How ERP Helps Metals Processors Control Costs

ERP systems connect data across the enterprise and enable real-time sharing so you can monitor and manage inventory accurately, ultimately resulting in more satisfied customers and revenue growth.

With connected data through cloud-based ERP, your business has more control of the resources needed to complete the multi-step processing that today’s customers expect. And with more complex production workflows, you need an ERP solution that optimizes all inputs including inventory, people, and machines.

How ERP Improves Inventory Management

There are several significant ways that ERP contributes to better inventory management. Let’s focus on the top 3: automation, tracking, and forecasting.

1. Automation

Automated inventory management ensures your production supplies are consistently available. Managers can view inventory parts and levels in real time, making adjustments as needed. And  cloud-based ERP can save you both time and money by eliminating manual processes related to inventory management. Introducing automation makes tracking and managing data easy everywhere in the company, including the warehouse. Having up-to-the-minute visibility into actual inventory and costs means you can better manage your complete production process, providing the full picture in one simple and actionable view.

2. Tracking

Metal processors need full visibility of their inventory across the business including multiple locations. Because today’s customers expect fast service, its important for your workers to have access to the full inventory in order to accurately assess and communicate production and delivery times. Tracking allows you to see if you have the right inventory in the right locations, and to automatically update inventory levels using IoT technologies.

3. Forecasting

ERP systems can help you track sales and purchasing, providing the ability to match inventory levels with historical customer demand cycles. If your stock is low, it can trigger more purchasing. If your inventory is high, then you may want to launch a marketing campaign or initiate a return to the supplier. Having insight into surplus inventory in real time means you can cut costs by moving those items before they become obsolete. You can also ensure that your warehouse space is being optimally utilized with the most profitable stock.

How ERP Can Cut Costs

To truly control costs throughout the production process, your metals business needs a system that will ensure the right material is available at the right time. Purchasing agents and production managers need clear visibility into inventory, orders and actual usage to keep material costs from eating away at profits.

Only a cloud-based ERP system designed to handle the complex attributes of metal inventory can support the automation that drives profits. With timely, accurate data shared across functions, your organization can place materials orders with precision, fully aligned with production scheduling. Automated job routing will optimize the complex matrix of materials and resources required to consistently produce orders. By connecting materials and processing data from sales through shipment, you can:

• Allocate inventory at order entry and automate routing of jobs through the entire production process, utilizing materials and optimizing resources step to step.
• Support digital workstations that allow operators to enter actual materials usage, tracking scrap, sheers and break weights.
• Manage outsourced processes, including materials, semi-finished products and finished goods.

How RealSTEEL Can Help You

Are you ready to cut costs and boost profits? Our team of experts can show you how the right cloud-based ERP can help you coordinate materials planning with downstream processes. Offering many benefits to your entire organization, we think that the inventory management capabilities alone will inspire you to upgrade your technology platform. Put us to the test by scheduling a demo today.

To learn more about how to control production costs, you can also download our ebook, New Rules of Metals Operations: How Cloud ERP Delivers Data-driven Insights and Masters Multi-step Processing.

The post How to Control Production Costs With Cloud ERP appeared first on RealSTEEL.

As described in our ebook, New Rules of Metals Operations: How Cloud ERP Delivers Data-driven Insights and Masters Multi-step Processing, you can then translate these new insights into decisions that drive profits.

How do you leverage unified data to improve performance at every level? The answer lies in choosing the right Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that is uniquely designed for the metals industry. RealSTEEL is a cloud-based ERP solution built for the new age of metals operations and includes dashboards that are targeted specifically for metals processing teams.

What are Dashboards?

Just like your car has a dashboard where all critical functions are easily displayed and quick to act on, a data dashboard serves a similar purpose for a business user.

It’s a tool you can use to display, track, and analyze data in order to gain deeper insights into the overall health of your metals business. Dashboards can be personalized by role and can be used at a department level, for a specific process, or for company-wide overviews for management.

The data can come from many different sources and can include all kinds of metrics and services. Dashboards extract relevant information from a variety of sources and present it in a user-friendly and visual way, making complicated information very simple to read and use.

