Monat: September 2020

CLOB stands for Character Large Object, CLOB stores large amounts of character data ,up to 4GB in size. CLOB data may be very large, some database management systems do not store the text directly in the table. Instead, the CLOB field serves as an address, which references the location of the data.

New Stuff:- How to increase no. of characters in Line text entry using import template

How to address CLOB in X3 Script file and Screen, tables and reports:

In X3,Clbfile is the keyword used to declare the variables of the type CLOB.

Syntax:

          Local Clbfile Name_of_the_Variable(Length)

          Local Clbfile Name_of_the_Variable(Length)(Dimensions)

Example:

          Local Clbfile YMYCLOB(200)

          Local Clbfile YMYCLOB(200)(1..10)

          Dimension: having index range 1 to 10

In X3 ,ACB is the data types that can be used in all the dictionaries where the CLOB data is defined  in screen fields, table fields, report setups, etc.

ACB data type stores the information more than 250 characters in the database.

When saving file date to the field of table if you find any “Text file length too long error”, then declare the field as ACB to rectify the error.

Create Subprogram based Web service:

STEP 1: Create a script with subprogram for storing input data to the table.

Create a table named YCLOBTAB with following fields

S.No	Name of the Field	Datatype	Length
1	YLEG	A	10
2	YFILENAM	A	50
3	YFILESTR	ACB
4	YSTA	A	50

Click on Create and Validate the table in X3.

Create the Script file name: YSAVEENCRYPT and write the subprogram below:

Subprog  YSAVECLOB(YLEG,YFILENAM,YFILESTR,YSTA) 

Value    Char     YLEG

Value    Char     YFILENAM

Value    Clbfile   YFILESTR

Variable Char     YSTA

##OPENING Table for storing CLOB data FILE

If !clalev([F:YCLB]) Local File YCLOBTAB[F: YCLB] :Endif

####ERROR HANDLING

ONERRGO YCATCH

         [F: YCLB]YLEG           = YLEG

          [F: YCLB]YFILENAM = YFILENAM

          [F: YCLB]YFILESTR  = YFILESTR

          WRITE[F: YCLB]

          YSTA = “SUCCESS”

ONERRGO

#####

Close File[F: YCLB]

End

## ERROR HANDLING CATCH METHOD

$YCATCH

   YSTA = “FAIL”

Resume

STEP 2: Create Subprograms by referring script file and subprogram created on step 1

Navigational Path: Development>Script dictionary>Subprograms.

Enter the Script file name in File field “YSAVEENCRYPT”

Enter the subprogram name in Subprograms field “YSAVECLOB”

Enter the appropriate description in Description field “Save CLOB data”

Then click on Create button, then publication button gets enabled then click on publication button to create web service.

STEP 4:Invoking the Web service by XML input

For Invoking Webservices, Please refer the blog “How to invoke Import/Export Template through Webservices”

Place the below XML in  Input XML/JSON field

<PARAM>

<GRP ID=”GRP1″>

<FLD NAM=”YSLEG”  TYP=”Char”>AUS</FLD>

<FLD NAM=”YSFILENAM”  TYP=”Char”>FIL002</FLD>

<FLD NAM=”YSFILESTR”  TYP=”Clob”>

hQEMA/KwatWd7FffAQf/Zh/GVgozLWaVOVzVrJT9KZvjJ0QKs4p698zA2oCb9LhK

QRprExhgALKZp7qdtnK5LRC9P1VNt0lKduZ23BjxXWlaxY5V+TwxdAcVXEonWhB2

3SbK9wDjgB1w0zItOC+dz5TEYvzXJMlb9mGqVKwVWqRYYaKgjg3AHF4+iu4VSUns

sImvvOvnNDQ/3KPX3NE3F3RS9XeTajU4zozbYkry+mcxGbj9wAsNASMLWqBTb2sN

NGG5EAqkqTBxsIbHv+m5J8GZbpTrJgIkiek+shVrH0nNnIGyz6I7bedxIupFY5xQ

lYAuupvuIuSK4DcOuiXazUvKx81kSFGvKTnsadMCcsnBHaOE6dEW9crEd5itDsWE

yJflofoO2WR7B1vQ5O2Vd8pBLJ7xxtt3SVzQToO4921wRd99BROeMfUDVLXwqR5/

AGUbyw+Y383AFSfdjYvxK2XSW3Fit6JVNZ1SqXVVuMzpyA9+nchkffzL4WiI+p7m

I7VnuAjrltUqTcC+7cd1viTVcH6GD9liaElQnbwVJt12FYOe0JYio9FWOdFPBeIJ

Vhm0RjPm/fDffbGhPm/mzkbhJLskRFXek1e//wt9SEmSgJ6U/erYerfxwOYPDE2n

y3qrP7Kz5ROQn15cU8Fh8zoTBJT53pvAH6GFvpzoQoPyv35Oy1YWulHTRkWoCRoG

kJVbvL2pUftyxZBWc1tufQKZ9VO7s+WqiS1BJWvwj2U1JdbLgbt+1mQXU+T86KHg

xfKTjMBnjZFLKXJxvyn+efx6zfQ5EDiaw7SmsLoQe4stA9RHQcYRuN0UAGR4qxVS

Lm6QAPQImLnz+17Uqt449w5s9OEOlRAva+6aN9tJmp+roeQOT813Mn6BPz51KX65

/gbPUDRgPp30NQsEDbqusrqLVCCEikYGwLteNNShbz2+IR1mDtsEsDsRFJPNOaaL

t05eLvB4DPjCZWL27lKkOXMeXuj3kzYdXDVyl0YHyw===Z1hp

</FLD>

<FLD NAM=”YSTA”  TYP=”Char”></FLD>

</GRP>

</PARAM>

The field YSFILESTR contains more than 255 characters.

