products are stored, how warehouse storage costing is decided, and how inventory tracking is happening by defining the inventory dimensions according to any operational requirements.
  • Serial and Batch Number ControlD365 makes it easy to add and manage batch and serial numbers to things like finished goods and raw materials, streamlining the ability for your team to track their location as they move through production. As you gain full control of serial and batch numbers, it becomes easier to trace the quality assurance and warranty of your finished goods. As a bonus, properly assigning serial and batch numbers to your goods and products lets you know exactly where they are in your system, and whether the order has been shipped or not.
  • Wave TemplateWave templates in Dynamics 365 give users the ability to create and manage multiple Shipping, Production and Kanban Wave Templates can be processed manually or automatically. As these Waves are processed, specific work is assigned to a warehouse operations team(s) to be completed for different locations or scenarios. Setting up a wave template includes defining the location or warehouse that the template will create the work for, the order the system will follow if there are multiple waves, and actions to be taken when the wave is processed. Examples of Wave Template types include shipping or transferring orders, or special care and handling instructions for moving items in production. Wave templates create work from Work Templates and Location Directives (pick and put locations) for a specific warehouse.
  • Work Templates and Location DirectivesD365 also includes Work Templates and Location Directives to help define and standardize the operations crucial to a business’s warehouse management. Work templates define “work” and lay out specific pick and put process steps for users to follow in warehouse transactions. Work templates are not location specific by default, and only describe the actions to take.
    • PICK an item from a rack or shelf location
    • PUT an item into a packaging area
    • PICK an item from a packaging area
    • PUT an item into a shipment

    Location Directives describe the same steps for different sites and locations. Location Directives are specific directions for managing or moving inventory in a specific warehouse or location for different scenarios like handling of larger quantities, or specific storage location types like cold storage, freezers, etc.

  • Replenishment TemplatesReplenishment templates in D365 let you define the replenishment process for multiple locations. D365 includes the ability to set different replenishment strategies for different warehouses:
    • Wave demand – the default strategy designed to find locations that can be replenished until demand Is covered
    • Maximum location capacity – like Wave demand, but locations are replenished to maximum capacity.
  • Pick and Put-away ordersD365 makes it easy to pick and put items for outbound loads with handheld or mobile devices. You can define the order picking and dropping locations while streamlining the logistic chain. D365 enables warehouse managers to ‘pick’ any load from the warehouse and ‘put’ it directly to staging, making outbound loading and delivery quick and smooth.

Role of Advanced Warehouse Management In D365 F&O In Cost Reduction

Current trends indicate that supply chain management solutions focus mostly on controlling overhead. D365 can accomplish this by offering businesses full control and monitoring of their workforce and their warehouses.

‘D365 further helps reduce costs by offering full visibility of your operations, as well as the ability to manage your bills and invoices and optimize new or existing routes.

Other Benefits

  • Office IntegrationBeing able to streamline your supply chain is only possible when all related workflows are optimized, integrated, and capable of capturing and sharing key data without issue.

    D365’s native integration to Microsoft’s Office 365 products like Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, Teams, and more to make all possible to share and access information anywhere in the world.

  • Better Customer ExperienceWhen your systems are all fully integrated at a workflow level, you’re able to stay on top of your operations and the things that matter most to your customers, including things like timely support options, accurate forecasting, dynamic pricing and more.
  • Insight-driven ReportingD365 provides a wide range of detailed reporting options like Labor by job, Labor by users, Sales by product, equipment failures, warehouse transactions, and more. These insight-driven reports work in real-time to give businesses the ability to respond to problems and demands quickly and efficiently based on real data.
  • Warehouse PerformanceDynamics 365 offers multiple ways to monitor the overall performance of your supply chain quickly and easily by breaking down your entire warehouse into products, vendors, and sites. Inbound performance monitoring ensures vendor performance, tracks delivery, and identifies potential loopholes. Shipping performance monitoring ensures finished goods and products are shipped to customers at the right time.

Conclusion

It’s important to understand that the ability to streamline a supply chain depends on effective warehouse management – not an easy job.