Dashboard Benefits

Dashboards provide a quick and easy way to access data and improve your business. As an important tool within a cloud-based ERP solution, they bring numerous benefits to your organization.

With cloud-based ERP built on connected data, you can use powerful analysis tools working in the background to provide KPI dashboards with relevant real-time feedback to each manager. By centralizing data, you provide a single source of truth to:

• Measure Performance: You can set specific KPIs to help you track information you need to see in one or more areas. Is a department meeting its goals? How profitable is a particular product? A dashboard provides analysis tools to dig into data across departments, cost centers, product lines, regions.

• Improve Transparency: A dashboard is a front-end solution for lots of back-end data. This helps bridge previously disconnected data siloes, allowing you to slice and dice data in new ways. Dashboards also provide improved visibility and accessibility to users giving the ability to make helpful business improvements.

• Increase Agility: Dashboards can help detect real-time business changes, both good and bad. This provides the ability to course correct quickly and to get in front of emerging trends.

The Importance of Dashboards for the Metals Industry

Because dashboards can organize and display important information at a glance, your workers can be more efficient and knowledgeable. Here are a few examples of cloud-based ERP dashboards and what they can bring to your organization.

1. Finance can predict cash positions, forecasts, accounts receivable and DSO all in one place.
2. Accounting can track actual results against multiple budgets to manage cash flow effectively.
3. Purchasing can track vendors and their performance.
4. Production managers can view cycle times and run time analysis to address any problems.
5. Shop floor managers can pinpoint downtime, operator errors or material problems on the shop floor.
6. Marketing can analyze web traffic and how buyers are discovering your company.
7. Sales and Marketing can choose product promotions that maximize revenue.
8. Shipping can compare delivery costs and options.
9. Management can compare historical data to understand trends and plan more strategically.

In short, the power of a dashboard lies in its ability to provide up-to-date information and context to help inform business decisions and empower all employees.

Schedule Your Dashboard Demo Today

Dashboards are a new tool for many metals businesses and we invite you to explore the power of dashboards with our RealSTEEL experts any time. We are certain you will be impressed!

The post The Power of Dashboards for Metals Processing appeared first on RealSTEEL.

Caused by the current climate of economic instability, a global pandemic, and increased competition, supply chains have been under attack for well over a year. And pressures were already mounting in previous years as detailed in our article on supply chains.

For these reasons, there has never been a better time to evaluate a technology upgrade to cloud-based ERP. Only a cloud-based ERP system like RealSTEEL is designed to create an intelligent and sustainable supply chain for the metals industry.

What is An Intelligent Supply Chain?

Unlike manual processes and disjointed spreadsheets, an intelligent supply chain is one that can balance all the variables needed to automate and streamline your metals processing operations. Data is aggregated across your enterprise (including outside sources) in order to track all materials precisely and align with production scheduling.

Automated job routing optimizes the complex matrix of materials and resources needed to manage your supply chain at all times. It can even respond immediately to changes and unexpected events.

An intelligent supply chain can:

• Enhance visibility, improve planning, and maximize productivity
• Coordinate materials planning with downstream processes
• Optimize inventory across all suppliers and warehouse locations
• Manage outsourced processes including materials, semi-finished products, and finished goods
• Predict and respond to any disruptions

In short, the intelligent supply chain optimizes planning, production inventory, warehousing, and transportation to maximize operational efficiency and productivity.

How Cloud ERP Fuels the Intelligent Supply Chain

Cloud-based ERP allows you to connect your entire organization, providing people with the information they need to manage the supply chain and respond to changes rapidly. By digitizing your metals business, you can harness your data and use it as a competitive asset to grow profits.

The key to better supply chain visibility is to centralize and use your data strategically so you can derive insights that deliver improvements for your entire company. Cloud-based ERP is built on shared data and comes with powerful analysis tools. All workers from management to production have access to the data they need to optimize performance and make proactive decisions.

Examples of this data include:

• Monitor the status of all materials across suppliers, locations, and even outside processors
• Pinpoint downtime, operator errors, and material problems on the shop floor
• Analyze and predict the impact of supply chain interruptions on productions and profits

The cloud can transform the way data flows through your organization, providing visibility and control of your supply chain and beyond.