STEP 5: Response after invoking Web services

<RESULT>

<GRP ID=”GRP1″>

<FLD NAME=”YSLEG” TYPE=”Char”>AUS</FLD>

<FLD NAME=”YSFILENAM” TYPE=”Char”>FIL002</FLD>

<FLD NAME=”YSFILESTR” TYPE=”Clob”>hQEMA/KwatWd7FffAQf/Zh/GVgozLWaVOVzVrJT9KZvjJ0QKs4p698zA2oCb9LhK QRprExhgALKZp7qdtnK5LRC9P1VNt0lKduZ23BjxXWlaxY5V+TwxdAcVXEonWhB2 3SbK9wDjgB1w0zItOC+dz5TEYvzXJMlb9mGqVKwVWqRYYaKgjg3AHF4+iu4VSUns sImvvOvnNDQ/3KPX3NE3F3RS9XeTajU4zozbYkry+mcxGbj9wAsNASMLWqBTb2sN NGG5EAqkqTBxsIbHv+m5J8GZbpTrJgIkiek+shVrH0nNnIGyz6I7bedxIupFY5xQ lYAuupvuIuSK4DcOuiXazUvKx81kSFGvKTnsadMCcsnBHaOE6dEW9crEd5itDsWE yJflofoO2WR7B1vQ5O2Vd8pBLJ7xxtt3SVzQToO4921wRd99BROeMfUDVLXwqR5/ AGUbyw+Y383AFSfdjYvxK2XSW3Fit6JVNZ1SqXVVuMzpyA9+nchkffzL4WiI+p7m I7VnuAjrltUqTcC+7cd1viTVcH6GD9liaElQnbwVJt12FYOe0JYio9FWOdFPBeIJ Vhm0RjPm/fDffbGhPm/mzkbhJLskRFXek1e//wt9SEmSgJ6U/erYerfxwOYPDE2n y3qrP7Kz5ROQn15cU8Fh8zoTBJT53pvAH6GFvpzoQoPyv35Oy1YWulHTRkWoCRoG kJVbvL2pUftyxZBWc1tufQKZ9VO7s+WqiS1BJWvwj2U1JdbLgbt+1mQXU+T86KHg xfKTjMBnjZFLKXJxvyn+efx6zfQ5EDiaw7SmsLoQe4stA9RHQcYRuN0UAGR4qxVS Lm6QAPQImLnz+17Uqt449w5s9OEOlRAva+6aN9tJmp+roeQOT813Mn6BPz51KX65 /gbPUDRgPp30NQsEDbqusrqLVCCEikYGwLteNNShbz2+IR1mDtsEsDsRFJPNOaaL t05eLvB4DPjCZWL27lKkOXMeXuj3kzYdXDVyl0YHyw== =Z1hp</FLD>

<FLD NAME=”YSTA” TYPE=”Char”>SUCCESS</FLD>

</GRP>

</RESULT>

This blog helps us to understand what is CLOB, what is the keyword used in script and database in X3 and how to store the CLOB data to the table using subprogram based web service.

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

Sometimes, it happens we need to insert description for particular line in any transaction using import template and the standard just allows limited text in line text entry like for around 194 characters. We can increase this number of characters by doing few changes in import/export template of that particular transaction.

Consider example for a sales invoice transaction and template as shownbelow :

Navigation to All -> Setup -> Usage -> Import/Export templates

Select “SIH” as template code

Consider the sample text for line text entry

Sample text :The youth who got that must have felt as if he were perusing a railroad time-table. Good mental exercise Never, never use that argument. To cause your reader or correspondent unnecessary mental labor is the greatest of all blunders in business English. The more patience he spends in getting at your thought, the less he will have for your proposition. Let us turn that alleged sentence into a paragraph. There are several versions that might be made. Here is one.I have your inquiry of June ninth. You ask first about the stenographer and type-writer examinations next spring. [Here let him answer that inquiry. You inquire also as to local appointments in connection with the conducting of Civil Service examinations. The route examinations are conducted by the various district secretaries. The others are held at the different places of examination by post-office employees

If we import from standard template we will be able to see below number of characters in Line text entry as shown in screenshot below

Out of 865 characters the file got imported with only 194 characters in length.

How to increase number of characters  :

Navigate to All -> Setup -> Usage -> import/export template

Select the template, here “SIH” is the template code as shown in below screenshots.

Go to fields section, you will be able to see Line text fields as shown below

Add new fields for Line text in template as shown below :

Now consider the same sample text,

“The youth who got that must have felt as if he were perusing a railroad time-table. Good mental exercise Never, never use that argument. To cause your reader or correspondent unnecessary mental labor is the greatest of all blunders in business English. The more patience he spends in getting at your thought, the less he will have for your proposition. Let us turn that alleged sentence into a paragraph. There are several versions that might be made. Here is one.I have your inquiry of June ninth. You ask first about the stenographer and type-writer examinations next spring. [Here let him answer that inquiry. You inquire also as to local appointments in connection with the conducting of Civil Service examinations. The route examinations are conducted by the various district secretaries. The others are held at the different places of examination by post-office employees”

Add it in the import file you are using as shown below.