This is where a scalable solution like D365 can be used to address a wide range of potential challenges related to ‘pick and put away’ orders, cycle counting, barcode and label support, and keep overheads to a minimum while still being able to meet continuously evolving customer demands.

Making sure it’s done right the first time means working with a partner that understands your industry and knows how to streamline the process and maximize your ROI (Return on Investment).

For more information and to find out how we can help optimize your supply chain contact us today.

Improve your inventory visibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365
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Improve your inventory visibility with the Microsoft Dynamics 365
Improve your inventory visibility with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Inventory can be your best friend or worst enemy, depending on how well it’s managed. If your business is experiencing issues managing its inventory, it’s time to take charge of your inventory management process. And prevent it from becoming an ongoing headache.

In this post, we look at the importance and benefits of inventory visibility and how to make inventory more accessible.

The importance of inventory visibility

Inventory visibility – One of the most frustrating aspects of running any business is tracking inventory levels so you know when it’s time to restock. Or, when products need to be sold off before they go bad.

This applies to finished goods and the raw materials used to make them, work-in-progress items (WIP). And anything used in maintenance, and repairs or operations (MRO).

Good inventory visibility means your inventory can be managed with as little hassle. When you can monitor what products are available and what quantity is in stock, you’re better equipped to make decisions that will help you manage your finances effectively.

It also goes a long way to reducing costs and offering a better customer experience. Proper inventory visibility makes it easy to track products and raw materials anywhere in the supply chain. Better visibility of your inventory leads to better visibility of your orders. From production to shipping and delivery.

Achieving Inventory Visibility

For most companies, inventory management is best left to dedicated solutions, like Microsoft Dynamics 365. Inventory systems like D365 help manage critical items like location, availability, status, cost, and stock levels.

Common practices to increase inventory visibility can include things like:

  • Increasing the accuracy of data captured for all products in your system.
  • Taking advantage of mobile devices and handheld scanners in fulfilment areas to track products in the supply chain.
  • Conduct regular audits and cycle counts against current inventory levels.
  • Investing in a modern inventory management solution that offers visibility of all raw materials and finished goods for multiple locations or channels.

Benefits of good inventory visibility

With enhanced inventory visibility, businesses can pinpoint any issues’ root cause faster than ever. Full visibility of your inventory means you’re in a perfect position to solve any problems. Without proper inventory visibility, it can be exceedingly difficult to generate accurate reports about your stock levels and costs or be able to manage orders. Or track items across different sites.

Some additional benefits of good inventory visibility include:

Figure 1:Benefits of Good Inventory Visibility

Benefits of Good Inventory Visibility

  • More efficient operations – Inventory visibility means you’ll reduce the amount of time you spend managing delays, complaints, or missing items.
  • More control of inventory and stock levels – Inventory visibility lets you reduce overstock as well as ensure you don’t run out of any must-have products.
  • Better security – Especially for highly regulated industries, inventory visibility is critical for tracking the movement of finished goods, raw materials, and specific batches.
  • Better response to customer demands – Improved inventory visibility means you’re always better equipped to meet changes in demand – This is one of the best ways to create a better customer experience.
  • Better resource allocation – Inventory visibility help you understand how much stock needs to go to different locations like warehouses, retail outlets, and more.
  • Increased forecasting accuracy – The data captured from good inventory visibility gives a better view of products you need to keep on hand. And improving distribution and purchasing at the same time.
  • Better responsiveness – Real-time inventory data lets you quickly respond to any changes in demand based on trends or other disruptions.
  • Better ROI – Better visibility means you can reduce your stock levels across the board, without disrupting the needs of your customers.

Inventory visibility challenges

Inventory visibility can indeed be challenging, especially without a dedicated system. Today, omnichannel marketplaces offering a growing list of new fulfillment options like Buy online pickup-in-store (BOPIS), drop shipments. And more means there is an increasing list of issues that can arise.