Intelligent Supply Chain Analytics

Cloud ERP harnesses the power of data to provide robust, real-time reporting and analytics. This allows you to make proactive decisions in purchasing, scheduling, and production. And to make the best use of resources, cloud-based ERP analytics can help you continuously evaluate supply chain activity and recommend action within given constraints.

With cloud-based ERP built on shared data, you can use powerful analysis tools to provide KPI dashboards with relevant real-time feedback for all workers by role. This has ramifications well beyond the supply chain and encompasses purchasing, finance, production, and more. From purchasing the right amount of inventory to scheduling machine operators, workers can make better and faster decisions if they have complete, up-to-date information from all departments.

Built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform, RealSTEEL takes advantage of the Microsoft Power Platform which helps businesses automate unique workflows and processes, opening up greater visibility and insights. Using apps created with these tools, companies can analyze data and automate processes not only for their supply chain but for the entire business.

Want to Create and Intelligent Supply Chain in Your Business?

If you want to minimize supply chain volatility, the answer is cloud-based ERP. You owe it to yourself to check out RealSTEEL, a cloud-based ERP platform designed for the unique requirements of the metals industry. To learn more about how we can help you increase profits, contact us today.

The post How to Overcome Metals Supply Chain Volatility appeared first on RealSTEEL.

If you are looking to increase your profits, you’ll want to understand how a modern and affordable ERP solution can connect and streamline your metals business. We actually wrote a book that provides some deeper insight into this.

Download our ebook, New Rules of Metals Operations: How Cloud ERP Delivers Data-driven Insights and Masters Multi-step Processing.

A fully integrated solution works across sales, purchasing, production, inventory management, and fulfillment. This enables you to improve everything from quoting to scheduling and controlling production. Let’s take a closer look at how this works.

Turn Your Data into Profitable Insights

It all starts with data. In order to make business improvements that impact the bottom line, you need to have a benchmark of what is currently happening. Only then can you identify opportunities to tighten up controls, improve accuracy, and impact profits.

Here are a few questions to ask that will help inform your technology choices:

• What data do you have?
• What data do you wish you had?
• How does data flow through your operations?
• Do the right people have visibility to the data needed to perform their jobs with precision?

Your workers make decisions every day that impact customer satisfaction and profits. Whether they are purchasing inventory or scheduling machine operators, they need to have current and comprehensive data at their fingertips.

By using the cloud, you can centralize and secure your data, connect legacy systems and bridge them with newer technologies. This allows you to gain new functionality such as real-time visibility into production including downtime, operator errors, and materials. Other examples include customized views of inventory levels, sales orders, production scheduling, and shipping.

Greater Accuracy Leads to Happier Customers 

In the pursuit of higher profits, it’s impossible to ignore the role of customer satisfaction. When you have access to better and more accurate data, you can use that to inform customers, improve the user experience, nurture relationships, anticipate needs, and create upsell opportunities.

Customers demand quick and accurate information. They want to get information quickly about products, services, prices, and timelines. And they don’t want to hear about shortages, delays, or changes, especially after they placed an order.

The best ERP solutions streamline all your business processes including the full customer lifecycle. You can improve customer relations by providing:

• better automation
• efficient customer interactions with access to their sales history
• real-time inventory levels and production schedules
• accurate sales quotes and delivery times
• streamlined shipping operations with predictable deliveries and costs

ERP Automates Data Flow

Whether you are using manual processes, spreadsheets, or an older generic ERP system, chances are you are not taking advantage of the full power of data.

Cloud-based ERP allows you to have more control of the resources needed to complete processing and optimize all inputs (inventory, people, and machines) in order to increase profits.

Tracking materials in the metals industry is complex and basic ERP systems cannot handle dimensional, chemical, and physical attributes nor can they manage a range of processing options. The matrix needed for forecasting, pricing, and scheduling is above the capabilities of a spreadsheet or most ERP packages.

The answer is to use an ERP solution that is designed specifically for the metals industry and can provide the instant and dynamic computations needed in order to compete and thrive in today’s marketplace.

