FSM

The best way to organize and manage parts inventory

 Companies involved in field service processes, such as equipment/machinery installation, maintenance, and repair, need to manage service parts with more efficiency. We all know that parts like a spare part, service part, replacement part, or repair part, all are interchangeable parts that are used in replacing or repairing failed units. Managing parts inventory is a really important aspect of onsite service businesses. If the field service providers want to reduce parts inventory costs,  they should streamline the parts inventory management process. It is only possible with the consistent tracking of the parts. If you are doing it manually, then there are a lot of possibilities that you may not be able to track each part in your inventory.

 All things aside, to keep a tab on every item is only possible with the implementation of advanced parts inventory management software. That will help you to track and manage every spare part or service part in your inventory.

 This article is about how spare parts inventory software can help improve your parts management processes. There are so many reasons that a company needs to use this software, the most important one is to keep the track of every part so that responsible staff has an idea how many parts they need to purchase and how many parts moved from their location to customer location. The second reason is to track parts warranty so that they will know when a parts warranty is going to expire and they can take appropriate actions. All things considered, better parts management leads to a reduction in service downtime. In other words, this results in a tremendous drop in the frequency of work delays than before, because you will always have the required parts in hand. All things considered, minimize equipment downtime, avoid overstocking, and save inventory operations costs.

 Handle parts inventory more effectively:

 ·         Organize and systematically classify all parts.

·         Easily manage the Bill of Materials (BOM).

·         Make inventory control seamless.

·         Procure parts on time and reduce inventory levels.

·         Reduce inventory costs.

·         Decrease equipment downtime.

 Collect payments on time to improve revenue

 Nowadays, so many companies are using payment collection software or debt collection software to get the outstanding payment from their customers. Also, there are organizations that hire third-party organizations to collect the payments. Manually collecting payments is a really complex and tedious process. Using payment collection software is a great way to keep track of every outstanding payment and it is really easy to use. Also, this software automates the payment collection software by notifying you via follow up reminders.

 Introduce debt collections and invoicing software to manage your payment systematically and get paid on time. Smartly collect your payments and manage your customers. Also, tightly integrated software helps you to manage your deliverables and associated payments, all from a single platform. A payment management solution has a comprehensive payment dashboard where you can integrate all your bills, invoices, and payments. Furthermore, get a complete overview of your payments and easily handle all the payment-related activities. Keep track of all your customer bills, vendor bills, payments, and invoices to make your accounting process seamless.

As times go by, so do the way we proceed with the day to day business activities. The introduction of ERP software in modern business markets has led to the effective management of processes. ERP system, widely recognized for its benefits to all types of businesses, has brought significant changes to the market. As we speak, the ERP system is so vital that business cannot complete their regular tasks without it.

One of the biggest ERP in the current business world is Odoo software. But what makes this ERP stand out among its peer? Well, the system features up to 3000 Apps and modules that alleviate all business management tasks. One of the most notable modules in the solution is its spare parts management software. In addition to the impacts, it has in warehouse and inventory management, here is why you should use the Odoo spare parts management software 

1.      High customizability

One of the great highlights of utilizing the spare parts management module in Odoo is that it offers room for customization. Here, you can work with Odoo partners to modify the software to meet the unique demands that your business poses. As a result, the software can assist you in many ways, even if the feature you need is not present in the software.

2.      Flexibility

The amount of flexibility offered by the software for spare parts management in Odoo has numerous benefits to its users. You may choose to first work with the basic features even before you fully understand how to leverage most of your ERP. Moreover, in the latest Odoo releases, you will realize that this module features a simple installation option, thus saves time.

3.      Budget-friendly

Unlike other ERP systems, modules in Odoo are inexpensive to obtain as well as implement. The same also applies to the spare parts manage module. Being open-source, you can obtain the best module even when running through a low budget.

Also, we can term the overall price of the ERP as a throwaway. This is simply because you can obtain the license to operate the software at absolutely no fee. Termed by many as pro bono, you may divert the saved money to other uses such as purchasing standard features. The software comes with the Odoo ERP solution, which you can download from its official website for free.

