By Brian Clark on 6/5/2008 4:44 PM

While this is a Distribution blog, I encountered an interesting accounting sitiation this week.  A client has 4 maquila sites in Mexico, all production plants, that ship their finished product to a warehouse in Texas.  All sales orders are then shipped out of the warehouse.

The Operations VP's want to get a sense for inventory turns at the plants, though.  We need to trace the finished good inventory in the warehouse, in conjunction with the standard cost of shipped product (COGS), back to the originating plant.

By using the Network Code in the ptp_det record of the warehouse, we can find the plant that the part likely came from, as every part is built in one and only one plant.  By finding the origination of the parts that were shipped and invoiced in a similar manner, we can deduce not only plant inventory turns, but begin to arrive at a plant Income Statement.  Very powerful visibility for these Ops VP's. ... Read More »

By Andrew Hall on 5/29/2008 8:46 AM

During a Supply Chain workshop with a client this past week, the subject of Firming requirements on a Supplier Schedule became a hot topic of discussion, and I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss this in general terms in this week's blog. In this client’s environment, the supplier is an intercompany supplier that is based in Asia and is supplying its US-based sister company. This particular client is a Tier 1 automotive supplier and they are using Supplier Schedules and Customer Schedules to communicate demand and execute shipments between the companies. Historically, the Asia-based supplying company required a 3-week Firm period (not inclusive of shipping lead time), as this ensured 100% compliance to schedule. The main driver for this requirement was the fact that responsibility for premium freight charges between Asia and the US was historically a very parochial issue. During ... Read More »

By Kwo on 5/28/2008 8:01 AM

Web Testimonials Coming Soon!

Several of Logan Consulting's loyal clients were generous enough to provide us with a video testimonial at the Spring QAD Midwest User Group meeting in Chicago.  Return to www.logan-consulting.com periodically to see what other clients are saying about the quality of service they have received from Logan Consulting!

Thanks for visiting!

By Kwo on 5/22/2008 5:37 AM

 

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By Andy Vitullo on 5/15/2008 1:02 PM

In my next series of blogs, I want to explore the business issues and business processes involved in the annual cost formulation process. I will discuss the following:


1. Budget Planning and Annual Forecasting.
2. Burden and Overhead versus Variable and Fixed Costs.
3. Direct vs. Indirect Costs.
4. Understand your Profit and Loss Statement
5. What is SG&A and does it belong in my standard cost?
6. The blocking and tackling of cost formulation.
7. How should I recognize write up or write down of inventory from my annual cost roll?


Although the above concepts are ERP software independent, I will discuss the business concept in relation to the QAD MFG/PRO software.

By Tim Lovely on 3/31/2008 11:37 AM

As our QAD /  ERP clients continue to integrate third party systems such as MES and shop floor data collection solutions, the scoping and planning of these areas in the context of an ERP implementation becomes more complex and important. Often teams do not consider the detailed implications of embarking on an ERP implementation without detailing the assumptions for the upcoming project related to the integration between these systems and their ERP backbone. Embarking on a project which includes the implementation and inclusion of all systems in the ultimate strategic footprint is often a risky and costly proposition.

Some of the considerations are…

• Cost of adding integration between third party systems and ERP
• Additional timeline likely involved in scope of integration between these systems and ERP systems
• Risk to critical business functions that are required ... Read More »
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  QAD Manufacturing

  
  

By Andy Vitullo on 3/31/2008 11:31 AM

As a financial leader in an organization considering a new ERP implementation or upgrade, it is important to clearly define your objectives for you new system or enhanced functionality.  Consideration should be given to the following;

1. How can I optimize my Financial Reporting environment to efficiently produce statements from the organic data in the general ledger?
2. What are the true business drivers of the company that require reporting and analysis?
3. What are the bottlenecks to an efficient seamless general ledger accounting close?
4. Do I deliver timely feedback to the organization in the form management reporting so the business managers can make cogent informed business decisions?
5. Is my finance and accounting organization sized properly for my current business environment and future growth?
6. Is the Internal Control ... Read More »
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   QAD Financials

   
   

By Brian Clark on 3/31/2008 11:28 AM

Item Planning Data as Dynamic Data

There is a tremendous amount of benefit that can be realized by an organization by continually revisiting their settings in 1.4.7, Item Planning Data Maintenance. We are finding that clients that are seasoned MFG/PRO users are drifting back into habits of calculating their production or purchasing requirements by exporting and manipulating data in Excel. We promote the constant evaluation of the planning parameters to achieve the inventory levels that will best serve the business….letting MRP do the work for the client requires an understanding of the settings upon which MRP logic is predicated.

Organizations will benefit by understanding why the buyers and planners are overriding the policies being established in the item master. These decisions may be acting as a security blanket that, in the best case, leads to excess inventoy and, in the worst case, ... Read More »

By Andrew Hall on 3/31/2008 11:25 AM

I could think of no better way to begin a new blog on Business Process Design than to quickly preach the importance of Process, especially in light of the fact that software functionality and gee-whiz technology seems to get people's attention. The true measure of a world-class company is its Processes, whether they are supported and enabled through the latest and greatest software functionality or through simple manual constructs (e.g. kanban loops with visual signals). Too often, Companies want to automate or enable a bad Process through software in the hopes of improving business results. Though there may be some overhead elimination in such an approach, the true result is that the Company is simply executing a bad Process quickly. Instead, all Companies should focus their efforts on first designing best-in-class business Processes and only then begin attempts at automation. Without a doubt, the functionality afforded to us today by modern software applications is amazing and should be ... Read More »

By Mike Brennolt on 3/31/2008 11:11 AM

Ah, the start of a new blog!  A chance to vent and to collaberatively share some thoughts.

Selecting and then implementing a new ERP system in today's world doesn't seem to be much about technology, but rather mainly about business process.  Companies embark on such a selection and view it as hardware and software - it's really people and processes.  And certainly, the act of ERP selection needs to be a process with defined steps and stages.  Calling up software vendors and jumping right into demo's seems a great way to define your seleciton in terms of the "neatest" screens - unfortunately most companies never ever use the "neat" stuff - it never leaves the demo session.  There's a lot of good jokes that have "OK, demo's over...." as the punchline.