Open Line text entry as shown below :

Imported text in line text entry :

This blog helps us to increase number of characters in line text entry in any transaction. It will work for any transaction template which consists of Line text entry field. We can increase more number of characters by adding more fields as per requirement.

About Us

Greytrix – a globally recognized and one of the oldest Sage Development Partner is a one-stop solution provider for Sage ERP and Sage CRM organizational needs. Being acknowledged and rewarded for multi-man years of experience, we bring complete end-to-end assistance for your technical consultations, product customizations, data migration, system integrations, third-party add-on development and implementation competence.

Greytrix caters to a wide range of Sage X3, a Sage Business Cloud Solution, offerings. Our unique GUMU integrations include Sage X3 for Sage CRM, Salesforce.com, Dynamics 365 CRM and Magento eCommerce along with Implementation and Technical Support worldwide for Sage X3. Currently we are Sage X3 Implementation Partner in East Africa, Middle East, Australia, Asia, US, UK. We also offer best-in-class Sage X3 customization and development services, integrated applications such as POS | WMS | Payment Gateway | Shipping System | Business Intelligence | eCommerce and have developed add-ons such as Catch – Weight  and Letter of Credit and India Legislation for Sage X3 to Sage business partners, end users and Sage PSG worldwide.

Greytrix is a recognized Sage champion ISV Partner for GUMU Sage X3 – Sage CRM integration also listed on Sage Marketplace; GUMU integration for Sage X3 – Salesforce is a 5-star rated app listed on Salesforce AppExchange and GUMU integration for Dynamics 365 CRM – Sage ERP listed on Microsoft AppSource.

For more information on Sage X3 Integration and Services, please contact us at x3@greytrix.com, We will like to hear from you.

Bottom Line: A Manufacturing Execution System can help manufacturers improve production accuracy and gain greater control and visibility across shop floors, leading to improving speed and scale of manufacturing operations.  

A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) help manufacturers overcome production challenges by giving them greater control and visibility across the core areas of their operations. Five of the most important areas where MES is helping manufacturers overcome production challenges include the following:  

• Enables manufacturers across a diverse base of industries to create and maintain accurate Bill of Materials (BOM) supporting multiple manufacturing type definitions.

• Automates and scales Planning and Scheduling, capacity and load analysis on equipment and labor, Finite Scheduling, and Demand Planning in response to the changing requirements of a manufacturing operation.

• Provides a Shop Floor Control System that’s integrated to the production planning system and Real-Time Production Monitoring to know the exact status of every production job on the shop floor.

• Helps manufacturers achieve paperless production reporting based on real-time data reporting and monitoring, shop data support, production reporting and Quality Management.

• Overcoming the many challenges of keeping gauge calibration and integration up to date and in compliance, achieve real-time Statistical Process Control (SPC), Document Control, and achieve consistent Inspection Setup across all shop floors are additional challenges MES helps manufacturers overcome.

How Manufacturing Execution Systems Help Manufacturers Overcome Challenges To Gain Greater Control, Visibility, And Profit

When an MES is integrated to accounting, finance and all other manufacturing modules of the system, manufacturers know immediately how their decisions on the shop floor impact revenue and profits. Discrete, batch and process manufacturers’ greatest challenge is knowing how the trade-offs they’re making regarding suppliers, production scheduling, pricing, quality and compliance impact financial performance. An MES provides the shop-floor and production data and when combined with accounting and financial data, the following benefits are often achieved:

• Eliminating costly bottlenecks across shop floors when it comes to factoring in set-up and tear-down times for every machine across all shop floors.

• Capture, analyze and take action on real-time insights from SPC data to troubleshoot machine utilization rates and improve production effieincy.

• Optimize production scheduling, resource allocation and maintenance regardless of plant location.

• Improve the visbility across every phase of production, starting from raw materials through customer delivery.

• Gain the data needed to streamline internal, regulatory and customer audits completed as part of an integrated Quality module.  

How MES Delivers Value To Manufacturers

Overcoming production challenges start when a manufacturers can track how individual orders are progressing through production, seeing how variations in order quantity and complexity impact production costs and modifying the relative resource loads by each production cell are all possible when Master Production Schedules and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are integrated. By integrating these systems during system implementation, production teams will have the latest build plans, work instructions, and the latest production scheduling information down to the cell level in time to staff them with the best possible teams. Today the best-in-class MES systems have these two workflows integrated and based on a common database, further making data integration and reporting more streamlined and accurate

Conclusion

MES delivers the most value by providing insights into how shop floor operations influence financial results. Having accounting and financial modules using the same database as an MES provides real-time visibility and control not otherwise possible. Knowing how production decisions impact profits are how MES helps manufacturers take on the greatest challenge they have – which is finding new ways to grow more profits from existing and new products.

The post Overcoming Production Challenges With a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) appeared first on IQMS Manufacturing Blog.

Running a profitable bakery products manufacturing industry is no easy feat!

In today’s times, bakery food items manufactures face unique and challenging operational pressures. When it comes to cookies, cakes, pastries, breads, biscuits and all the other delicious delights – consumers expect consistency in taste and quality. These expectations are made not only from big supermarket stores, but equally from small street bakeries as well.

From maintaining right moisture, tenderness, softness, spongy texture, flaky crumbs, beautiful decoration, and more, those who are not in the manufacturing of baked food items have a little or no idea on how complex its production line is.

Moreover, volatile commodity and freight costs add complication of managing gross margins at the best of times.

