Top 5 Inventory Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Top 5 Inventory Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Days before the solar eclipse of 2017 it became nearly impossible to purchase the special glasses needed to safely observe the event. People rushing from store to store in a frenzy trying to locate the last available pair of glasses, found the stores had just not planned well… they had nothing left. It got so bad that some stores reported customers coming to blows as they fought over the remaining items. To make matters worse, Amazon and Walmart had to let customers know that the glasses they purchased might not be safe. Some brands were not made to the proper specifications and could not be trusted. Walmart reported another problem… the stock they had ordered never arrived. That should not have happened at Walmart, a store known for its amazing supply chain. They manage over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, requiring a technological tour de force that rarely lets them down. Balancing supply and demand completely overwhelmed most retail and manufacturing entities. Somehow, their systems failed them. Inventory planning and management are among the most important tasks, as this event clearly demonstrated. When not managed well, the failure can be catastrophic. Rootstock recently conducted a webinar designed to identify 5 […]

The Impact of the Cloud on Manufacturing

Today’s manufacturers need to be agile in order to respond quickly to dynamic markets and changing customer demands. They must implement streamlined and efficient workflows that increase the speed of deployment and provide scalability. Manufacturers know that when they become more agile, they become more competitive and successful. That’s why they have turned to the cloud. The cloud enables automation, and more automation not only makes a firm more nimble, it also leads to increased revenues through cost efficiency and new revenue streams. The cloud gives firms the ability to store large amounts of data and then access that data in real-time from anywhere, and this allows just-in-time business decisions and increased collaboration across the entire supply chain. Cloud-based ERP solutions give companies end-to-end visibility into their entire operations, resulting in greater flexibility and adaptability and ultimately, greater profits. In a 2016 survey by Inspirage, 73% of manufacturing companies responding considered it important or very important that cloud ERP software establish and scale collaboration to reduce risk and increase agility. By now, the benefits of the cloud should be old news: on-demand real-time access to data and resources, scalability, data storage, reduced costs and the ability to connect core manufacturing […]

Rootstock’s Growing Partner Network

At Rootstock, we’re serious about supporting manufacturers who compete on a global scale. Not only does our Cloud ERP provide an ideal manufacturing ERP solution for international firms with global supply chains, but also our partner network continues to expand around the world as well, adding even more technology, sales and service for our customers. Rootstock partners only with best-of-breed companies around the world that add real value to our Cloud ERP solutions. Our partners in North America, Europe and Australia build apps to extend our Cloud ERP solutions, provide support and implementation services, and sells our solutions in regions all around the world. As more firms see the value of our Cloud ERP solution, our partner network has also grown, especially in Europe. Partners in Europe Our most important partner is Vanenburg Software in the Netherlands. Vanenburg was founded by Jan Baan, an internationally recognized leader who played a key role in creating the worldwide market for ERP software. Vanenburg is an independent software and services organization that delivers process-centric solutions and apps developed on Open techniques that allow organizations to continuously improve their business operations. As a premier Channel Partner of Rootstock Software, Vanenburg represents Rootstock’s cloud-based ERP […]

4 Myths About Cloud ERP Software

Manufacturing firms have been moving to the cloud for their ERP software. Yet some myths about cloud ERP persist. Myth 1 – Cloud ERP is Too Costly We’ve heard this one many times before. But industry analysts disagree. Their studies conclude that cloud-based ERP software reduces infrastructure, maintenance and lifecycle costs by as much 54%, and save money and time by increasing real-time collaboration and reducing time to market. Cloud ERP lets firms spend less on IT. Over a three- to five-year period, consider the hardware, software, implementation, customization, training, support and maintenance costs required for on-premise ERP. These items simply do not exist or are easier to implement with cloud ERP, which doesn’t need large computers or onsite staff to maintain them. Myth 2 – Cloud ERP is Not Secure Another persistent myth about cloud ERP is that it’s not secure. When cloud solutions first appeared, sure, security was a major concern. But this is no longer true with the best cloud-based ERP systems of today. Security for these systems includes firewalls, two-factor authentication, advanced encryption, frequent security updates, and detection. Compare the cloud ERP security to legacy ERP security. The Aberdeen Group recently wrote in the article “Web […]

5 Steps to Evaluate a Cloud ERP Solution

Manufacturers have been moving to the cloud, looking for new and innovative ways to succeed in the global marketplace. But there are so many vendors offering cloud ERP software with seemingly similar features that is difficult to differentiate between them. The pressures of the business can cause an organization to rush into a solution without fully evaluating it, resulting in costly problems down the road. Manufacturers can make the right choice by following these important steps when evaluating cloud ERP solutions: 1. Gather Business Requirements Knowing your requirements is the most important step in the cloud ERP evaluation process. This step should not be rushed. Your organization has pain points – what are they? Your customers have changing needs – how have they and how will they change over the next several years? What functions does your business absolutely need that your current system cannot perform? During this step, management and IT should meet to identify your firm’s high-level goals, and then get opinions from all stakeholders, from vice presidents and managers to production workers and office staff. Once you have gathered all of your business requirements, it is helpful to rank them as must-haves or nice-to-haves. When you start […]

Post-Dreamforce Comments – “Get Ready for a Ride!”