4.      Allows for easy integration

You may choose to integrate third-party apps such as a collection software to your ERP for large businesses. In turn, it means that besides a reliable spare parts management system, you can also include the best collection software to assist you with all your accounting needs. Linking your inventory with your accounts will ensure the smooth flow of processes as well as the accountability of each product. This only possible in Odoo since the software does not restrict users from installing other software as per their needs.

Conclusion

Operations management is planning, controlling, and supervising manufacturing and production processes and service delivery. Operational management is critical in a business organization because it helps manage and supervise goods, services effectively. Operation management involves various fields and industries. Thus, a manufacturing management system is useful in every business, although some may not be obvious. In the health sector, operations management can ensure that health is delivered correctly at the right time using the right tools. It can also help nurses, doctors, and other health personnel to provide timely services. When something is missing, a skilled person will know what went wrong.

For a manufacturing or production company to succeed, its operation management department must first stand up. Take an oil and gas company as an example. The products have been shipped to oil storage depots for use by a large number of customers. OM is committed to delivering products and plans and plans the work and methods that must be completed. Using OM, people can achieve more goals and increase productivity.

Effective manufacturing management looks at each step to determine whether the customer is worth buying. At all levels, it is vital to monitor waste, inspect waste, and eliminate waste when necessary. With effective manufacturing management, your company will benefit from the optimal inventory level and elimination of overproduction. In the long run, eliminating processes that don't seem to add value will ultimately increase profit margins and achieve rapid ROI. The following are some significant advantages of proper management in any manufacturing business.

1.      Product Quality

In a typical company, the first department to check product durability and reliability is operations management. Operations managers will consider the quality of products or commodities suitable for customers at the delivery time and afterward. You can achieve this by integrating spare parts inventory management software. When the product has quality, it can give you an advantage compared to competitors.

2.      Productivity

We define productivity as the ratio of work input to work output. Also, this is the only way to verify employee input. Operational management can ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to employees to maximize benefits. The only way to ensure productivity is through effective operational management.

3.      Reduced Operating Cost

By improving productivity and customer satisfaction, you will be able to minimize product maintenance costs. This also leads to an increase in income. Only operations management can do this. In addition to reducing operating costs, it also reduces waste. Through proper operation management, you can produce the exact quantity or size of products.

4.      Customer Satisfaction

There is no feeling for a manager or an employee as a customer getting the utmost satisfaction ever. Operations management rightly ensures this, coupled with a quality product. Customers make an organization thrive, and they must be treated well in every way necessary and possible.

5.      Seamless supply chain management 

The supply chain management of a manufacturing company affects the quality and cost of the products it produces. At present, especially in foreign countries, the increase in fuel costs causes fluctuations in labor costs and makes transportation costs higher. With proper management, you can evaluate different supply chain configurations while supporting cost-effective local distribution centers. In addition, the dynamic environment requires manufacturing companies to adapt quickly when major adjustments are required. For example, the trend of shifting production to a smaller market and focusing on mass production is more effective.

Conclusion

Regardless of industry, type, or size, every enterprise has a common objective of running profitable operations. With that, most business processes revolve around the mission of maximizing revenues. However, you cannot realize to increase profits or draw maximum returns from your business without making keen investments.

Fortunately, with ERP software, you can make your dream come true. ERP plays pivotal roles in streamlining business operations, especially during the expansion phase of a company. ERP software tool comes with great management functionalities that cater to almost all business segments. These include HR, Marketing, Accounting, Sales, Procurement, CRM, Warehouse, Inventory, and manufacturing management systems. However, not all ERP help reduce operational costs, forecast their sales, or eliminate wastage of scarce resource. This implies that you must make scrutiny before picking the ERP to work with. Moreover, the current business market is flooded with numerous ERP software, whereas some of them aren’t as legit as they seem. However, in this post, we will guide you in choosing the right ERP for your enterprise.

