Why the name SmallMfg

I want to be big, I do not want to stay SMALL so why SmallMfg.  We chose this name to define who our software is for, Small manufacturers, but did you know the government defines a small business as companies with less than 500 employees.  There are a lot of you small manufacturers out there, many more then big companies.  We even hear in the “news”, that most jobs are in these small companies.  So we are built for the small business usually 20-100 employees, but specifically for companies the build stuff.  Either assembly, machine, bend, bake and cut parts to make other parts.  If you have a list of items or steps to make it we are focused on you.  This list of items is often referred to as bill of material and the list of steps is a planner or routing tasks.  So if you are a manufacturing or job shop we have integrated shop and inventory management with accounting to give a complete solution at a SMALL PRICE.

SmallMFG proves the point that great things come in little packages.

We are a manufacturer in the home furnishings industry for bed linens, pillows, sheets, and draperies. 95% of our products are made to order, so the most important part of our business is managing the inventory of our raw materials.

We were using Pro Series ACCPAC for running our business, but found that we were wasting a lot of time just looking up information about inventory. We had to keep switching modules to find simple information like quantities on purchase order or allocated for manufacturing.

In searching for a new system, I ran demo copies of 8 different systems ranging in size and price from DBA Manufacturing to MAS 90. I kept finding the same issue of not getting information easily, without switching from one module to another, until I tried SmallMFG. The Item Status screen (below) sold me on this system. From one screen I could look up anything I wanted to know about a particular item, what was in inventory by warehouse, quantities on PO, SO, and WO allocations. I could see who ordered what, and even modify orders if necessary. With one more click I could view the transaction history of the item.

Dan Ryan
LEGACY HOME / RYAN STUDIO

Light Work Orders vs. Advance Work Orders

These terms come from another database program we worked with and they refer to two different ways of showing labor on the WO. The “Light” WO uses labor type part numbers in the bill of material. This was usually represented by so many units of labor, hours or minutes, to build a single assembly. The great part was when issuing labor to a work order it was just done during the material issuing, whether back-flushing or regular issuing. The actual cost would then include a “standard” amount of labor without entering in time cards for employees. The down side was you had these non-inventory “Labor” part numbers on the bill of materials. This can add confusion since it is a bill of materials not a bill of labor.

On the flip side “Advanced” work orders utilized a “Routing” or a planner to document the amount of labor per assembly and added the ability to record projected setup time per batch. This separated the labor operations into a different format than the bill of material and allowed space to specify detailed assembly directions. The good and bad also came from the opportunity to “Job Cost” because employees could record their time and therefore cost to each labor operation. This detail information comes at a cost of processing all the labor with data entry. We have typically recommended the “Advanced” method because of the benefits of detail instructions and separating labor information from the materials needed. However, we have not always recommended recording the actual labor therefore the labor cost was missing in the inventory value.

As we have attempted to provide for a good or smooth transition path for all our customers, we are adding a hybrid of this scenario. Take the good of separating the material from the labor by recording the time required information in the routing “Tasks” yet have the system that adds standard labor cost automatically or manually by a system- wide setting. The setup is the same no mater which method you choose. Add Resources which are Work centers that have labor and overhead cost. Create routing tasks with an amount of hours per part and setup time required. Flip the switch and labor records will be created to show the “standard” labor on a manufacturing order. This is done in the Manufacturing Receipts. Labor records to a “generic” employee which will show the cost. This will help in the financials as well since it will record the “expected” labor that can be compared to actual labor cost.

Scheduling tool saves time...

Techno Resource, makers of SmallMfg software, is an innovative company! We at Exact Aerospace asked them if they could add a shipping schedule within SmallMfg that would help us to track the progress of our jobs as they flow from receiving to shipping. The guys jumped at the opportunity. They were able to give us an easy and flexible way to view our jobs in real time. This innovative idea has saved me about 12 hours a week, which is time I can use to be more productive on other items.

Thanks for a great job and for your support.

Mike Herman
Q.A. Manager
Exact Aerospace

Co-op Mentality

This is how we approach a request for changes to the program. One user’s request can benefit the whole user group. So we ask some questions to understand this:

Will this change help others using the program?
How will other users benefit from this change?

It also affects the price we quote. If it is very specific to you and your company then you will need to carry the "burden" for most of the cost to make the changes. In the case where most of our users will gain from the proposed improvement we will price it at a fraction of the actual cost.

All the new features requested during the year are return to the rest of SmallMfg users with the regular updates. These updates are covered with the 10% maintenance fees. So you pay the “membership” fees and get the benefits of the co-operative.

Another method to Customize - Utilities

SmallMfg now has utilities per module.  This way only user having security access will be able to run "their" utilities.  You will find the menu option under "Other", Custom - Utility.  This utility leverages the similar logic in custom query and custom charts.  Create an SQL update or insert statement that needs to be run on a regular basis and save it in the Query editor.  Here is an example of how this was used at one of our customers:

"TechnoResources implemented a custom utility query that enables setting credit hold on customers with past due invoices that are 25 days over the Net Term. We gave them simple guidelines such as what formula to use e.g. past due 25 days = net term 30 days + past due 25 days = AR Aging 55 days. The batch process can be done by a few simple clicks, and the process takes only a few seconds. This saved me (AR administrator) about half an hour a week for managing about 300 customers. This function is so useful so we asked them to implement another utility take credit hold off customers when they’ve paid off invoices that are past due 25 days. Once again, this saves me a lot of time in releasing credit hold after I post daily AR payments. On top of that, this process can be executed by other users very easily while I am away."
-Cindy Hayes
Accounts Receivable
Great Western Ink

Custom Query Screen

There is always something missing.  Our program will not be an exception to that rule, however we provide multiple ways of adding custom elements to get you what you need.  In addition to creating custom reports using Crystal Reports Writer, we offer Custom Query Screens. 

These can be found in each of the modules to seperate by topic and additional user security.  Any "Select" SQL statement can be used to present the data you want in the format desired.