Therefore, to strike a perfect balance between consistency in quality products and profitable operations, an ERP for bakery industry has proved to be a recipe for success. They are designed and developed to automate end-to-end supply chain operations as well as empower manufactures to gain stronger control on business, and make quick profits.

Choose an ERP for your Bakery that offers the following five must-have features (superpowers)

Accurate Recipe Management

Needless to say, how important it is to follow accurate recipe while manufacturing bakery food items. Right recipe ensures right consistency, taste, and nutrition in the food items.

Developers of ERP for bakery industry know this! Thus, the ERP is designed to not only record, maintain, secure, and retrieve recipes, but also to capture the desired nutritional and physical property values while staying in line with USDA and Esha, Genesis and such.

Assured Quality Control

Manufacturers at baking industry need to assure safe and quality food items to win customers’ trust and to stay safe from all kinds of liability claims. With bakery ERP software, it is possible. Built-in quality control module of the software enables manufacturers to define and apply quality tests at different stages of supply chain, record results, and allow the processes to proceed to the next stage only on passing the respective quality test(s). It also helps manufacturers with generation of Certificates of Analysis (CoA).

Guaranteed Compliance Management

Complying with FDA and other frequently changing global compliances is a MUST for bakery manufacturers. Fortunately, a bakery ERP software assists in this as well. Offering bi-directional traceability and quick recall, the software helps manufacturers gain stronger control to track and trace material movement from raw ingredients to finished goods and stay prepared to meet food safety and compliance regulations. Moreover, offering full support to physical and nutritional property analysis, bakery ERP software takes care of product attributes and allergens to support different certification like: GMO, Kosher, organic, gluten-free, Halal, SQF, and more.

Effortless Inventory Management

Planning production based on process-cell capacity as well as existing and changing consumer demand is usual for bakery manufacturers. Also, having a heap of perishable inventory is another challenge for them. Thanks to Bakery manufacturing ERP software that supports the necessity of lean inventory and careful production planning. Along with handling unit-of-measurement conversions and calculating lot strength, an ideal Bakery manufacturing ERP software also supports inventory tracking, shop floor scheduling, and MPS/MRP functions to optimize purchasing of raw materials to avoid long-lead inventory shortages as well as excess inventory wastage.

Accurate Cost Analysis

Reducing cost and eliminating waste is of prime importance for bakery manufacturers. And an ERP for bakery industry supports this. Taking out guesswork, it helps manufacturers to confidently track and analyze true material, labor, and other costs incurred in each production batch. It tracks past-due payments (if any) along with the complete historical record of customers, which in turn proves advantageous in helping manufacturers to discover cross-sell and up sell opportunities.

Invest in BatchMaster ERP for Bakery to refine your manufacturing superpowers immediately

BatchMaster ERP for bakery industry is designed with proper understanding of the dynamic challenges of the baking industry. With no doubts, it helps manufacturers deliver consistent quality products at affordable prices while assuring strong bottom-line.

With a standalone platform, the software empowers manufacturers to streamline sales, purchase, finance, R&D, quality control, production, recipe management, inventory, and all other critical business operations. It also helps them meet the stringent regulatory compliances with keen bi-directional traceability, numerous reports of mock recalls clubbed with complete audit trails, and generation of nutritional labels in required formats. Regardless of the size of baking business and its number of production units, BatchMaster ERP for bakery industry confidently complies with FDA and FSMA requirements.

Seeing is believing! Therefore, here is a quick glance at the success story of one of the BatchMaster ERP’s satisfied customer that states the benefits of the solution.

It’s now or never! Meet the demands of quality control, recipe management, inventory optimization and conforming to safety and regulatory requirements with BatchMaster ERP for Bakery today! Request a demo now and help your baking business rise to the occasion.

COVID-19 has engulfed the entire world, disrupting millions of lives and livelihoods in the process. And while most people believe its threat will subside only when the vaccine comes out, many others believe even the vaccine won’t change things much, with the Coronavirus likely to stay with us for a long time to come.

The impact of Coronavirus has been both global and unpredictable, and just like others, the businesses too have taken a beating at the pandemic’s hands, so much so that

For the past six months or so, the story of the manufacturing sector has been all about the industrial manufacturers being impacted by COVID-19, and how they are striving to keep their businesses afloat amid the global pandemic.

Food manufacturers too are the victims

In fact, among the many different sectors of manufacturing that have witnessed a downward spiral, the food & beverage industry seems to have taken the worst hit. And from the looks of it, there won’t be any respite in near future, as the

At present, the food & beverage manufacturing companies are facing significantly reduced consumption as well as supply chain issues. The supply of raw materials and ingredients to the manufacturing sites has been affected big time, which has hampered production. Also, manpower availability in the time of social distancing has been another major headache.

Long story short, the manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to do more with less or minimal resources on the plant floor to minimize possible exposure to the virus. Besides, they are in need of a better way to maintain visibility into the process.

And, they have looked clueless so far

With the Coronavirus threat still looming over, the food manufacturers will need to prepare themselves for its short-term as well as long-term impact. They will have to work out a strategy for immediate sustenance, as well as revival in the post-COVID world.

At the moment, most of them look clueless, and rightly so, for no business has had to deal with so much uncertainty at one time. Their response to the pandemic has been varied so far. While some have decreased production and furloughed workers, others have increased, shifted, or relocated production to meet demand. Quite a few have innovated to manufacture new products.