Odoo ERP solution summarizes every business task flow as well as managing healthy relationships with customers. In short, it maximizes a company’s profit by looking after both internal and external business activities. Thus, with the proper Odoo implementation, your business organization can achieve anything you’ve ever dreamt or sought for. With Odoo being open-source, it stands out from other proprietary ERP solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and Oracle. Unlike Odoo, this proprietary software charges significant sums for their implementation and usage. Today, Odoo offers a highly cost-effective. Below enlists the advantages of Odoo implementation over other ERP software

·         Easy to implement and integrate

With Odoo being API-friendly, it allows for easy integration. Odoo integration comes in handy as it reduces the behavioral changes when a company decides to adopt a new ERP software. Additionally, Odoo incorporates a modular structure that makes it easy to implement. As a result, you may choose to implement the most crucial modules and add each module when the need arises. Also, the different variants of modules can seamlessly apply to different industries. This feature makes Odoo implementation and advocating choice for SME’S rather than proprietary ERP software.

·         Suite of all software applications

Typically, many businesses, particularly smaller enterprises, have multiple applications to manage different departments. Operating multiple applications proves to be quite costly since each of them may demand further customization as well as maintenance. However, in addition to the affordable membership management software, Odoo features other built-in apps allowing you to manage multiple departments from a single platform. Therefore, we advocate that companies pick Odoo as their ERP solution since it encompasses every business.

·         Cost-effective solution

With a limited IT budget, small and medium-scale businesses refrain from implementing ERP solutions for their business management. However, with the current open-source ERP application, Odoo comes with a relatively low cost for ownership. This cost-effective feature comes as a domineering benefit to small-medium enterprises and business groups. Also, the incurred high implementation cost pays off almost immediately with the unlimited features and functionalities of Odoo. These imperceptible benefits come as an extra advantage to businesses, as they considerably cut down on business expenses.

 Extensive customization

Odoo offers a wide-ranging level of customization upon different business and enterprise verticals. Since no two business processes are alike, the implemented software should cater to your unique business needs. This will enable you to raw maximum efficiency and productivity as well, from your newfound solution. Similarly, with Odoo customization, you will be able to meet both long-term and short-term needs for all your business processes.

Although it may sound exciting, implementing inventory management software is not a walk in the park for any business. Even with the new technologies and solutions that bring forth numerous possibilities, these systems depend on flawless operations instructions. So, businesses wishing to upgrade their warehouse control or enhance their inventory management start by exploring your new abilities. It will enable you to minimize losses, increase revenues, save money, and leverage the most out of your inventory management solution. Here are some tips for those wishing to attain the best service from your advanced inventory management software.

1.      Use real-time information

During software updates and large stock movement, old-fashioned stock management software experienced delays, which proved disastrous. Similarly, this caused a lag that made it hard to understand the real-time information on inventory and product movement in and out of the warehouse occurring in real-time. But, dedicated inventory management software, such as that offered by OdooERP, eliminates the risk of experiencing lag or delays. This state of art software delivers instantaneous updates of the exact product location at all times. As a result, it eliminates confusion in supply environments while increasing the skill of management decisions.

2.      Track products that sell fast

Modern inventory management systems allow you to track orders and sales per product and customer. With this information proving to be highly essential, you shouldn’t ignore it. You can seamlessly trace your best-selling items and allocate them to strategic locations with smooth delivery and picking options. Additionally, you will achieve a higher customer satisfaction rate since you will also save their time with quick deliveries.

3.      Utilize both movable and immovable tracking options

When it concerns warehouse tracking, most companies tend to rely only on movable options. This implies that they will, in most cases, focus on tracking units that move around the warehouse, into the supply chain. Although it is a vital area in the warehouse management process, you shouldn’t overlook the advantages of fixed trackers. You can achieve this by incorporating parts management software to manage your fixed assets. Tracking static assets in the warehouse enables you to assign and manage destinations easily quickly. Moreover, you can arrange efficient strategic protocols without any confusion. Your warehouse will receive better performance by tracking both the movable and fixed units in the long run.