Some common challenges with achieving inventory visibility include:

  • Manual processes – Manual processes are notoriously inefficient, especially when we have access to barcoding solutions and automation.
  • Poor visibility – Not being able to track your finished goods or raw materials means you can create several unplanned delays, resulting in a less-than-stellar customer experience.
  • Unknown demand – Lack of visibility makes it easy not to understand the demand for your products; this quickly leads to overstock or understock conditions.
  • Re-stock issues, loss of business – Lack of visibility can lead to several missed restocking opportunities and more business for your competition.

These are all issues that can be harmful to a business. And leading to loss of revenue, damage to your reputation, a poor customer experience, or worse.

Improving inventory visibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Many retailers struggle with visibility into their inventory – not only can it be time-consuming and costly. But, it can also lead to out-of-stock items or delayed shipments.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers many features that can help you improve inventory visibility, including creating multiple levels of item locations and reconciling inventory automatically and manually.

Some of the ways D365 helps improve the visibility of your inventory can include the following:

Figure 2:Improve Inventory Visibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Improve Inventory Visibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365

  • Support for mobile and handheld devices – Microsoft Dynamics fully supports shop-floor devices designed to minimize redundant manual processes.
  • Process and route optimization – Microsoft Dynamics let you customize and streamline your processes, resulting in highly optimized routing throughout your supply chain.
  • Process automation – Microsoft Dynamics gives you more control of the automation of your processes, which not only increases compliance. But also significantly reduces time spent on repetitive tasks.
  • Actionable insights – Microsoft Dynamics allows businesses to extract more data from everything they do. Forecasting, scheduling, routing, and more all become much more efficient.
  • Electronic signatures and approvals – Electronic signatures in D365 are quicker, more compliant, and much easier to track.

Final thoughts

While challenging, inventory visibility has become more important than ever before, continuing to prove itself as one of the best ways to streamline your company’s operations.

However Improving inventory management doesn’t have to be difficult, especially in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. Once you understand your specific requirements, the best way to start on the right path is to work with a partner who understands your industry’s ins and outs. And can help implement a solution that’s perfect for you.

Schedule a call today to discover how we can help optimize your inventory visibility.

References: Inventory Visibility Add-in overview

Batch traceability in pharmaceutical manufacturing
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Batch Traceability in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Batch Traceability in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing 700 500 Xcelpros Team

One of the oldest in the world, the pharmaceutical industry has had to face many challenges over the years. One of the biggest challenges that still presents itself today is how to address batch traceability when it comes to pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The importance of Pharma batch traceability

For a multitude of reasons, pharmaceutical manufacturers need the ability to maintain traceability throughout their entire batch process. This means being able to identify every single ingredient and process step that was involved in creating a production batch. When an issue arises, this information can help determine which action caused the problem and where it may have originated.

Batch traceability will help identify what went wrong and provide critical data for addressing any resulting challenges. A manufacturer should be able to provide an audit trail for every batch manufactured and retrieve this information quickly when needed.

When combined with other quality systems, such as an SOP manual or cGMP guidelines, batch traceability becomes more potent.

DSCSA (Drug Supply Chain Security Act)

Brought to life by the FDA and Congress in 2013, the DSCSA was designed to change how pharmaceutical products and raw materials are treated throughout the supply chain, including prescribing ways to trace the movement of products when packaged and distributed. The goal of the DSCSA was to increase the security of pharmaceutical products and patient safety using pharmaceutical finished goods. This then new law offered:

  • 1 Single federally supported solution to replace requirements that might have been different for every state
  • A simplified, consolidated view of supply chain regulations that focus on enhanced patient safety and security
  • Higher standards for distributors in the U.S.
  • Streamlined processes for identifying the suspect or counterfeit goods in the supply chain

As we approach the 10-year deadline set by the DSCSA, where partners in the supply chain will need to provide item-level traceability when products move from one party to another, stakeholders must make sure they’re in full compliance.

The longer you need to implement a track-and-trace solution, the more at risk you face things like heavy fines, loss of licensure, and even imprisonment.

For more information about the act – see FDA DSCSA 

GS1 traceability standards

With so much more data getting captured every second, GS1 standards are a way to focus on what’s important – with a set way to manage your supply chain data to make sure important data is always available, understandable and 100% accurate.