But, on the whole, the food & beverage manufacturers have largely looked helpless, and in dire need of a tool, technology, or approach that can prove to be the game-changer amid such times. All of this points to the potential of implementing a tool that can automate processes, and facilitate doing more with less for the food manufacturers.

The technology of the future

As mentioned above in brief, the virus will have both short- and long-term ramifications for manufacturers. While the immediate focus will be on securing supplies, in the longer term, manufacturers will need to assess and understand their risk exposure, including the operations of their supplier’s suppliers.

There will be new regulatory guidelines in place, and with consumers increasingly becoming conscious about the safety and quality of food products they consume in the existing and post-COVID world, the food manufacturers will need to ensure they have quality control (QC), traceability, inventory management, and compliance tools in place.

There’s also going to be a need for introducing new digital technologies as well as approaches to support the needs of remote and on-site workers, increase manufacturing and product flexibility, apart from meeting the supply chain challenges, and analyzing risks.

ERP- the gamechanger

To deal with the enormous impacts of the Coronavirus on different aspects of their business, the most logical tool the food manufacturers are going to turn to is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

To get a better perspective on how a food ERP software can help food manufacturing businesses deal with the challenges created by COVID-19, in a post-COVID world, let’s take a look at the points mentioned below:

Supply chain: COVID-19, the subsequent panic buying, and the supply chain delays quickly exhausted the food supply chain, exposing a major vulnerability in manufacturing operations of food manufacturers across the globe. This created a need for the food manufacturers to have multiple sources of procurement, and make their supply chain more flexible, agile, and importantly, resilient.

An ERP software can help with it, by synchronizing the supply chain with the manufacturing, distribution, and procurement processes. By giving a basis for more intuitive communications, better lead times, prior warnings for quantity adjustments, and more reliable predictive modeling, it helps create a resilient, responsive, and flexible supply chain, so as to avert any future supply chain crisis.

Inventory: Given the limited shelf life of food products, inventory management is a crucial business area for food manufacturers. The perishable factor means that the F&B inventory, if not stored hygienically, is highly susceptible to foodborne pathogens and more.

And these food borne bacteria can have a disastrous impact on the company’s reputation. The food manufacturers thus need a food manufacturing software with enhanced inventory management functionality, which allows shelf-life determination and expiration management, moving forward.

Quality control: COVID-19 has put greater emphasis on the need to maintain quality, safety, and hygiene of food products, on the manufacturer’s part. The QC module of a food ERP solution ensures putting in place best practices for maintaining the quality of any material that comes in, and the product that leaves the four walls of the manufacturing unit, through quality checks at all stages.

Traceability: In the post-COVID world, more and more consumers would want to know every minute detail about the journey of the product they consume from farm to fork- i.e. how it was processed, where it came from, how it was grown, what nutritional value does it hold, and in what proportions, etc., allowing ‘ingredient labeling’ to form a major part of the packaging process.

Only a food manufacturing software with traceability functionality can help manufacturers accurately trace the data throughout the entire flow of production, drill down into records and batch sequences for auditing and transaction history, and make timely recalls, thus earning them greater trust and confidence from the stakeholders like the retailers, consumers, auditors, regulators, and inspectors.

Regulatory compliance: COVID-19 has prompted organizations such as the FDA, EPA, OSHA, FTC, and other government bodies, to further tighten norms pertaining to the launch of healthy products, regulating food labels, maintaining a clean, hygienic environment, etc. Measures have been taken worldwide to deny entry of unsafe products, as well as to review firms’ previous compliance history.

In such a scenario, investing in a food manufacturing software with regulatory compliance module is food manufacturers’ best bet, so as to meet all the stringent local, national, and global regulatory compliance requirements.

Digital transformation initiatives: The pandemic has given birth to the need to keep the business running remotely, or with a limited workforce. In such times, the value of investing in digital transformation initiatives has been strongly felt. Investing in technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), and their integration with food ERP system, offers manufacturers a controlled way to uphold operational efficiency.

These technologies can not only monitor equipment and manufacturing parameters, but also provide a solid foundation for improved predictive maintenance. They can manage the larger data sets that can assist in forecasting inventory needs, refining business processes, and managing “unpredictable” anomalies like COVID-19.

Predictive analytics can also help food manufacturers with the insight needed to keep them agile, and help manage risks better. Besides, these technologies also facilitate effective handling of cash flow, which, during a crisis, is very important. Other benefits include reduced unplanned downtime, capital expenditure, and asset maintenance costs, besides improved safety and workforce effectiveness.

Conclusion

Points mentioned above make it amply clear that a good food ERP software is the most effective tool that can help food manufacturers deal with the challenges posed by COVID-19; today, and in the post-COVID era. BatchMaster ERP for Food is one such ERP. To know more about how it can help you relieve, revive, and rebuild your food manufacturing business for the future, get in touch to arrange a free demo.

The first half of the year has brought many changes to how businesses operate. The manufacturing industry in particular has had to refine health and safety standards, develop or enable emergency preparedness plans, and temporarily shift operations to the pandemic-related response. As organizations look to implement additional changes and prepare for what’s ahead, many are looking at modernization, embracing Industry 4.0, and working advanced technologies into the business strategy.

What is Industry 4.0 and how did we get
here?

Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is driven by the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). Industry 4.0 defines the ways today’s manufacturers have adopted technology as a core component of their operational strategies. It goes beyond technology that automates manufacturing processes to increase efficiency, shattering old business models, and changing the way companies operate.

Manufacturers running on disconnected,
legacy systems have likely reached the limits of productivity and growth. As
the market explores new business models, companies with dated infrastructures
may find they are not equipped to take full advantage of new business models, and
as a result, have limited competitive advantage.

