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Posts Tagged ‘dynamics ax’

Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution – Formula and Recipe Management

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

by:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

Companies in the food and beverage industry have software needs that are unlike those found in other manufacturing companies.  One of these needs is managing their formulas and recipes.

Many times when we talk to prospects that produce food products, we hear the same thing about how they manage formulas and recipes – they do it outside of their systems in Excel or they use work-around’s in their ERP systems.  The fact is that traditional ERP does not provide the necessary tools to properly manage formulas or recipes. they are based on discrete models for product definitions and do not handle well products that are based on percentages like those in the food and beverage industry.

The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution provides users with the ability to define their products whose components, or ingredients, are percentage-based.  Some of the features in the solution include:

  • Formulation by percentages
  • Yield definition and tracking at the ingredient level
  • Ability to globally change ingredients or percentages
  • Capability to define co- and by-products
  • Security control that permits only authorized users to make changes

All of these capabilities deliver a much better way for food and beverage producers to define their products accurately and manage those definitions more easily and effectively.  So why are you still using those spreadsheets when there is a much better way?

If you are interested in discussing formula or recipe management, or other food and beverage specific issues, with us then go ahead and give us a call at 888-222-8827.  We can show you how the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can help solve your issues effectively.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we welcome opportunities to deliver software solutions that help make people’s lives easier and more productive.  If you would like to see how we can help you, we would love to hear from you.

Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution — Catch Weight

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

by:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

I worked with a company once who had an interesting problem.  They are a frozen foods distributor selling into institutions like schools and hospitals.  A product they sell a great deal is frozen chicken breasts that come in large cases.   Managing a seemingly simple product like this actually caused them a great deal of trouble.

The trouble came from the fact that they bought and sold the chicken in cases, yet the product itself was costed and valued in pounds.  When purchased or sold, users needed to track, offline in Excel, the associated number of pounds per case.  This was a time-consuming and inefficient process for them,

What this company needed was a way to track two different units of measure.  As it turns out, there is a solution.  The Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution provides a host of functionality that makes the lives of people in the industry much easier.  One of these capabilities is catch weight management.

The catch weight solution allows users to track and manage multiple inventory units of measure at the same time, thus eliminating the headache created by off-line or manual methods.  Catch weight functionality lets users transact inventory by either of the defined unit of measure.  So, in the case of the chicken breast distributor, each case has a weight associated with it and when they sell cases, the system automatically knows the total pounds and, therefore, value sold.

If you are interested in discussing catch weight, or other food and beverage specific issues, with us then go ahead and give us a call at 888-222-8827.  We can show you how the Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution can help solve your issues effectively.

At Clients First Business Solutions, we welcome opportunities to deliver software solutions that help make people’s lives easier and more productive.  If you would like to see how we can help you, we would love to hear from you.

What is Sales and Operations Planning and Why Should we Worry About it?

Monday, May 24th, 2010

By:  Donald Clark CFPIM, CSCP

Balancing demand with supply is the basic objective of every single enterprise.  This is easy to state but as it turns out, not so simple in practice.  Some organizations meet this balance well, while others survive through crisis management.

Those that do not bring supply and demand into balance suffer the consequences.  Excess inventory, disrupted production schedules, missed deliveries, etc., become the norm.  All of these conditions create a huge amount of waste and then the finger pointing begins, pitting departments against each other.  Ultimately, it is our customers who suffer and sure enough, they will begin to go away.

On the other hand, a thorough understanding of demand, along with developing a comprehensive supply strategy to meet that demand, will allow organizations to effectively produce and deliver product, with greatly reduced waste.  A vital tool to achieve this goal is the sales and operations planning process.

Sales and operations planning (S&OP) brings together all of the functions of an organization to create a companywide game plan.  The output of this plan forms the basis for all of our short-term decisions and activities.  Beyond the immediate result of creating this agreed upon plan, sales and operations planning helps in breaking down the barriers that exist between our departments and helps the company to move forward as a cohesive team.

Once a month, at least, the top people from each department work together to review actual performance since the last meeting, identify areas of improvement, determine the next period’s projected demand and then make sure the resources exist to meet that demand.

Dynamics AX 2009 provides users with the tools they need to perform the S&OP processes.  It has item forecast capability, resource profiles to see how much work can be done and load profiles to see the effect of operations plans on existing capacity.

If you would like to take a look at it, let us know.  Thanks and have a great day.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Adapting standard ERP applications to the demanding needs of food and beverage producers and distributors is usually quite a chore.  Work-around processes, add-in modules and continued reliance on spreadsheets are the orders of the day.

Microsoft has changed all of that through the introduction of its Food and Beverage Solution for Dynamics AX 2009.  This product delivers the functionality food and beverage producers need to run their businesses effectively.

Here is the product fact sheet – don’t worry because it is not long.

Dynamics AX 2009 Food and Beverage Solution

Take some time to find out more about how the Food and Beverage Solution for Dynamics AX 2009 can help your business improve.  Contact our California office at 888-222-8827  if you would like more information or if you would like to see a no-charge demonstration of this product.

Continuing Education Keeps our Consultants Sharp and Value High

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

An important part of being a good reseller lies in the skill set of its consultants.  The management and consulting teams at Clients First Business Solutions are true believers in the value of education and prove it by continually honing their knowledge and skill sets

We stay current on Microsoft Dynamics and Sage Software product releases and prove it by maintaining current certifications on these products.  Microsoft and Sage alike develop these certification exams that test for not only competency, but also mastery of their software.  When a new product or version is released, we study it, practice it, and then prove our knowledge through certification.  In this way, our clients are assured that we possess the knowledge and skills that help us deliver the latest and greatest products.

Beyond the wide range of software certifications that we pursue and hold, we also embark on educational activities that improve our project management, communication skills, and team building.  We do this because we believe that developing these “soft” skills is as important as our technical skill development.  This approach brings balance to us individually and as a team.

We spend the time and money in education for our people because we know that the better we are as a group, the more value we can add for our clients.  Let us show you how our approach to continuous education translates into a real benefit to you – our clients.