4.      Discover cost-effective options

It may be high time for your business to carry out a little innovation. Explore radical options that will enable you to save money while hastening your Return on Investment (ROI). This includes making use of features likes Cross-Docking and Waive Picking, among others. Your inventory management enables you to practice cross-docking, which is an effective money-saving option.  Once you adopt modern tracking methods, you can easily resort to waive Picking in complex shipping systems.

Conclusion

Currently, most businesses spend a fortune on ERP and CRM software to drive more leads and close more deals. However, it's best to understand that sealing deals does not just stop at signing contracts. To close the loop, you have to ensure that you collect the money owed to you. Fortunately, although this seems easier said than done, you can use the software to accelerate this process. 

You probably must be thinking why you need payment collection software while ERP systems feature an A/R module. According to research from industry analysts, ERP solutions have been accused of performing underperforming in terms of credit and collections functionalities. With an ERP, collectors will waste more time on their clerical and administrative duties instead of focusing on strategic collection options. This means that they will still have to print aging reports while managing.

In short, implementing a payment collection solution will enable you to replace the manual processes. Moreover, you will achieve centralized information while automating time-consuming processes and tasks. In turn, you will create room to focus on what matters most, collecting in due time what you are owed when due. Here are some benefits of a payment collection solution that can bring a difference to your company.

1.      Timely payments

Studies show that businesses that implement collection management software enjoy faster payments than those working with disconnected or manual systems. The software allows business owners to send timely invoices as well as sending reminders for due debts. With faster payments, you needn't worry about your stock replenishment rule since you will quickly realize your ROI.

2.      Enhanced cash forecasting

A typical collection management software allows collection teams to track expected payments while delivering a statistical cash forecast seamlessly. Moreover, you can use scheduled payments to ratify your statistical cash forecast for accurate cash flow management.

3.      Reduced financing cost

As earlier mentioned, companies that utilize a dedicated payment collection system get paid 20% faster than those without. This means that you incur finance charges by having delayed payments at up to 6% interest rates. By getting paid faster, companies that rely mostly on factoring to beat cash flow issues can save money by being independent of high-interest accounts.

4.      Maximize unused credit lines

Account collection management software provides a holistic view of the account receivable process as a whole. This implies that you now get an insight into the impact of improved credit management on future sales. Moreover, with the software, you can seamlessly identify credit lines and deal with customers who pose much lower risks. This also means you will help your customer seek more services and purchase more products.

5.      Improved credit score

Have you ever sought financial assistance by borrowing money from financial firms for capital improvements? If so, you might have well noticed that the financial firm reviews your income to determine the amount of money to lend you. Companies using a debt collection software have healthier account receivables, which qualify them for more money. Moreover, they are charged at lower rates while enjoying huge potential savings throughout each of their loans.

6.      Reduced bad debt write-offs

According to most financial advisors, companies using collection management software systems cut down on bad debts by 15% -25%. This is because they can identify and resolve disputes much sooner, preventing them from maturing to the extent of being uncollectable.

Conclusion

Field service management software helps companies that are involved in onsite services to deliver world-class customer services. An FSM solution allows you to track requests, manage personnel, and maintain full visibility into operations. Furthermore, it has various tools that can help you to manage inventory, work orders, dispatching, job scheduling, fleet tracking, and more. Most importantly, you can seamlessly enhance coordination between home office, warehouse, and field technicians. It saves your time as well as costs while increasing the speed of transactions. Forget about the manual work, increase field service automation and automate activities such as scheduling, dispatching, tracking fleets & technicians, and more.

Most of the field service management companies face these challenges:

Disconnected communications

Over-scheduled resources

Inefficient or under-skilled technicians

Delay in customer ticket processing, etc.

When a company starts using FSM software solutions, then all the challenges mentioned above disappear day by day. To put it another way, after having an FSM system in place, the ticket processing becomes faster, job scheduling, assigning, and dispatching becomes more effective, as well as communication between home office and technicians become more efficient than ever before.