GS1 traceability standards are part of a larger global framework used in over 100 countries to ensure the systems they use for traceability are designed for interoperable collaboration and sharing information for the entire supply chain using the following.

  • Critical Tracking Events (CTEs) Actual events that occur throughout the lifecycle of a traceable product or raw material. This includes things like packing, shipping, and receiving.
  • Key Data Elements (KDEs) Important information and data regarding the specific pieces of Critical Tracking Events.
  • Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and Global Location Numbers (GLNs) Unique identifiers for finished goods and raw materials as they move through the supply chain.

According to GS1, four key events should be given the most attention as finished goods, and raw materials move through the supply chain:

  1. 1.What product(s) were impacted?
  2. 2.When did the event occur?
  3. 3.Where did the product(s) come from? Where are they now?
  4. 4.Why was this process observed?

For more information about GS1 traceability standards – see Supporting the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain for DSCSA

Pillars of batch traceability

Figure 1:Pillars of Batch Traceability

Pillars of Batch Traceability

With the law already written, it’s up to partners to figure out how they’ll meet the requirements. To ensure this compliance can be met, four underlying pillars of batch traceability should be implemented one way or another.

  1. 1.Serialization – The ability to create unique identifiers for a product with multiple packaging options. This typically includes serial numbers, lot numbers, and expiration dates.
  2. 2.Track and trace – Like Serialization, track and trace is all about where a product has been and where it is now. This helps highlight any ownership changes, determine the original manufacturer, or track all movement throughout the supply chain, even if it hasn’t changed ownership.
  3. 3.Verification – The ability to verify where a product is or has been in the supply chain. This includes requirements to confirm specifics like serial and lot number, movement and transaction history, and more.
  4. 4.Reporting – The ability to report accurate information about serialization, track and trace, and verification to regulatory bodies as needed and required.

The ability to report accurate information about serialization, track and trace, and verification to regulatory bodies as needed and required.

These pillars are designed to work together to give you a more detailed view of the products in your supply chain, and lets you share that data with your partners, customers and more.

Final thoughts

Batch and item traceability doesn’t just help protect consumers from harm and keeps your company in compliance with regulatory bodies like the FDA. Batch traceability software lets manufacturers and distributors easily track every batch of product manufactured during a specific timeframe.

All said and done, a properly implemented track and-trace solution will allow you to fully trace finished goods and raw materials as they move through your supply chain from start to finish. Being able to track your products helps to prevent theft and counterfeit copies and makes sure your products remain safe for use. Tracing your products lets you closely follow and monitor every product in your supply chain, leading to fast, efficient returns and recalls, confidence in your products, protection of your brand, and more. A solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 makes this all possible by providing a customizable system tailored to your specific business needs.

After 2023, track and trace won’t be an option – this will be a requirement if you want to keep doing business in the pharmaceutical industry. The sooner you have a system in place, the better.

Not sure where to begin? Contact us today to see how we can help.

Streamline your Supply Chain with Transportation Management in D365 F&O
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Streamline your Supply Chain with Transportation Management in D365 F&O
Streamline your Supply Chain with Transportation Management in D365 F&O 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations is one of the most feature-rich and optimized ERP tools. They are used for managing funds, accounts, processes, and more. D365 has ushered in several benefits for different industries. This is one of the main reasons, so many modern businesses choose to rely on it every day.

But does it make some sense for transportation management? Keep reading to find out.

Transportation Management in D365 F&O

When Microsoft developed AX into D365, transportation management functionality took center stage in its module. This allowed businesses to automate all the essential finance and operation-related operations like accounting, cost management, freight management, master planning, and more.

The resulting Transportation Management module allowed users to enjoy improved capabilities and features. This included things like:

  • The updated version permitted manual freight reconciliation.
  • The ability to generate USMCA certification of origin documents.
  • Management of transport management engines in D365 F&O.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; the latest version of transportation management in D365 F&O is packed with modern-day capabilities.

Who Should Use it?