Opportunities for Transformation

Industry 4.0 brings organizations an
opportunity to explore new business models and modernize processes for supply
chain and product innovation. Companies running on legacy systems and outdated
business models are likely lacking visibility, without real-time data, leaving
the business more prone to errors and unable to make business decisions quickly
and accurately.

Along with process improvement, upgrading your technology stack allows manufacturing organizations to optimize how people and technology interact. This is increasingly important as younger, tech-savvy generations move into the workforce. These optimizations include improved talent acquisition processes, offering more specialized training, increased collaboration tools, mobile capabilities, and improved retention measures.

Equally important, companies taking advantage of Industry 4.0 technology are optimizing the customer experience. Historically, manufacturing has been known for a “take-it-or-leave-it” business model, but advances in technology allow customers to be part of the design process through the custom ordering and self-service portals, powered by real-time data.

Enabling Change Management

As manufacturing organizations looking to
implement digital transformation strategies to take advantage of Industry 4.0
technology, it is equally important to focus on the people side of change for transformation
success. Level set from the outset that organizations don’t actually change;
they change one person at a time.

There is always a dip in performance during
change. The more disruptive the change, the more dramatic the drop. When an
organization introduces new technology to automate processes, leadership is focused
on the business strategy, and improving efficiency and effectiveness. The
individuals impacted are typically focused on a number of outcomes including fear
of being replaced by technology, an inability to be able to perform the duties
required, or being forced to transition to new work they don’t know how to do.
Subsequently, their behavior becomes focused on self-preservation, which is
often viewed as anger, irrationality, or refusal to make the change.

Enter Organizational Change Management
(OCM). OCM focuses on managing the people side of change as diligently as the
solution design, helping impacted groups of employees to be ready, willing, and
able to make the shift and adopt the new way of working. A deliberate approach
to managing change is often in everyone’s best interest and ensures alignment
with strategic goals. Organizations looking to implement Industry 4.0
technology should look to make change management a non-negotiable in their
digital strategy.

Industry 4.0 is changing manufacturing. As
manufacturers seek to build a sustainable factory of the future, there are many
exciting opportunities to enhance operations and transform. You want a partner
that can help you take advantage of advanced technologies and bring your
strategies to life.

The post Change Management, Digital Transformation, and Industry 4.0 appeared first on ERP News.

Why did we decide to
re-launch our SAP Managed Service?

What does it include
and how does the re-launched Managed Service bring value to our customers?

Read more about our relaunched SAP Managed Service in this blog post by Robert MacDonald, Innovation & Technology Manager at Absoft, or download our free e-book for a more detailed look at what is included.

Before we dive into the relaunched service, let me briefly walk you through the “Then vs. Now”.  Absoft has run an SAP Support Centre since 1994. During those days conventional remote dial-up and the fledgling internet allowed remote access to SAP systems. Absoft was among the first to offer SAP services paid for by the hour rather than the day with banks of hours. From 2012 we began to replace the banks of hours with fixed price managed services. This moved the incentive for efficient service into our court.

I joined Absoft in 2010. I was surprised to see the ‘daily checks’ of SAP systems taking place manually each day. Absoft was seeking to automate this process, so my first project was building automated monitoring for SAP. In the decade that has followed, we have based our services around real-time insight into our customer’s SAP landscapes.

I am thrilled to be working on Absoft’s new SAP Managed Service launch.
Absoft’s re-launched service is all about upping the game. It builds on
everything we’ve learned and significantly increases the value an SAP support
service offers customers.

Absoft’s SAP Managed
Service – Ethos & Components

Our new SAP Managed Service has a unique ethos – it is dedicated to adding value to our customer’s business. How do we do that? We reduce costs for the customer by taking over support while simultaneously increasing the quality of our service through automation and our knowledge repository. The major features of our Managed Service are Automation, Monitoring, Customer Experience, and Cloud Services.

Automation &
Monitoring

Absoft’s new SAP Managed Service includes Business Process Monitoring. From the point of service transition, we understand what is most important to the business and we then focus our automated service around it.

Our support service logs every error automatically. You will know the
implications of every error and the priority of every error across all of your
systems. A printer fails and the SAP support team immediately knows which
process will be impacted. We review every closed incident for monitoring
opportunities. Most importantly, the service itself becomes more aware of what
is important.

Combining automation with monitoring brings self-healing. And self-healing occurs when intelligent operations detect a problem, respond and resolve it, without human involvement. Consequently, this saves time, resolves the problem quickly, and minimizes impact on the business.

With full SAP and operating system automation toolsets including dedicated
SAP automation, infrastructure as code,
and Robotic
Process Automation capabilities, more can be automated than
ever before.

Customer Experience

We all know the sinking feeling of dealing with a service desk. It is far
better if the person you get through to knows what is happening. Monitoring,
for example, offers a quick response thanks to automation handling everything
repetitive.

Self-Service requests are the next stage, for example, logging a request
triggers automated processes immediately. Our new SAP Managed Service will
always offer human contact. However, if an issue needs to be solved at 10 PM –
an instant self-service request is very appealing, isn’t it?

Cloud Services

A fundamental part of our new SAP Managed Service is Cloud Services for SAP.

We have learned a lot from offering SAP in the cloud for over a decade, SAP monitoring as-a-service, and dozens of successful SAP migrations into Microsoft Azure. Our new managed service lives in the hybrid cloud; a third of our customers are fully in the cloud, a third – fully on-premises, and the rest somewhere between.

