Manufacturing Software Features for Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturers

MISys Manufacturing gives small and mid-sized manufacturers the inventory, purchasing, production, MRP, scheduling, costing, shop floor, and traceability tools they need without forcing them to replace the accounting software they already use.

Start with the manufacturing capabilities you need today, then add functionality as your operation grows. MISys Manufacturing helps connect raw materials, bills of material, purchasing, production, work in process, costing, and inventory so your team has better visibility and control across the manufacturing process.

Manufacturing Inventory Management

Knowing what you have in stock is important. Knowing what you have, where it is, what it costs, where it is being used, and what you are going to need next is even more valuable.

MISys Manufacturing provides detailed control over raw materials, subassemblies, finished goods, and work in process (WIP).

Manufacturing inventory features include:

• Detailed tracking of raw materials, finished goods, and work in process
• Multiple inventory locations
• Minimum, maximum, and reorder point management
• Physical inventory and cycle counting
• Stock transfers between locations
• Transaction history and inventory audit trails
• Where-used reporting and BOM implosion
• Outstanding purchase and production order visibility
• Optional prevention of negative inventory balances
• Standard, average, FIFO, and LIFO costing methods

MISys helps manufacturers reduce unnecessary inventory while maintaining the materials needed to support production.

Bills of Material and Production Management

MISys Manufacturing supports detailed, multi-level bills of material and production processes for manufacturers building both standard and custom products.

Production and BOM capabilities include:

• Multi-level bills of material with explosion through as many as 16 levels
• Bill of material revisions
• Cost roll-ups through multiple BOM levels
• Work orders for documenting and tracking production activity
• Backflushing of assembly transactions
• Production scheduling
• Material issue and receipt tracking
• Detailed work in process tracking
• Production cost tracking

These tools help manufacturers understand what goes into each product, what it costs to build, what materials are required, and where production stands at any point in time.

Purchasing and Material Planning

MISys connects purchasing decisions directly to manufacturing demand.

Instead of buying material simply because inventory has fallen below a fixed level, manufacturers can evaluate current inventory, open purchase orders, production requirements, lead times, forecasts, and upcoming demand before deciding what to purchase.

Depending on the modules in use, MISys can help manufacturers:

• Identify upcoming material shortages
• Calculate purchasing requirements
• Create purchase orders from material demand
• Maintain preferred vendor and supplier information
• Track vendor pricing and purchasing history
• Monitor open purchase orders
• Account for supplier lead times
• Plan purchasing around actual production requirements

Material Requirements Planning

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) helps manufacturers determine what needs to be purchased or produced, how much is required, and when it needs to be available.

MISys MRP analyzes production demand together with inventory, open orders, bills of material, lead times, and other planning information to identify shortages before they interrupt production.

This allows manufacturers to move from reactive purchasing toward a more structured, demand-driven planning process.

Production Scheduling and Shop Floor Control

Having the right materials is only part of the production challenge. Manufacturers also need to understand whether they have the time, labor, equipment, and work center capacity required to complete production on schedule.

MISys provides production and shop floor tools that can help manufacturers:

• Schedule manufacturing activity
• Manage work centers
• Define production routings
• Track shop operations
• Analyze work center loading
• Identify capacity constraints
• Track labor against jobs and manufacturing orders
• Compare estimated and actual production activity

Manufacturing Cost Tracking

Accurate manufacturing costs are essential for pricing, profitability, and production decisions.

MISys Manufacturing helps track material, labor, overhead, and production costs throughout the manufacturing process.

Costing capabilities include:

• Standard costing
• Average costing
• FIFO costing
• LIFO costing
• Multi-level cost roll-ups
• Work in process valuation
• Estimated versus actual production cost analysis
• Item, job, and location-specific general ledger account assignments

Serial, Lot, Bin, and Inventory Traceability

Manufacturers that require detailed traceability can extend MISys with serial, lot, and bin tracking capabilities.

These tools help maintain visibility over materials and finished goods throughout purchasing, inventory, and production.

