Manufacturing businesses are under pressure. Supply chain and labor shortages, as well as steeply rising raw materials costs, have made it difficult for manufacturers to keep up with demand in this industry–especially considering how much they’re being bombarded by competitors who seem able (and willing)to fill any gaps left thanks largely to new technology. NetSuite offers new and improved functionality to address these concerns and help give manufacturers a leg up on the competition.

Increasing Efficiency, Predictability in the Supply Chain:

In NetSuite, production managers can select the items that are included and apply specific filters in their workbench to see only information relevant to the work they oversee. They can save multiple templates to switch between different views and make one their default view. The workbench also now shows item descriptions, vendor information, and safety stock to provide more context and facilitate faster decisions.

Manufacturers that work with limited amounts of inventory understand the importance of allocating that inventory in a way that best serves the business. NetSuite’s latest release allows production planners to click into allocated demand to see whether supplies are dedicated to customer orders, work orders or transfer orders.

Updates to the NetSuite manufacturing and supply chain management (SCM) apps will help a workforce increasingly comfortable with technology be more productive. The manufacturing mobile app has a simpler user interface and now lets floor supervisors validate quantities for production runs. They can also enable or disable over-production if there are extra supplies, which helps control inventory levels.

As 2021 neared a close, there were still signs of ample opportunity for manufacturers — ISM’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit 61% in November, its 18th consecutive month of growth (anything above 50% indicates growth).

But the PMI also showed that manufacturers must contend with persistent supply and labor shortages, as well as steeply rising raw materials costs. In light of those challenges, manufacturing businesses are looking for ways to more accurately predict output, reduce supplies on hand and automate tasks. NetSuite 2022 Release 1 offers new and improved functionality to address these concerns and help give manufacturers a leg up on the competition.

Increasing Efficiency, Predictability in the Supply Chain:

In 2020, NetSuite debuted the supply planning workbench, a single page that shows supply and demand orders and gives operations teams the ability to dig into the details on where components and finished goods are pegged. This helps companies ensure they have all the parts and materials available to meet planned delivery dates and make adjustments on the fly.

2022 Release 1 brings improvements to the supply planning workbench. Production managers can select the items that are included and apply specific filters in their workbench to see only information relevant to the work they oversee. They can save multiple templates to switch between different views and make one their default view. The workbench also now shows item descriptions, vendor information and safety stock to provide more context and facilitate faster decisions.

The pressures manufacturers face make it all the more important they know the reliability of all suppliers they buy from. NetSuite’s new vendor performance scores estimate how many days early or late orders for certain products will be based on that vendor’s historical performance, with a confidence rating (1-100) assigned to each of those predictions. That data enables better planning and purchasing decisions and may help you negotiate friendlier deals with vendors.

Manufacturers that work with limited amounts of inventory understand the importance of allocating that inventory in a way that best serves the business. NetSuite’s latest release allows production planners to click into allocated demand to see whether supplies are dedicated to customer orders, work orders or transfer orders. Operations managers can then determine how to best split up their available supplies by prioritizing by profitability, critical customers or sales channels.

Updates to the NetSuite manufacturing and supply chain management (SCM) apps will help a workforce increasingly comfortable with technology be more productive. The manufacturing mobile app has a simpler user interface and now lets floor supervisors validate quantities for production runs. They can also enable or disable over-production if there are extra supplies, which helps control inventory levels.

In the SCM app, warehouse managers can change the fields displayed in data tables — like customer, rate, quantity committed and location — with just a few taps.

Making Warehouses More Efficient:

The NetSuite Pack Station, released last year, gets many enhancements to make packing more efficient. Workers can now bulk pack and unpack “ship as is” items. Users can now select “ship as is” for, say, 10 items that have all been picked but where each belong to separate orders, vs. having to select “ship as is” for each item individually. They can also view the packing instructions for items before they start packing an order. Workers can also now change weight units between pounds and kilograms when weighing packages.

Keeping an Eye on Inventory:

With materials becoming more expensive and often harder to get, it’s essential that manufacturers don’t waste any components or materials. NetSuite’s Quality Management now allows companies to reinspect items on-demand outside of the standard inspection schedule through ad hoc, timed, or repeat inspections. Inspections could be triggered if an item that failed inspection has since been repaired or if it barely failed the first time and deserves a second look.

Operations teams can now get a consolidated view of all tracked lots, including forward and backward tracing. They can adjust the report with item and transaction parameters.

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