Easily schedule your appointments, assign tasks to technicians/field workers, plan your route, track the working hours of a task, create quotations, and get paid against your invoices. Implementing FSM software truly improves customer experience and customer satisfaction levels. In the current scenario, customers are becoming more particular about there choices, for example, they exactly know what they want, to fulfill their demands companies have to be more efficient in terms of delivering services. An FSM software solution allows you to deliver onsite services on time as well as it also increases the quality of customer services. It surely enhances the customer satisfaction levels. Furthermore, if there is a field service management mobile app, it makes it easier to connect with the customers that further improves customers’ and technicians' engagement.

Advantages of FSM software:

Workflow Standardization

The foremost advantage of an FSM system is, standardizing the business workflow, right from dispatching to invoicing. This software has many tools such as work order management, inventory management, sales management, invoicing, product management, fleet management & tracking, reporting, and more. All these tools help you to streamline the entire workflow.

Faster Invoicing

One of the most important parts of a field service company. It is really frustrating to invoice your services if you are doing it manually. With all the paperwork you will face so many challenges, such as delay in payment, or even you may miss a payment. Sometimes invoicing can take weeks to assess the work done because you are busy in collecting and calculating data manually. An FSM system helps you to process data quickly and the client gets the invoice without delay. Furthermore, to never miss a payment integrate FSM software with payment collection software. It will help you to collect all the payments on time and you can follow-up on the pending payment status.

Effective Scheduling

This software has so many advanced features and functionalities, and one of the advanced features is the integration of GPS systems to track vehicles and devices/equipment/machines. It enables you to know the position of vehicles and technicians. This further helps you to assign the nearest orders to save time and effort. Faster scheduling, assigning tasks, and dispatching technicians help you to finish the job on time. It improves customer experience and satisfaction levels.

Route optimization and Fuel Control

Save costs by reducing fuel consumption and optimizing routes. As we know that more fuel consumption is a huge expense item. With GPS tracking, you can keep track of each vehicle and assign tasks to the technician in the vehicle to the nearest location. It will definitely save time as well as fuel. Using field service software will let you avoid longtime drives. Also, eliminate the situations like technician's deviation from the route, and technician's behavior of staying idle between orders. Reduce travel time and save money on fuel.

Parts and Inventory Management

Enhancing manufacturing flexibility and effectiveness is a vital component in improving a company’s competitive advantage and market responsiveness. Similarly, it is crucial to have flexible manufacturing processes whereby you only manufacture products that are on demand. Moreover, manufacturing teams should be able to manufacture different products as well as be capable of changing product mix efficiently.

Regularly reviewing customer demands versus stock levels and forecast demand can help increase efficiency and controlling manufacturing costs. Furthermore, manufacturing management ensures that goods produced meet the customer's expectations. It will also allow you to effectively make changes in production based on demand levels and market requirements. However, in the contemporary market place, long production runs aren’t as effective as they reduce customer service, limit flexibility, and increase stock holding.

Effective manufacturing management concentrates on each step to determine whether the goods are worth paying for by customers. In all the levels, it is highly important to monitor wastes, examine them, and eliminate where necessary. With efficient manufacturing management, your company will benefit from reduced inventory, over-processing, and elimination of overproduction. Similarly, all errors contributed by poor manufacturing cell design such as unnecessary material movement will no longer be a menace. Eliminating processes that don’t seem to add value will, in the long run, increase profitability ultimately, thus rapid ROI realization. Below are some notable benefits of apt management in any manufacturing business.

1.      Seamless supply chain management

Management of the supply chain in a manufacturing company impacts on the quality and costs of your produced goods. Currently, especially in foreign locations, increased fuel costs have led to volatile labor costs and has made transportation costlier. With adequate management, you can evaluate different supply chain configurations while favoring cost-effective local distribution centers. Also, the dynamic environment demands a quick adaptation of manufacturing companies when the need to make critical adjustments arises. For example, moving manufacturing closer to markets for smaller operations and centralizing manufacturing for larger volumes tends is more efficient.