Accuracy Fuels Profits

So exactly how does the right ERP system improve the accuracy of your business? Cloud-based ERP designed for the metals industry will automatically analyze inventory and production requirements in order to optimize all the variables. It does this in the background and includes multi-stage production requirements as well as outsourced processing.

Through automation, our solution will:

• Improve forecasting based on sales history
• Increase the accuracy and profitability of quotes based on resource availability
• Build production schedules as orders are placed
• Record actual production, scrap, sheers, and break weights
• Determine additional cuts and material required due to scrap
• Automatically route jobs through the production process
• Optimize use of resources and allocate appropriate materials at each step of production

Next Steps

Still need convincing on how accuracy boosts your profit? Contact us today or schedule a personal demonstration of RealSTEEL for your business.

The post Why Accuracy Equals Profits for Metal Processors appeared first on RealSTEEL.

Keeping production on track and meeting deadlines is not easy. Add complex inventory requirements and machine operator utilization to the matrix and you have an even more difficult challenge.

The good news is that there is a modern and affordable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that is designed specifically for the metals industry. RealSTEEL can collect and analyze data that will automate shop floor scheduling, including multi-step processing. There’s never been a better time to update your technology platform to take advantage of the cloud. Your shop floor will become the deserved showcase of your business and will outshine your competitors.

Does My Shop Really Need Dynamic Scheduling?

The rules really have changed for the metals service industry, including the mandate to optimize the shop floor. In order to remain competitive in today’s market, you must streamline that full production process. Dynamic scheduling optimizes all the resources involved in your operations.

By automating the planning and scheduling of the shop floor, workers become more efficient. Production managers have total visibility into the shop floor at all times and can monitor the complete range of operations and activities. And because cloud ERP enables real-time data, managers have accurate and actionable information at their fingertips. Reports and dashboards provide a single version of the truth. Current and upcoming problems are quickly identified and can be addressed immediately to limit any damage.

Introducing automation to your shop floor will help uncover any operational weaknesses such as machine time, staff performance, and resource issues. When you can address problems and potential problems early, you can minimize the impact. Automation also eliminates common reporting errors such as machine and operator time as well as payroll and more.

The Importance of Tracking Shop Floor Activity

Automated, real-time access to shop floor activity simplifies data entry and reduces errors. Real-time job tracking decreases the administrative burden of managing a shop floor and makes it easier for all workers. Accurate time and job tracking also lead to more accurate job costing.

By routing and tracking jobs automatically, you can capture all of the actual activity as jobs move through production. This includes at a minimum:

• Material
• Labor
• Overhead
• Outside processing

A modern ERP solution will capture all the relevant data and provide visibility to the information. This becomes fundamental to understanding and managing costs.

 How Cloud ERP Transforms the Shop Floor

In addition to the traditional metal business services like slitting, bending and painting, today’s customers also want drilling, painting, bending and assembling of components. To keep production on track and meet promise dates, while balancing complex inventory requirements and machine/operator utilization, you need software that collects and analyzes the data to automate scheduling.

A cloud-based ERP platform designed to support multi-step processing will maintain production schedules that dynamically adjust to unexpected changes. With automated scheduling that optimizes utilization of materials, machines, operators, and processes you can:

• Calculate materials usage automatically for every job, pinpointing shortages or drops that can be used on other orders.
• Proactively identify the need for alternative resources like outsourced processing.
• Allow operators to directly input actuals data from the shop floor, from material usage to remnants to quality issues.
• Adjust schedules in real-time to respond to any change orders or unplanned machine downtime.

The better your shop floor control, the better your inventory and operations control, and the better the productivity of your workers. Performance and ROI of a manufacturing business vary directly in proportion to the shop floor control.

How to Get More Control of Your Shop Floor

Our experts here at RealSTEEL are ready to answer your questions and show you how to get more control and insight as orders move through production. Our modern and affordable ERP solution will help you drive down costs and pump up profits.

Download our ebook, New Rules of Metals Operations: How Cloud ERP Delivers Data-driven Insights and Masters Multi-step Processing.

The post How to Automate and Streamline Your Shop Floor appeared first on RealSTEEL.