D365 is for any organization that wants to streamline its supply chain, reduce costs and offer a better customer experience – something that’s become critical in the last few years. D365 can completely replace legacy systems with best-of-breed transportation management technology. It can automate vendor allocation, routing, and transportation allocation for all outbound and inbound orders with full support for AI-enabled devices.

This tool can handle multiple logistics TMS aspects in different scenarios by granting better control over shipping, modifying the shipping rate according to distance & shipment weight, and so on.

Let’s look at some of the most common scenarios that can be handled efficiently with Transportation Management in D365 F&O.

Scenario #1

Due to changes in consumer habits, your SKU count has increased. And it would help if you found a way to get more control of your growing fleet. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is perfect for seamless delivery/pickup and complete control over shipping cost by volume/distance.

With D365, you can decide on the delivery charges based on distance or shipment volume. And share the delivery receipt with the customers directly without getting involved in reconciliation.

Scenario #2

Your business chooses not to charge a separate delivery fee; you instead combine it as part of the total cost of the order.

D365 makes it easy to adjust your pricing seamlessly and efficiently, as needed. This means you can account for changes due to shipping volume or availability.

On top of that, D365 lets you do things like automatically adjusting the order cost and providing insights into shipping cost breakage.

Scenario #3

Suppose you’re using the logistic services of several different companies for your business processes. Transportation management in D365 gives you complete control and the ability to manage all your service providers more effectively in one location.

You can set different transportation rates and delivery preferences there, as needed.

D365 Transportation Management Benefits

Figure 1:Benefits of D365 Transportation Management

Benefits of D365 Transportation Management

Working with a partner to implement Transportation Management in D365 brings a lot to the table for the end-users.

Whether it’s having complete control of your entire fleet, automatic transportation rate calculations, support for things like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and more, Transportation Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 can change how you do business.

Planning, Logistics, and D365 Transportation Management

With access to real-time shipping information, the transportation management module in D365 makes inbound and outbound planning easier than ever. End-users can make plans according to the processed orders or their related shipments.

Inbound transportation in D365

The inbound transportation management in D365 is very business-friendly. It ensures a transportation solution is ready for vendor orders and doorstep delivery.

With D365, planning a route, generating the receipt, and tracking the order from the vendor’s warehouse to yours is easy.

Outbound transportation in D365

One of the critical benefits of D365’s transportation management is having end-to-end control of how you manage your shipments. Transportation Management in D365 makes creating an outbound lead, assigning rates, creating processes, and planning the load appointments easy. And everything else that goes into outbound transportation management.

Load Building as Needed

Volume-based load building in D365 is much more advanced than older, legacy solutions. It lets businesses set limits on the highest permitted height & weight values.

If your load exceeds the pre-defined load template, you can override it and define new values.

The best part about customizing load templates is that you can make them highly informative by adding details like load template ID, equipment, dimensions, floor stack load, the maximum allowed weight, etc.

Support For a Wide Range of Transportation Engines

Different transportation engines are used to define the logic needed to develop and administer transportation rates.

It takes a lot to ensure complete control of your transportation management, which usually means you need access to multiple transportation management engines. To this end, Microsoft supports multiple different engines in its D365 software including:

  • Rate Engine that can calculate rates.
  • Generic Engine that supports other engines.
  • Mileage Engine that can keep an eye on distance travelled.

There are also things like Transit Time Engines, Zone Engine, and Freight Bill Type Engine. With all these engines, organizations have more functionalities to add to transportation management and achieve perfection.

Better Integrations

Successful transportation management is only possible when the system has full access to the required data.

Transportation management in D365 offers several powerful integration capabilities.

D365 pairs seamlessly with CDS or Common Data Services, making various entities available. In addition, the Azure Data Lake is staged carefully in Entity Store, which ensures only updated data, with incremental syncs, is available.

Regarding shipments, D365 helps businesses automatically report product damage for refunds – all of which can be automated to save invested time and effort.

A Powerful Tool for Managing Global Operations

D365 is designed to streamline global operations. Presently, it has localized versions for 37 countries in 42 languages. This lets enterprises with a worldwide presence select a localized version for each region with a centralized view of data and operations.