2.      Realization of a competitive advantage

Even though your marketers determine your competitive strategy, manufacturing management helps support the strategy with apposite products. If the price is your main competitive advantage, your manufacturing has to implement lean standards to focus on cost reduction. Similarly, if your strategy is supplying to specific markets, you have to focus on manufacturing products that uniquely appeal to your target. Your management team has to understand the insinuations of the business marketing strategy and implement corresponding procedures or policies.

3.      Adequate use of technology

The secret to manufacturing excellence is adopting an innovative technology that aims to achieve specific business goals. Often, managers have to make informed decisions that concern the complex manufacturing systems. Although they may choose to rely on the engineering department, managers who are technically oriented make more effective decisions. Besides the acquisition of appropriate practical knowledge, manufacturing management ensures that technical staffs have the necessary training for goods production.

4.      Organized operations

Varying types of manufacturing are efficiently carried out across different organization frameworks. Even if your manufacturing type remains unchanged, you may have to change your manufacturing organization with new workers. One way to go about this is by establishing temporary membership management teams whose members vary with different situations. You can treat manufacturing runs as projects and have members featuring the best skills and performances

Parting shot

Generate more revenue with a fully integrated Field Service Solutions

Companies that are involved in manufacturing commercial/industrial equipment as well as selling that equipment need to keep their entire supply chain up to date. Handling the entire supply chain operations takes lots of effort, time, and money. To avoid extra cost, save time, and efforts companies need to implement powerful manufacturing management software. This software truly helps manufacturers by making their entire production process seamless and error-free. Reduce risks and deliver products on time. As we all know that when a manufacturing company also supplies finished goods to its customers, it becomes necessary to keep the entire supply chain workflow faster and more efficient. Industries like Medical Device Manufacturing, Industrial Equipment Manufacturing, Equipment Distribution, Building & Construction Equipment, etc. are using manufacturing software that can be integrated with other core modules like inventory, accounting, purchase, logistics, sales, and more. Integration with other modules make supply chain management smooth.

Most importantly, the manufacturing and distribution industry drives revenue by selling products (equipment) and they also offer field services. Adding distribution and field service along with the manufacturing business holds the promise of higher margins. Also, it helps in making a strong relationship with the customers. An integrated manufacturing management system enables businesses to exploit new business opportunities and deliver exceptional customer experiences while increasing operational effectiveness.

There are so many manufacturing companies that are only involved in the manufacturing process. But to exploit the full potential, so many businesses are expanding their reach in various fields. But the most important question is, how a manufacturing software can help to manage all the business processes including production, distribution, and field service. As I have mentioned before, manufacturing software can be integrated with other modules like inventory, purchase, sales, and more. It will streamline the entire business process. First of all, you need to procure raw material/semi-finished goods, then keep the inventory up to date, and then handle the entire manufacturing process, making this entire process error-free, faster, and simple, you need an all-in-one solution.

Reduce field service cost to scale up your business

After manufacturing the top-quality equipment, companies focus on delivering products on-time and provide faster field service to the customers.  A field service software standardizes and automates the whole service processes to build a strong relationship with the clients. Also, it lets you manage your field staff, back-office staff, and dispatcher, it further helps in maximizing productivity. Using the right tools of the FSM software enables you and your staff (onsite as well as back-office) to work more efficiently.

Spare Parts Management

Managing spare parts is a significant element of the field service business. It is only possible when you have a great inventory management software. Also, a parts management software lets you control parts inventory across the service delivery chain. If you have the right parts at the right time, it will enable your technicians to perform their onsite job faster. A parts management software ensures you have full parts visibility across all stocking locations; whether it is in technician vans or depots. The major role of the parts management system is to provide the right parts to the technicians at the right time. Now, your technicians will not face the issue while performing any service like preparing, maintenance, or installation of equipment.