Depending on the modules in use, manufacturers can track:

• Serial numbers
• Lot numbers
• Inventory bins and sub-locations
• Raw material movement
• Production consumption
• Finished goods
• Where-used relationships
• Purchasing and production history

MISys Manufacturing Is a Modular Manufacturing System

Every manufacturer is different. MISys Manufacturing allows you to start with the capabilities you need and add functionality as your manufacturing requirements grow.

• Basic Manufacturing - Is the foundation of the MISys Manufacturing system. It provides the core tools needed to manage manufacturing inventory, raw materials, work in process, bills of material, physical inventory, costing, and production work orders.
• Advanced Purchasing - Provides additional tools for supplier and purchasing management. Analyze material requirements, manage vendor information, track purchasing activity, and create purchase orders based on manufacturing demand.
• Advanced Production - Provides greater control over manufacturing orders and production activity. Estimate production costs, track jobs as they move through production, and compare expected results with actual performance.
• Material Requirements Planning - Analyzes inventory, demand, open orders, bills of material, lead times, and production requirements to identify future shortages and recommend purchasing or production activity.
• Shop Floor Control - Extends production management with work centers, routings, shop operations, production resources, capacity planning, and additional tools for managing activity on the manufacturing floor.
• Serial/Lot Tracking - Provides detailed traceability for materials and finished goods throughout purchasing, inventory, and production. It can help manufacturers maintain the records required for quality, customer, and regulatory requirements.
• Bin Tracking - Adds detailed inventory sub-locations so manufacturers can identify exactly where raw materials, subassemblies, and finished goods are stored within a warehouse or inventory location.
• Labor Tracking - Records the time production employees spend on jobs, manufacturing orders, and shop activities. Labor information can be posted directly to production records to improve costing accuracy and production visibility.
• Barcoding - Helps streamline manufacturing and inventory transactions using barcode data collection. Through MISys Manufacturing EXT, users can perform barcode-supported inventory and production activities from web-enabled devices.
• Mobile Alerts - Automatically delivers important manufacturing notifications to selected users when predefined conditions occur. Alerts can help teams respond more quickly to inventory, purchasing, production, and other operational events.
• MISys Manufacturing EXT - Provides browser-based access to selected MISys Manufacturing functions from tablets, smartphones, and other web-enabled devices.

Manufacturing Reporting and Visibility

MISys Manufacturing includes reporting and inquiry tools that help manufacturers understand inventory, purchasing, production, costing, and manufacturing activity.

Users can review information such as:

• Inventory status
• Transaction history
• Material usage
• Where-used relationships
• Open purchase orders
• Production orders
• Work in process
• Production costs
• Material requirements
• Manufacturing performance

MISys also supports customized reporting for manufacturers that need additional analysis or company-specific report formats.

Built for Reliable Manufacturing Data

MISys Manufacturing uses Microsoft SQL Server as its database platform, providing a reliable foundation for storing and managing manufacturing information.

This allows MISys to support multi-user manufacturing environments while providing the structured data, security, and performance required for day-to-day manufacturing operations.

Flexible Deployment Options

MISys Manufacturing can be deployed to fit different IT environments and manufacturing operations.

It can be installed on-premises on a local workstation or network, or deployed in a hosted environment where the MISys database and application are made available remotely.

This gives manufacturers flexibility in how they manage infrastructure while still providing users access to the manufacturing system they need.

What Manufacturing Software Features Do You Need?

The right manufacturing software should help answer practical questions:

• What materials do we have?
• What materials are we going to need?
• What should purchasing order?
• What needs to be built?
• What is currently in production?
• What does each product actually cost to manufacture?
• Where are our upcoming shortages?
• Do we have enough capacity to meet our schedule?
• Can we trace materials through the manufacturing process?

MISys Manufacturing brings these processes together in a manufacturing system designed specifically for small and mid-sized manufacturers.

Request a Private Demo of MISys Manufacturing