D365 does an excellent job of keeping departments and branches worldwide up to date and able to collaborate more efficiently.

Scalability And D365 In the Cloud

Several benefits come from D365 being a cloud-based ERP, including the fact it benefits from a scheduled number of annual and semi-annual updates, both minor and significant.

Several features can be easily added or removed. With a familiar, browser-based interface, access from anywhere is possible – critical for a remote workforce, and licensing can be set for as few or as many users as needed. D365 truly delivers when it comes to productivity and scalability opportunities.

One downside often tied to having so many features is the need for clarity when making sure you pick what works best for your business. Constantly, the best solution is working with a certified Microsoft partner that can optimize your configuration, help you decide on ideal features, and document update requirements.

Final Thoughts

D365 delivers features like cloud deployment, fantastic integration, inbound and outbound management, load balancing, financial supply chain assistance, and other noteworthy capabilities. With D365, you eliminate the need to switch between apps or invest in different transportation management tools for different regions.

Hopefully, this article gives you a better view of how transportation management in D365 can help your business grow and succeed. However, taking advantage of the right features doesn’t have to be complicated. The best option for most companies is to work with a trusted partner to ensure your implementation goes as smoothly as possible.

The right D365 F&O experts can assist you through and through with the modernization and automation of your transportation-related operations. Schedule a call today for more details.

Staying ahead of the curve Warehouse Management Trends in 2022
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Staying ahead of the curve: Warehouse Management Trends
Staying ahead of the curve: Warehouse Management Trends 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Remaining competitive in today’s global marketplace has become more important than ever. Consumer habits continue to change, and businesses are finding themselves stocking more and more items. An efficient warehouse management solution is the best way to ensure customer satisfaction at a time when everyone expects things like next-day delivery, BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup in Store), and more.

Thankfully, managing a growing SKU count is getting easier and the technology already exists to help improve your supply chain and bottom line.

Keeping an eye on the changing technology landscape is a good way to get started – here are some of the advanced warehouse management trends we’ve seen in 2022.

Automation

More warehouses are striving to be fully automated than ever before, from self-driving forklifts and automated inventory systems to sophisticated barcode scanning and sorting. Many companies see full automation as a cost-saving measure as they shift their budgets from human workers to technology – becoming more important as SKU counts continue to grow to meet consumer demand.

According to Capterra, 54% of warehouses plan to expand the number of inventory SKUs carried over the next five years.

Manufacturing plants have seen similar trends, with equipment automation replacing traditional manufacturing processes such as machining and assembly. You’ll need to think creatively about how automation can change your processes and make your jobs easier. Some innovations include adding robotics or autonomous vehicles into your delivery process; building more efficient ways to collect data; or developing mobile apps that make data easily accessible to your employees, wherever they are.

Sustainable Warehouse Solutions

Supply chains and warehouses have always been a driving force of the economy, and as we move into the future, warehouse management trends will continue to affect global supply chains. One of the most significant changes driving growth in sustainable warehouse solutions is increased consumer pressure for sustainable goods and services. Consumers want more transparency and accountability with their products, which improved tracking technologies can only achieve.

Another factor influencing this change is an increase in regulations governing environmental impact. For example, several European countries banned single-use plastic packaging earlier this year due to the damage it causes, leaving companies scrambling for viable alternatives, like bio-based plastics or renewable materials like bamboo.

Supply chain management solutions like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 will play a vital role in managing inventory, assets and faults and improving compliance with regulatory bodies like the FDA, EPA, REACH and more.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) technology in warehouse management continues to grow and offers new benefits like reduced costs, better forecasting, and easier scalability.

Sensors and cameras continue to improve, and newer RFID (radio frequency identification) tags or beacons tell you exactly where an item is at any given time.

The data collected from these sensors leads to a better customer experience because you know exactly how long it takes for a package to be delivered or whether there are any delays with your orders. This makes your warehouse inventory management easier.

When managing people, IoT technology will allow you to reduce overtime hours and increase efficiency. Using drones and autonomous vehicles lets you confidently adjust your business strategy by setting prices based on demand or supply chain availability.