It is a myth that Cloud ERP makes data security and management more difficult. The fact is: cloud providers like Microsoft deploy state-of-the-art security measures to protect your data in ways no IT team can match. And a well-designed cloud platform can provide integration and management that combines data from across your organization together to deliver unparalleled productivity gains and valuable insights.

Security from the experts

One of the most powerful reasons businesses are moving more applications to the cloud, especially those critical to operations like ERP, is to ensure data security. When your sensitive business data is stored in highly secure, state-of-the-art data centers owned and managed by Microsoft, you get peace-of-mind. With a 99.9 percent uptime service-level agreement (SLA), your employees will have the information they need to keep the business moving forward no matter what happens.

In addition, Microsoft’s cloud ERP has a built-in security system that helps protect your database and the information it contains from unauthorized access. You identify the authorized users and what data they can read and modify. You can deliver exactly the information each worker needs to keep them focused and productive.

Centralized data platform

The cloud doesn’t change the fundamental operations of your metals business, but it can transform how data flows through your processes. With centralized data, you will provide more visibility to managers and tighten control across your entire organization. Microsoft Dynamics 365 lets you easily connect data from other applications to provide holistic data management.

RealSTEEL, built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform, acts as the bridge to centralize data and augment current software systems. You can integrate data from legacy applications as you “turn on” functionality of the cloud ERP for key operations.

By centralizing data in the cloud, you can take advantage of more powerful reporting across all operations with:

• Personalized, role-specific information on inventory, orders, scheduling, shipping, and more delivered through user-friendly dashboards.
• Visibility into real-time events on the shop floor, including downtime operator errors and material problems.
• Better forecasting based on sales history plus accurate scheduling based on resource availability.
• Analysis tools that allow finance to dig into data across departments, cost centers, product lines, and regions to identify areas for improvement.

Unified data drives productivity

With RealSTEEL providing the data platform, you can deliver clear, relevant information to your employees so they can do their best work. By bringing all your data together through the cloud, you can:

• Give managers clear visibility into the four components of cost—materials, labor, overhead, and outside processing—to optimize operations and maintain profits.
• Route jobs through the production process automatically, optimizing use of resources and allocating appropriate materials at each step.
• Support digital workstations that allow operators to enter actual materials usage, tracking scrap, sheers, and break weights.
• Enhance teamwork and boost productivity by accessing information from anywhere, at any time, from any device.
• Enable remote employees to share information in real-time, enabling easier and more efficient collaboration.

Take control of your data

RealSTEEL Cloud ERP provides data integration and management that can unleash productivity and deliver new insights. Let’s talk about how cloud-based ERP can help your organization do more. We understand what data can do for your metals business and can’t wait to show you.

The post Metals Industry Myths About Cloud ERP: Lack of Data Security appeared first on RealSTEEL.

Fortunately, times have changed. The nature of cloud-based ERP is fundamentally different from traditional ERP, allowing your organization to “turn-on” functionality where and as you need it. Cloud-based ERP can support a measured, strategic journey to transform your business into a digital enterprise, allowing every employee to take full advantage of the data flowing through your systems.

Unlike the big upfront investment of traditional software systems, cloud-based licensing is paid as a monthly fee based on user count and functionality. The investment of time and money to improve processes is more manageable and spread out over time. Organizations can prioritize the functions most critical to their profitability and implement them at their own pace.

Many organizations use cloud-based ERP as a bridge to augment current software systems. For example:

• A metal service center using cloud-based inventory management has tighter control of materials and tracks them through outsourced processing.
• By collecting and consolidating supplier inventory data, a metal framer provides full insight into available materials to purchasing agents.
• When supply chain interruptions occur, a fabricator automatically reschedules jobs to minimize machine and operator downtime.

Workflows and optimized resources build for the future

In a recent Metal Center News article titled Yes, there is a silver lining to the cloud, we explained how different functions of the business can benefit from cloud-based ERP. “With cloud-based ERP designed specifically for the metals industry, you can improve each area of the business over time. By centralizing data, there will be one place that everyone can tap into and get the information they need. Beginning with sales, moving through production, and out the door with shipping, workflows will drive efficiency and profits.

