Contract Manufacturing/ Job Shop Features

[Nickelwater]

I think that there are a lot of features that could really help Carbon stand out as an ERP system for contract manufacturers. The first thing that I want to focus on, because it is at the very core of the customer interaction, is part numbering. A couple things are true:

• each customer will have their own part numbering system. Utilizing these part numbers creates a very chaotic system and there is the off chance that you may end up with the same part number from 2 different customers.
• an internal part numbering sequence/ system keeps things organized
• customers will not want to reference the internal part number. The customer part number will be referenced on Purchase Orders, and will be expected to be the reference on shipping documentation.

This is where there are currently limitations in Carbon and many other ERP systems. I have some suggestions to the order flow:

Quoting/Estimating:
Ideally, estimates are isolated & do not require new 'real' parts to be created. Currently, this can be worked around by having a separate numbering system for quoted parts (QP-00001) and then given a customer part number. If the job is awarded, the QP number can be copied to a new internal part number (P-00001).

What I believe is a more efficient flow would be to have estimates isolated. For example, parts can be added to an estimate directly with the customer part number and BOM/methods can be built for costing. All of this is internal to the estimate. When a job is awarded, this temporary estimate part can be then 'graduated' to an internal part and given the next sequenced internal part number. All methods and BOM items are transferred to the new internal part number & have the customer part ID tied to it.

Sales Order:
This is the main headache with trying to utilize and internal part numbering system. Customer POs are unlikely to reference and internal part number, and so when adding line items to sales orders, a part needs to be able to be added with the customer id reference. I picture this as something like the 'next sequence' toggle that will toggle between searching internal part numbers and customer part numbers. Another option would be a button that opens a search window that allows the customer part number to be searched in order to pull the internal number.

Production:
Change is likely not needed here - everything uses the internal part number internally.

Additional:
All customer facing documents should primarily reference the customer part number. For example, right now it appears the packing list does not reference the customer part number. Keeping the software 'universal' but easily tailorable is a of value. A potential suggestion to aid this would be to have things controlled at the customer level. In the customer setup, there can be some sort of toggle or checkbox to switch the customer into the 'contract' category, or a "use customer number" selection. All customer documentations will use the customer number. Further, this customer attribute could also control things such as the SO line entry. If the SO is for a contract customer, then adding line items shows the customer part number and only shows parts for that customer.

Though it affects a lot of systems and is somewhat specific, I think there is a large portion of manufacturing that these features could stand out to, for example CNC job shops, injection molding, sheet metal fab, etc.