We hope that your Dreamforce visit was as successful and meaningful as ours. Rootstock CEO Pat Garrehy came away with the following thoughts. It was a great Dreamforce! Within the past twelve months, the market has validated that Cloud ERP for Manufacturing and Distribution is the future and this Dreamforce, compared to prior ones, was just one more confirmation. This is much different than when we exhibited at Dreamforce in 2011 and 2012, when no one even thought about Cloud ERP on the Salesforce platform. While at Dreamforce, we had meetings with a number of large companies that had mild to sincere interest in Rootstock because they are considering Cloud solutions. Many of these big corporations are just getting themselves educated as to that which is out there. This is very much like 1992-94 when the small/medium businesses that could afford it had already purchased IBM, HP or DEC mini-computers with ERP software. Those without mini-computers started to go Client/Server with UNIX and Windows. The large companies on mainframes wanted to get off the mainframe and wanted to go with UNIX running Windows. They didn’t know when and who they were going to select but they knew they were going […]

How to Sell New Cloud ERP Systems to CFOs

When hoping to move to a new manufacturing cloud ERP system, sooner or later, you will need to have a discussion with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or the person who acts as such for your company. The CFO’s job is not to join in on your enthusiasm over all the terrific benefits that you plan to achieve with your cloud-based ERP system. That’s not what CROs do. We need to understand that the CFO’s role, with us and everyone else, is to turn down many proposals to assure that the few most important can thrive. Thus, the CFO asks the right questions to provide the rest of the C-suite with the correct risk/reward insights so that they know when to approve a suggestion or not. Since there are only so many resources in an organization, the CFO needs to assure that they are allocated properly. What to Tell a CFO about Your Proposed ERP Manufacturing Software First of all, you need to explain that what you are now using to track the business no longer works. At any particular time, if someone asks you how much you have in inventory or if you are making money on that big […]

Enterprise Apps Today Reviews Top 11 Cloud ERP Vendors for 2-Tier ERP Systems

Gartner expects that most organizations will shift from monolithic ERP to a hybrid approach by 2017. Gartner is not alone. Accenture Technology agrees that a distinctive feature of today’s ERP is that it is built inherently on a hybrid architecture. Commonly, such an architecture is referred to as a “Two-Tier Model”—that is, the combination of core ERP capabilities with cloud/Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based capabilities on the edge in areas such as sales, CRM and collaboration—all integrated with the ERP system. Accenture continues, “CIOs today need to manage the legacy environment, ERP systems (sourced either through a public or private cloud), SaaS technologies, as well as various platform as a service, business process as a service or SaaS offerings from vendors and integrators. And all the while companies need to be thinking about the proper way to incorporate today’s leading technologies including in-memory computing, analytics, mobile and social. In the April 12, 2016 issue of Enterprise Apps Today, reviewer Drew Robb discusses two-tier ERP software and looks at the leading Cloud ERP providers. According to Robb in agreeing with Gartner and Accenture, finds Cloud ERP software is becoming increasingly popular for two-tier ERP deployments, the model Gartner describes in which companies run more […]

Data Cleansing – A Most Important Step in ERP Implementations

Most would agree – a cloud ERP system is only as useful as the quality of data flowing through it. Therefore, if you are in the process of implementing a new Cloud ERP solution, be sure to include data cleansing as one of the important projects in your implementation process. In both the short and long runs, data cleansing will save you time, frustration and budget. Plus, it will help you ensure having a successful implementation. If you don’t believe this, ask any veteran of an ERP implementation. They will emphasize that in order to have a successful cloud based ERP installation, you will need to prioritize “data cleansing” near the top of your list of things to do. If you ask those same people to identify the top two or three tasks that they most underestimated, in terms of scope and complexity, they will list “data cleansing” near the top. ERP Focus notes, “Data cleansing is a huge factor in ERP success because it is leveraged in every phase of the operation. An ERP implementation will be exactly as successful as its testing execution, and the only limitation on testing execution is master data completeness and accuracy. An ERP […]

Why Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers Need Manufacturing Cloud ERP, Not Typical Cloud ERP

In his column “Ten Ways Cloud Computing Is Revolutionizing Aerospace And Defense,“ Louis Columbus on Forbes.com reports, “Synchronizing new product development, supply chain, production and Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) strategies across Aerospace and Defense (A&D) manufacturers while reducing costs continues to make cloud platforms a viable option in A&D… As one aerospace executive told me recently, the industry sees cloud computing as solution to what many call “silos of excellence” that slow down progress.” However, when selecting a Cloud ERP solution, it’s not enough for the ERP to be only on the Cloud because most Cloud ERP software is created from either an accounting or customer relations viewpoint. They are manufacturing light. Aerospace and Defense Manufacturers needs a Manufacturing Cloud ERP. Only then can they – · Gain better visibility on project schedules and costs, · Compare actual costs versus budget by project in real time, · Capture complete serial and lot traceability through the entire Product Life Cycle, · Provide ‘as maintained’ versus ‘as built’ versus ‘as designed’ view of the entire BOM Tree Structure, · View the project impact of capacity on the shop floor and · Run Material Requirements Planning on a project Basis. Manufacturing Cloud ERP software for Aerospace & […]