In the Plastic and Precision Engineering industry—which spans tool and die making, injection molding, and complex machining—profitability is determined by meticulous control over the manufacturing process. Managing job routing, optimizing machine capacity, tracking expensive tooling assets, and ensuring uncompromising quality control are the core challenges. Success hinges on eliminating scrap, maximizing machine utilization, and achieving perfect on-time delivery.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) provides the flexible, robust, and scalable core required for modern manufacturing operations. However, effective precision engineering demands specialized functionality beyond standard production planning.
At MSC Consulting (S) Pte Ltd, we don’t just implement the core ERP; we deploy proprietary Vertical Solutions built upon Dynamics 365 BC that are specifically tailored to the complex demands of Plastic and Precision Engineering, focusing on shop floor efficiency, asset utilization, and granular cost tracking.
The plastic and precision engineering industry is one of Singapore’s fastest growing sectors, yet companies struggle with strict regulations, technology upgrades, poor visibility in production planning, inaccurate cost tracking, excessive material usage, and manual BOM revisions. These issues hinder efficiency and responsiveness to customer queries.
This solution streamlines production orders, BOMs, supply and capacity planning, while enabling better decisions, improved workflows, and faster responses. Partnering with MSC helps businesses achieve higher quality, productivity, and profitability.
Business Central’s standard features lay a powerful foundation for engineering firms by unifying essential business functions.
The native system in Business Central efficiently manages the core processes required to execute a manufacturing job:
1. Production Order Management: Handle make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) environments, managing the flow of material and components through the plant.
2. Job Routing and Work Centers: Define complex manufacturing routes with precise time and cost estimates for each step. This allows for accurate scheduling across different machines (Work Centers) and resource allocation.
3. Capacity Planning: Track machine and labor capacity against scheduled jobs, helping production managers prioritize orders, avoid bottlenecks, and accurately commit to delivery dates.
Effective cost control requires total management over raw materials, finished goods, and work-in-process (WIP):
1.Component Traceability: Track the raw material components consumed by specific production orders and finished goods batches, ensuring quality assurance and minimizing waste.
2. Multiple Location Inventory: Accurately manage inventory across the main warehouse, quarantine zones, and the shop floor (WIP locations), providing accurate stock levels at all times..
3. Consolidated Bill of Materials (BOM): Manage multi-level BOMs for complex assemblies, automatically calculating material requirements and providing real-time costing visibility based on component prices.
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In a margin-sensitive industry, precision costing down to the batch level is non-negotiable for profitability:
1. Actual Costing Methodologies: Supports advanced costing methods to accurately capture labor, machine time, and overhead consumption for every job.
2. WIP Valuation: Supports complex Work in Progress (WIP) valuation to ensure the value of partially completed goods is correctly reflected in the financial statements.
3. Production Variance Analysis: Instantly compare budgeted costs (from the production route) against actual costs incurred during the manufacturing run, allowing for immediate analysis of scrap, material substitutions, and labor efficiency variances.
| Benefits | Features |
|---|---|
| Improves Coordination | Optimize resource planning with full visibility of schedules, constraints, and supply chain. |
| Faster Response Time | Manage BOMs, routing, and tool usage with master files, transactions, and utilization/life reports. |
| Manages Production and Business Process | Capture real-time production data on output, status, runtime, and operator utilization. |
| Increase Visibility and Accuracy | Gain financial visibility with project costing, labour timesheets, billing updates, and cost analysis. |
| Improves Warehouse Efficiency | Centralized Store Management |
| Production Planning and Inventory Management | Plan materials and production orders efficiently while tracking defects through NCMR records and reports. |
| Return on Investment | Inventory Management |
| Optimises Accounting Process | Monitor inventory shelf life, material usage, and scrap factors to support diverse production needs. |
| Accuracy in Production Costing Information | |
| Accurate Order Commitments | |
| Operational Excellence and Material Traceability | |
| Quality Control | |
| Shop Floor Management |
| Benefits | Features |
|---|---|
|
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Orders for custom-made components are entered.
BOM & routing released → generates material and production tasks.
Raw materials scanned out for production → lot/serial tracked.
Billing is generated → utilisation & profitability updated.
Driver delivers items with POD and timestamps.
Finished parts QC-checked & scanned into inventory.
Orders for custom-made components are entered.
BOM & routing released → generates material and production tasks.
Raw materials scanned out for production → lot/serial tracked.
Finished parts QC-checked & scanned into inventory.
Driver delivers items with POD and timestamps.
Billing is generated → utilisation & profitability updated.
The successful deployment of an ERP solution in the Plastic and Precision Engineering sector is not a matter of simply installing software; it’s about translating complex manufacturing sequences and cost structures into system configuration.
MSC Consulting (S) Pte Ltd brings extensive domain expertise in this specialized manufacturing sector. We have successfully leveraged Microsoft Dynamics ERP technology to deliver solutions that:
By choosing MSC Consulting, you gain a partner who understands the difference between a standard inventory part and a high-value, finite-life tool, ensuring your investment is perfectly aligned with the unique complexities of your advanced manufacturing business.
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