The Top Benefits of Business Central for Manufacturing

In the face of rapid digitization, intense competition, and tightening margins, manufacturers find themselves at a crossroads. 

They’re being pushed to choose between innovating and adapting to change or continuing business as usual and hoping they can remain competitive. Most are being swayed to modernize their approach to business management by the promise of process automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) capabilities poised to accelerate their digital transformation.

But the move to lean, agile manufacturing requires real-time insights these businesses can meaningfully act on. And in order to harness those insights, the right foundation of business tools needs to be in place. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, manufacturing companies lead all other industries in the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software: one of the most crucial tools in a modern manufacturer’s tech stack. Here’s why Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a top choice of ERP systems for manufacturers.

What is Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a suite of intelligent business applications designed to help manufacturers harness the power of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced data analytics. Within the Dynamics 365 suite falls the Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP system, and a dedicated central manufacturing module, Dynamics 365 Business Central Manufacturing. 

With Dynamics 365 Business Central—a solution purpose-built to support small and mid-sized businesses’ scalability—you can future-proof your manufacturing business. By connecting your systems and your data and housing it in a single source of truth, manufacturing firms are empowered to minimize disruptions and reduce time to market while nurturing customer relationships.

Why Choose Business Central for Manufacturing?

Among leading manufacturing solutions, Business Central is the optimal ERP system for manufacturers looking for extensive manufacturing and supply chain management capabilities and the means to get comprehensive visibility into your business.

On average, investing in Business Central for manufacturing results in huge business wins, including:

• 172% ROI with Business Central over 3 years
• A 7-month payback timeline on investment
• Up to 18% productivity improvement for finance and operations staff

Beyond the clear financial benefits, however, Business Central has proven advantages that span much farther, and enable manufacturing businesses to accelerate growth—without compromising on margins or productivity.

1. Boost Production and Efficiency

With real-time insights from Business Central, manufacturing companies can not only boost production (including production scheduling), but do so more strategically, efficiently, and cost-effectively. Business Central supports a streamlined production process, allowing manufacturers to leverage the ERP to:

• Create multiple types of production orders (single, batch, etc.)
• Manage and optimize your production schedule
• Outsource manufacturing operations in a production order to a subcontractor
• Record production output along with material and time consumption
• Track manufacturing output and run times, or undo output because of a data entry error 
• Track unused scrap material
• View the warehouse floor load and labor costs as a result of planned and released production orders

In practice, this looks like calculating and adjusting the cost of finished production items accordingly (compared to standard costs) based on output, run times, raw materials, scrap materials, and warehouse floor load. The end result is a more accurate financial picture and better financial management.

2. Reduce Operating Costs to Improve Margins

The more intentional you can be about reducing unnecessary costs, the more you can boost your bottom line. 

With Business Central, you can better manage projects using timesheets and advanced job costing and reporting—or develop and modify detailed budgets to enhance profitability. Not to mention the opportunities to optimize resource levels by planning capacity and sales or by tracking customer invoicing against planned or actual costs.

3. Manufacture within Supply and Capacity Restraints

Gain complete control over resource planning and scheduling by understanding supply, demand, and capacity restraints and pivoting accordingly. With Business Central for manufacturing, you can: 

• Optimize manufacturing outputs, even in agile and complex environments
• Operate static and dynamic master plans for agile forecasting and rescheduling on demand
• Replenish inventory based on actual stock and availability using AI-powered sales, inventory, and demand forecasting

The Next Era of Manufacturing Excellence

Dynamics 365 Business Central is the powerful, all-in-one solution that integrates and streamlines every aspect of your manufacturing process—and you can get even more of your investment with Cavallo. 

From planning and scheduling to inventory and distribution, Business Central ensures any manufacturing company with growth ambitions can respond quickly to new and changing demands, adapt to the market, and give customers the high-quality customer experience they want—when they want it. 

Extend the power of BC even further with an unmatched suite of order management and workflow solutions designed to maximize efficiency and profitability at every turn. Enhance customer service, gain tight control over your flow of orders, and stop low-margin orders in their tracks with Cavallo for Business Central: a future-facing approach that will meet any new manufacturing requirement to come. Explore the power of Cavallo’s Order Intelligence solutions and how they impact your BC experience.