Some experts predict that we’re nearing the point where IoT technology will be doing a lot more tedious work like stock picking and placing items into cartons—saving companies money and freeing up valuable labor hours for other things like customer service or development projects.

Wearable Technology

Technology is changing how work is done everywhere, and warehouse management is no exception. We already see hints that in the not-so-distant future, fewer people will work in warehouses due to the rise of wearable technology. Examples include Exo-suits, Smart Glasses and audio devices – powered devices designed to reduce physical requirements and give workers hands-free access to their data and instructions.

These devices could replace warehouse management equipment like head-up displays or tablets. Amazon, for example, has already patented a system allowing its employees to use wearable devices while at work. These devices focus on 100% accuracy thanks to the ability to fully validate your inventory.

Some analysts believe this trend would lead to higher costs for shipping companies and consumers because it would require new training programs, and many warehouses wouldn’t need human labor. Others feel these technologies might reduce costs because they increase productivity and reduce errors.

The fact remains that wearable technology holds exciting potential and could change the way we manage our warehousing processes. However, it’s still unclear exactly what effects it will have on business owners and consumers.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Even now, fulfillment centers are beginning to use augmented reality (AR) technology to help with logistics and planning. This trend is expected to grow and expand over the next few years.

There are many benefits, like training and easy visualization. Still, one of the most important is that warehouse managers and personnel can use AR daily without having an expensive changeover cost when they start using it.

This technology provides instant feedback with data from multiple locations, so managers know exactly if their supply chain is performing as expected or if any issues need to be addressed. The wireless nature of these devices means AR is perfectly suited for work in and around warehouses.

Digital Transformations

Warehouse management is going digital everywhere. E-commerce and omnichannel retailing have become much more popular, leading businesses to invest more in warehouse management software and automation. The ability to deliver products from their warehouse on time with less employee involvement is what many businesses have been aiming for.

Companies want their warehouses to be fast and flexible, moving with the needs of changing business conditions. Warehouses are now being designed with reconfigurable storage systems, which can be changed based on current storage needs without downtime or significant disruption.

For this level of automation and digitization to happen, these enterprises need a great deal of up-to-date data about their inventory and how quickly they can process orders. Fortunately, warehouse management solutions like Microsoft’s D365 provide real-time updates on inventory levels and shipping rates. These are just a few reasons we’re seeing more businesses finally replace their aging legacy systems – and when all is said and done, they’re much better off for it.

What comes next

Staying up to date on changes in technology can be a full-time job. One of the best ways to understand what comes next is by working with a partner that understands your business.

As your company grows and your warehousing needs change, your partner can ensure you’re using the perfect solution.

Whether you’re looking for a whole new warehouse management solution or just adding on newer functionality, your partner should be there to set you up for greater success.

Be prepared for what comes next, contact us today to find out how we can help.

Improve Your Supply Chain with Microsoft D365 Transportation Management
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Improve Your Supply Chain with Microsoft D365 Transportation Management
Improve Your Supply Chain with Microsoft D365 Transportation Management 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Today, most businesses are starting to realize that managing their supply chain effectively improves customer service, reduces costs and increases profit margins. But with increased workforce challenges and constantly changing data, the logistics involved can still be complicated. For most companies, the answer is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, designed to improve your business’s supply chain, transportation management and overall efficiency. With Microsoft D365, you can streamline operations, consolidate data and gain greater visibility into crucial business details that matter most, giving you more time to focus on your customers.

The importance of transportation management in any business

Transportation management is proving increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. Supply chain planning is increasingly focusing its local perspective on global strategy, so companies must keep up. For this, businesses will need access to modern tools and resources, which means looking beyond traditional processes, excel sheets and email notifications. Next-generation transportation management solutions offer the flexibility and – more importantly – scalability that businesses today need to help them grow without being hampered by outdated systems. Suppose you’re genuinely interested in moving away from an older legacy system. In that case, you want something that can go beyond your everyday operational needs, offering increased visibility of sales, distribution, and customer service departments, giving you a full-scope view of all your company’s operations.