As Azure becomes more and more common, consequently we are seeing growth in companies running Azure infrastructure themselves or with a third-party running Azure across IT, whilst Absoft provides support for the SAP software. We notify the right person immediately for any fault we detect, including third parties and internal teams with customer agreement.

Pro-activity

Things are changing fast and we are making an unprecedented level of investment in our managed service.  More automation by standard, more self-healing, and more possibilities unlocked with every passing month.

Our continuous improvements make SAP simpler, faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective without sacrificing on quality. And our SAP Managed Service is here to help you achieve this. For a more detailed look at our new SAP Managed Service, you can download our e-book here.

The post SAP Managed Service: Upping the Game appeared first on ERP News.

As we continue to experience
significant global shifts in demand six months after initial responses to COVID-19,
it’s become clear that these unpredictable patterns will not stop or slow any
time soon. Companies needing to invest in enterprise technology upgrades now
face the tough reality that they will need to make those investments despite a
global economy that remains uncertain at best.

Choosing an ERP system doesn’t come with the luxury of trial and error, and given the significant costs and operational pivots during a go-live process, it’s critical to get it right the first time. That pressure can sometimes lead selection committees to take what they perceive as the lower-risk path of choosing a generic ERP solution from a well-known global player, rather than an industry-specific ERP provider that may actually offer a more proven, robust solution for the company.

Large, global providers tend to be first-to-market with new
technologies, but those advances are not typically designed to speak to the
needs of a specific industry. That lack of focus can create the need for
significant levels of customization for companies in specialized sectors like food
production, where there is a need to track products by batch and lot for
recalls; or like chemical manufacturing, where regulations demand enhanced reporting and audit management
processes.

Every industry has
operational requirements that must be managed systemically. So if the business
need should drive the software choice and not the other way around, why would
specialized manufacturers even consider a solution that is not built to serve
their industry?

It comes down to a
concern over the scale. Some industry-specific solutions were developed by
former executives in said industry, so the functionality seems spot-on. But
such companies may not have the capital to invest in ongoing innovation. In
addition, they may not have the resources to adapt and grow with your business
as it expands, as new products are added, or as new regulations are introduced.
The average lifecycle of an ERP is almost 10 years, so it is vital to have a partner
that can scale.

Perhaps, as a result, we see some selection committees favor scale over-specialization, but that, in turn, may force the company to invest in significant customizations that can come with unforeseen costs:

• Time and price increases linked to customization. Generic ERPs can work well for very large companies with
  deep pockets to fund ongoing customization. However, adapting code to support specific
  industry functionality will likely hike costs significantly and could push your
  “go-live” date out by months. Most mid-market manufacturers see better value in
  software whose base functionality is designed specifically for their industry,
  such as recipe formula management for process industries.
• Tricky integration of bolt-ons or ancillary functionality. System modifications not only cost more, but they also add
  complexity and can be hard to “bring along for the ride” when you upgrade the
  system down the road. Essentially, you’re programming the system to do things
  it wasn’t originally meant to do, requiring an ongoing investment budget to
  keep the system current.
• Poor knowledge of your
  industry. You’ll invest lots of your valuable time teaching
  developers your business. With an industry-specific ERP solution, you’ll skip
  that step and become part of a peer group with similar challenges, where
  enhancements added for one member of the group become part of the software’s
  feature set, available to all.

Specialization that can Scale—the Best of Both Worlds

Luckily, it’s not necessary to choose between global scale and industry focus when selecting an ERP system. Today, the most robust industry-specific solutions come from well-capitalized companies like Aptean that combine the precise features you need with the resources to continually enhance those features. Aptean offers a family of industry-specific ERP solutions for the mid-market that gives manufacturers and distributors a balanced combination of vertical focus and the muscle to invest in ongoing innovation—specialized solutions that can scale.

If you’re choosing a new
ERP solution, start with an uncompromising approach. Work with each of your
business’s functional teams to define how the perfect system would support
existing processes, then identify industry-specific ERP solutions that deliver
most or all of these requirements out-of-the-box. After that, ask yourself
these questions to vet the remaining providers carefully, making sure your
solution is future-proof:

• Do they have the resources to continually invest in innovation? 
• Do they have a clear roadmap for the software and future versions? 
• Do they have the staying power to support your needs well into the future?
• Do they offer all the advantages of a cloud-based system or a clear path to get there?

You can have the best of
both worlds—an ERP that is purpose-built with specificity for your industry,
developed and backed by a company with the resources to help
you navigate and scale the challenges of today and tomorrow. 

Your company is not generic. Your ERP system shouldn’t be,
either.

The post Scale vs. Specificity—No Trade-offs Required appeared first on ERP News.

There are a lot of
ERP solutions available in the market, but not all of them can be the right
choice for you. You have to think diligently and chalk out a list of problem
areas specific to your domain and industry before making the final purchase
decision.

Traditionally, ERP solutions were built, keeping in
mind the needs and requirements of a wide range of industries. During the
implementation process, the IT team would conduct a rigorous study of the
client’s specific challenges and then decide the features of the ERP system.

Generic ERPs were
costly to purchase, difficult to implement, and required a whole team of IT
specialists to maintain and update. It is why most companies took a
considerable amount of time before going forward with the final implementation.