Sales: The cloud-based ERP system should optimize inventory and scheduling in the background while the salesperson enters the job details by:

• Automatically calculate nesting, costing, and pricing at the line-item level.
• Auto-calculate accurate production time and costs for processing, both internal and outsourced.
• Build production schedules as orders are placed.

Scheduling: The software should optimize workforce and machine productivity with:

• Automatic calculation of materials usage for each job, identifying shortages and drops available for other jobs.
• Alternative resource identification, when outsourced processing is more profitable.
• Real-time scheduling adjustments that respond to unexpected changes—from change orders to machine downtime.

Production: To optimize production resources, including machines, people, tools and subcontractors, the software should:

• Record actual production, scrap, sheers, and break weights and determine additional cuts and material required due to scrap.
• Automatically route jobs through the production process, optimizing use of resources and allocating appropriate materials at each step.
• Manage outsourced processes, including materials, semi-finished products and finished goods.”

Begin the journey

To see if cloud-based ERP can help your organization update critical functions and build toward a unified business management system, let’s talk. Cloud-based ERP will help you connect your people to the information they need and drive the business processes to optimize resources. We know metals and would love to help with your digital journey.

The post Metals Industry Myths About Cloud ERP: The Cloud is All or Nothing appeared first on RealSTEEL.

It’s not surprising, with such a painful history, that the myth about cloud ERP taking a long time to implement continues to circulate. Luckily, the days of long, drawn-out ERP implementations is coming to an end. Transformed by the cloud and welcomed by a new generation of tech-savvy employees. In fact, there is a far better term to describe the transition to a modern cloud-based business management system: Onboarding.

Cloud ERP onboarding

Unlike the total overhaul of traditional software systems, cloud-based ERP can help your organization improve business processes one piece at a time. You can prioritize the functions most critical to profitability and onboard departments or business units at your own pace.

Through cloud-based ERP, your organization can “turn-on” functionality where and as you need it. Licensing is paid as a monthly fee based on user count and functionality, so the onboarding costs will align with the size of the project you define.

Cloud-based ERP can provide more pre-built tools and processes that align with common business practices—like accounts payable and accounts receivable management. Integration with other systems is far easier through cloud data management, allowing you to centralize data and get greater visibility across your business.

By selecting a cloud-based ERP designed specifically for the metals industry, even more processes and tools will be available to streamline onboarding. Inventory management that can handle the multiple attributes of metal and costing designed to allocate across processes will save you time and money.

Familiar workspaces

RealSTEEL cloud-based ERP is built on the familiar foundation of Microsoft Dynamics ERP. As the gold standard of business software, Microsoft-based solutions help ease the transition to a new system for your employees. Training goes faster and workers have confidence in their ability to use the solution. Companies that onboard RealSTEEL find:

• The easy-to-use interface that works like Microsoft Office takes less training time than most ERP systems.
• Full integration with Microsoft Office products simplifies the transition to new forms and reports.
• Fast, easy integration to your existing technology systems speeds up the implementation to deliver ROI quickly.

Onboard anywhere, securely

As you onboard cloud ERP, you can include employees across regions and time zones at the same time.  Employees have instant anywhere, anytime access to the information they need from the start.

A Microsoft-based cloud ERP, like RealSTEEL, comes with the best security available. Through a layered security model, Microsoft cloud applications restrict data access to ensure users have the information they need and help prevent data breaches. Security settings can be tailored meet the unique needs of your business. You can have full confidence that employees can work productively and securely—anywhere, anytime.

Get started

To see if cloud-based ERP can help your organization update critical functions quickly, let’s talk. Cloud-based ERP will help you connect your people to the information they need and drive the business processes to optimize resources. We know metals and would love to help you get started on your digital journey.

The post Metals Industry Myths About Cloud ERP: Implementation Takes Forever appeared first on RealSTEEL.

So what is the best way to empower your sales teams with the ability to create fast and accurate quotes? The answer lies in cloud ERP designed specifically for the metals industry.

RealSTEEL™ is ERP software for the steel industry and leverages the vast ERP capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to deliver enhanced functionality and benefits for your needs. Our solution is designed to give steel manufacturers and steel service centers unprecedented visibility into all facets of their business in a single ERP system.