How your business can benefit from using Microsoft D365 for transportation management

Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps businesses improve their transportation management by offering access to inventory management, customer service, and more – all in real-time. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is flexible and scalable enough for day-to-day operations to meet the demands of any size business. The transportation planning solution helps you understand where products are going and how to manage your supply chainbetter. This solution also helps you better meet customer service needs and increase sales with greater visibility on distribution, service, marketing, and more. With Dynamics 365 and the right partner, you can get up and running quickly, letting you take advantage of these features right away.

Transportation management in Microsoft D365

Microsoft has included several transportation features in Dynamics 365 that make it easy to see your fleet and track important metrics like fuel usage, mileage, driver hours, and total miles. Plus, you can always keep an eye on things like vendors and routes, as well as the status of your fleet, by tracking maintenance updates and scheduling jobs like oil changes. Information is available from any device at the click of a button, giving you the flexibility to look at things whenever and wherever you want. And because Dynamics 365 has been built to be flexible and scalable, you get full access to the benefits without worrying about limitations or overspending. When you decide on Microsoft Dynamics 365 as your transportation management system, data will be stored in one place so everything stays organized.

Figure 1: Use of Dynamics 365 with Respective Departments in Transport Management

Use of Dynamics 365 with Respective Departments in Transport Management

When it comes to planning, Dynamics helps you:

  1. 1.Plan inbound and outbound shipments more effectively with the help of D365, which provides visibility into pending orders for easier scheduling.
  2. 2.Manage costs better with detailed shipment cost reports and freight quotes for each shipment to help you find the best rates and save money.
  3. 3.Get accurate, up-to-the minute information on trucks with mobile access to the latest truck location, letting you know exactly where it is, how much gas is left, who is driving, etc., enabling you to give immediate feedback as needed to streamline business processes.

For inventory control, Dynamics gives you:

  1. 1.Real-time visibility into your inventory, with on-screen alerts if something needs attention.
  2. 2.Better forecasting thanks to more precise insights gained through analyzing historical demand patterns, weather forecasts, and other data sets.
  3. 3.More automation across sales channels including eCommerce sites so you have fewer manual transactions to manage and less risk of human error.
  4. 4.The ability to sell online without worrying about whether your back-end systems can accommodate new customers and orders coming in constantly. You’ll also get notifications via email and text message every time there’s a new order or product alert, eliminating the need for constant phone calls with vendors.

For customer service, Dynamics offers:

  1. 1.A single view of customer history so you don’t have to search between different systems trying to find what you’re looking for; saving time and making it simpler than ever before.
  2. 2.Improved customer satisfaction with proactive and reactive strategies to reach out to your customers before they reach out to you.
  3. 3.Improved billing and collections, with the ability to charge interest if payment is not received within a specified period, plus the option of adding late fees and penalty charges.

Who is it for?

Dynamics 365 is an excellent product for companies whose supply chains are critical to their business. Really, any company that manages their inventory in bulk or has a fleet of trucks and drivers on the road will benefit from using Dynamics 365.

For a company that wants to improve its transportation management, Dynamics 365 is flexible and scalable enough for day-to-day operations with greater visibility of your entire supply chain.

Dynamics 365 can be used for any business that uses transportation management in their daily operations. The flexibility of Dynamics 365 means it can grow alongside your business, so you don’t need to worry about change as your company grows. Microsoft D365 allows you to use data analytics to help make better decisions when operating your business, tracking all aspects of your supply chain by integrating with other applications like Office 365, Power BI or SharePoint Online. This lets you automate workflows and easily create reports, which helps your entire supply chain run much more efficiently.

Next Steps

The first step is to understand the basic features included in D365’s Transportation Management. This is where you need to identify your specific transportation management needs and how Microsoft D365 can help you meet them, including which modules available will work best for you – from distribution and customer service to sales and marketing. This is the perfect time to speak to your Dynamics 365 partner, who can help walk through what it will take to integrate these into your business and ensure all bases are covered.

Schedule a call today to find out how we can help your business grow.

References: Transportation management overview

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