Today, more than ever before, manufacturers of all sizes are challenged to streamline their supply chains. They are continually looking for ways to become more competitive by becoming leaner in their manufacturing and front office processes, and implementing technologies that allow them to gain greater efficiencies. “Small manufacturers are considering new ways to adapt and implement lean in all aspects of their business—from the shop floor to the front office and the top floor—to eliminate waste and streamline key business processes,” says Dave Lechleitner, Principal, Product Marketing at Exact. “When the right aspects of lean are adapted and implemented for these high mix-low volume environments, it is possible to achieve a 30 percent cost reduction across the entire manufacturing operation.” Exact, a global frontrunner in cloud-based manufacturing software developed JobBOSS to address the needs of the custom, make-to-order manufacturer. JobBOSS is shop management software for custom manufacturing job shops that offers a complimentary business guide specifically catering to leaner job shop structure.

According to Lechleitner, often the small manufacturers are willing to implement the latest technology on the shop floor, but do not often focus the same level of investment in the caliber of technology for the front office. Exact, now minimizes the burden of these technology investments by offering various deployment models based on a manufacturer’s comfort and willingness to ‘move to the cloud’. “Our traditional on-premise solution, JobBOSS, gives a manufacturer the ability to manage all upgrades and infrastructure improvements within the four walls of the company,” adds Lechleitner. “The end user is in complete control of the solution and is empowered to customize it to specific requirements.” The company also offers a hosted model allowing the manufacturer to deploy JobBOSS in a cloud environment, shifting the burden of upgrades to a technology provider so that the manufacturer can focus on their core objective.

It is possible to achieve a 30 percent cost reduction across the entire manufacturing operation through proper lean initiatives and shop floor management system

The company also offers a multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution—Exact for Manufacturing. This solution offers 24/7 access, scalability, apps, integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and metrics via pre-configured dashboards for a low, fixed monthly cost. “It was built from the ground up to be optimized and tuned for use through the Internet,” explains Lechleitner.

Harris Fabrication—a manufacturer and fabricator—prior to using cloud-based software, had very little insight into its day-to-day operations. It could not see the status of any given job and was critical business functions operated in silos. The client implemented Exact Online Manufacturing, which brought together accounting, production, quoting, scheduling, and automated time-consuming steps. Through this, Harris Fabrication gained unprecedented insight, access, and control into the business, enabling them to improve their day-to-day operations and focus on growth. Exact is delivering solutions that really make a difference; reflecting the sole focus of their original founder in developing a solution that correctly and appropriately manages the challenge of a ‘job shop’ manufacturer.

For the immediate future, Exact intends to focus on business analytics that is critical for manufacturers to have full insight into key business processes and metrics in real-time. The company will also be making key investments in upgrading its baseline technology to take advantage of the latest knowledge and expertise in the market that will allow users to have the most-up-to-date user experience and drive greater efficiency in their daily tasks. “We will enhance our product features and smart shop floor apps to enable quicker and more efficient data acquisition from the shop floor,” concludes Lechleitner.