Profit and Loss Begins at Order Entry

Many steel companies struggle with generic ERP systems that are not designed to handle the complex range of material attributes, nesting calculations, outsourced processing, and customer materials. To overcome these limitations, sales teams often create and use custom systems such as spreadsheets to help with the quoting process. These cobbled together systems and processes are less than ideal.

In order to deliver the fastest and most accurate quotes, sales people need cloud ERP that connects information across the organization and automates calculations based on that consolidated information. This takes human error out of the equation and introduces quotes that are consistently based on real-time inventory levels, production schedules, and processing costs.

Cloud ERP Delivers Speed and Accuracy

Luckily, there are solutions available right now that are optimized for the steel industry. Solutions such as RealSTEEL can:

• Accelerate sales quoting and order entry
• Automate complicated calculations and processes
• Reduce waste of material and time
• Empower salespeople while holding them accountable
• Deliver deep insight for better control of profits

Job Order Entry and Support

In addition to the creation of fast and accurate quotes, cloud ERP enables improved job order entry and support. When your ERP solution can continuously optimize inventory and scheduling in the background while your sales team enter job details, you achieve real-time negotiation power. Here are other important capabilities to look for in your cloud ERP solution:

• Automatically calculate nesting, costing and pricing at the line-item level
• Automatically calculate accurate production time and costs for processing, both internal and outsourced
• Build production schedules as orders are placed
• Customize processor configurations on a line-by-line basis

Ready to transform your sales team into power negotiators?

At RealSTEEL, we know that quoting and order entry can make or break your business. Contact us today to let our experts equip your sales team with the tools they need to be power negotiators. And to find out more about cloud ERP designed for the new age of metals operations, download our article Improve Sales Quoting to Build Profits in the Steel & Metal Industry (realsteelsoftware.com).

The post The Power of Real-time Negotiations for Steel Service Centers appeared first on RealSTEEL.

Resource Optimization

Let’s take a closer look at three powerful capabilities you will want to add to your metals business. All three are delivered by cloud-based ERP and highlight the power of connection when you link your front and back offices as well as your service center and production operations.

1. Create Complete Work Orders

Production or work orders should include both material and labor. Modern cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions like RealSTEEL support building both an initial quote and a potential production order that looks at inventory, machine availability, labor costs, and more. Of course, that means the data across your business needs to be connected. Cloud-based ERP, with financial management at its core, centralizes your data and delivers it through robust reporting and personalized dashboards. When that data is unlocked from the old silos, the power of your digital transformation begins.

2. Route and Track Jobs Automatically

It is critically important that work orders capture all of the actual activity as jobs are routed through production. This includes at a minimum:

• Material
• Labor
• Overhead
• Outside processing

A modern ERP solution will capture all the relevant data and provide visibility to the information. This becomes fundamental to understanding and managing costs.

3. Automate and Optimize Complex Operations

Cloud-based ERP that is designed specifically for the metals industry allows you to automatically analyze inventory and multi-state production requirements including outsourced processing.

This automation will help you:

• Improve forecasting using sales history
• Sharpen your quotes based on resource availability
• Build production schedules as soon as orders are placed
• Record actual production, scrap, sheers, break weights and determine additional cuts and material requirements based on scrap
• Route jobs automatically through the production process
• Optimize use of resources and allocate materials at each step

With timely, accurate data shared across functions, your organization can place orders with precision and optimize scheduling. Through cloud ERP, you can automate job routing to coordinate with a complex matrix of materials and resources required to produce orders within cost and on time. All of these benefits improve profit margins which in turn lead to better financial outcomes and revenue growth.

Take A Closer Look

How can you find out more about cloud ERP designed for the new age of metals operations? For more information, download our ebook, New Rules of Metals Operations: How Cloud ERP Delivers Data-Driven Insights and Masters Multi-step Processing.

And to learn more about how RealSTEEL can help you optimize your resources, contact us today to schedule an in-depth demo personalized for your metals processing business and your production environment.

The post 3 Steps to Optimized Production for Metal Fabricators appeared first on RealSTEEL.