As time progressed,
technology evolved. Today, ERP software provides industry-specific solutions,
thereby saving time and money in the long run. The plus point of industry-specific
ERP software is that businesses no longer require IT specialists to configure
it as per the industry’s needs. Also, it takes care of all business processes
with minimal or no customization required.

Research also
indicates the same. A recent survey of over 200 business executives reveals
that they require ERP software specifically built to deliver solutions
particular to their industry.

With improvements
in cloud technology and their easy integration with ERP systems,
industry-specific ERP software is gaining momentum. In 2018 alone, cloud-based
ERP systems had a 20.7% enterprise application growth rate. Leading research
institute Forrester has estimated that by 2020, the cloud subscriptions for
business applications will account for $170 billion in revenue.

Let’s see some benefits of the industry-specific ERP software and why companies invest significant time and money.

1. Minimal implementation cost

Generic ERP
solutions entail huge costs. Apart from the significant license fee, companies
have to pay for features that they may never use. Consider a company that
specializes in providing excellent customer service on behalf of its clients.
Seeing an increase in work, it decides to implement a generic ERP solution.
What benefit will it gain from features specifically meant to help sales,
marketing, and supply chain departments? On the contrary, it can save a massive
amount of time and implementation cost with an industry-specific ERP solution
solely built to assist support agents.

2. Reduced implementation time

An industry-specific ERP software will already have many built-in business-critical functions that will significantly reduce the implementation time. It also allows for essential integrations to other necessary software such as Finance and Account Management, Supply Chain Management, Retail Management, Customer Service, Business Intelligence, and Field Service Management. Such instant API connections will further pull down the implementation cost.

3. Cheaper maintenance costs

The best thing
about an industry-specific ERP solution is that you can readily take help from
domain experts in your field. They will identify problems, diagnose
bottlenecks, and eliminate errors as soon as they encounter them. This strategy
will help you get quick solutions and will significantly lower your maintenance
costs.

Why is an industry-specific ERP solution better than
a generic one?

There is no doubt
that generic ERP solutions provide a wide array of functionalities that can
simultaneously support multiple operations. But not many companies need all
those functionalities. They require help in a few areas and would prefer to pay
only for them. Customizing generic ERP solutions is a costly affair, and quite
often, it doesn’t attune to the company’s goals and objectives. In contrast, an
industry-specific ERP software provides an all-encompassing solution that
requires low cost and less time to implement.

Another vital
feature of industry-specific ERP software is that it is truly customer-centric.
It is designed keeping in mind the end user’s demands and needs. All the
elements — including monitoring, functional control, process orientation,
action on customer feedback, customer segmentation, forecasting sales trends to
name a few — are designed to provide better control and resolve the industry’s
specific challenges.

Further, it helps
companies to gain visibility in their processes and determine the problem
areas. This activity prevents manufacturing quality from falling and puts an
end to delivery delays.

For the business to
make profits and outperform its competitors, it has to ascertain customers’
needs and fulfill their desire. It’s also critical to fix competitive product
prices and maintain adequate stocks and supplies of essential goods. An
industry-specific ERP software will help you locate the exact pain-areas and
provide to-the-point solutions.

For instance, of
the many leading ERP solutions, Sage X3 ERP software is designed specifically
for the Pharmaceutical industry. It is designed to provide pin-point solutions
for supply chain management inefficiencies, strict regulatory compliances, and
rigorous quality assurances faced by Pharma companies to operate efficiently.
It streamlines daily tasks, allows data sharing across the organization,
maintains a consistent chart of accounts, and enables all business stakeholders
to work as a cohesive unit.

Takeaway

As a leading
manufacturer, you should lay out a detailed plan before making the final
purchase. The three points that top the list should be — smooth implementation,
a minimal investment of time and money, and easy maintenance.

If you are planning
to invest in an ERP solution, keep your mind open. A generic ERP software is
not explicitly bad, but it may fall short of providing industry-specific
solutions. On the contrary, it can be customized to offer a wide range of
functions that cater to multiple industries’ needs.

The final decision
rests upon your shoulders.

Industry-specific
ERP software is gaining wide recognition because of its ability to provide
pinpoint solutions. It is more affordable, is easier to maintain and upgrade,
and requires relatively less implementation time. Thus, it can give you the
necessary impetus to grow quickly in less time.

The post Why is Important for Businesses to Opt for Industry-Specific ERP Software? appeared first on ERP News.

Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) announced today that it was chosen to become TikTok’s secure cloud technology provider. This technical decision by TikTok was heavily influenced by Zoom’s recent success in moving a large portion of its video conferencing capacity to the Oracle Public Cloud.

“TikTok picked Oracle’s new Generation 2 Cloud infrastructure because it’s much faster, more reliable, and more secure than the first generation technology currently offered by all the other major cloud providers,” said Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison. “In the 2020 Industry CloudPath survey that IDC recently released where it surveyed 935 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) customers on their satisfaction with the top IaaS vendors including Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, and Google Cloud… Oracle IaaS received the highest satisfaction score.”

“As a part of this agreement, TikTok will run on the Oracle Cloud and Oracle will become a minority investor in TikTok Global,” said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. “Oracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok’s American users, and users throughout the world. This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders.”

Based on decades of experience securing the world’s most sensitive data, the Oracle Generation 2 cloud was built from the ground up to fully isolate running applications and autonomously respond to security threats.  Oracle will combine its secure cloud technology with continuous code reviews, monitoring, and auditing to provide unprecedented assurance that U.S. TikTok user data is private and secure.

The post Oracle Chosen as TikTok’s Secure Cloud Provider appeared first on ERP News.