Manufacturing inventory management software is an important tool that manufacturers can use to save money and operate more efficiently. You can instantly create many types of bills of materials, work orders, manufacture orders, and more to help you streamline the manufacturing process.
With manufacturing inventory software, like Fishbowl, you can monitor inventory levels in real time, manage inventory in multiple warehouses, train employees to help with inventory management, and much more. All of these things help you keep costs down, spend your money wisely, and avoid making mistakes, like overstocking on slow-moving products.
The main features of Fishbowl’s manufacturing inventory software include:
Advanced options in bills of materials for manufacturing jobs
A bill of materials is a list of parts needed to create a finished product, and it comes in many forms, including a recipe for a certain food item or a chemical formula. Fishbowl expands on the simple list format by allowing you to add instructions to each step of the manufacturing process in a bill of materials. You can also add multiple production stages to a bill of materials, indicating each step that has to be completed before moving on to the next. And that’s just scratching the surface. Variable quantities, one-time items, and option groups can all be added to a bill of materials.
Manufacture orders can house multiple work orders
Completing production orders incorrectly creates issues throughout your production process. It can also set inventory tracking in total disarray. Manufacture orders help you organize multiple work orders to create greater efficiency. You simply select the specific job that you want to use the manufacture order for, and then choose the appropriate bills of materials, or work orders, to add to the manufacture order. Then it’s as simple as issuing the manufacture order to start picking and finishing the work order. This feature ensures work orders are completed correctly and on time, and inventory retains the ideal inventory level.
Convert sales orders into manufacture orders
Whether your business stocks finished goods or runs a made-to-order manufacturing process, Fishbowl allows for your sales orders to automatically initiate manufacture orders. This feature allows you to keep cost-effective quantities of finished goods stocked, without overstocking or wasting precious storage space.
Automatically generate purchase orders for out-of-stock items on a manufacture order
If you run into a situation where you don’t have enough raw material in stock to fulfill a manufacture order, Fishbowl notifies you of the deficiency and automatically creates a purchase order for the item. This will speed up the reorder process and ensure the delay is as short as possible.
Create work orders for a variety of jobs, like disassembly and maintenance
Fishbowl recognizes that work orders aren’t just there to manufacture new products. Sometimes, you need to take a returned product apart, or add new parts to it, to meet a customer’s specifications. Fishbowl allows you to not only use its work orders to manufacture products, but also to disassemble, repair, replace, and customize parts and products in the warehouse.
Estimate final costs for products
Fishbowl integrates with accounting solutions, like QuickBooks and Xero, as well as other core business platforms, which allow you to get a 360-degree of how your inventory levels, purchase orders, and sales activities impact your cashflow. When inventory is ordered, received, sold, and shipped, your Fishbowl automatically updates the relevant portions of your tech stack, which gives you a real-time view of quantities enroute, on hand, in production, and more. This level of visibility enables you to determine the landed costs of materials and inventoried goods.
Separate the receipt of physical goods from cost reconciliation considerations, like shipping, taxes, and fees. You can then adjust costs and include additional fees to calculate the true landed cost of received goods. With all this data at your fingertips, you’re able to set appropriate prices that increase your bottom line.
Print invoices and packing lists for fast delivery
Fishbowl integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks and Xero accounting software, which enables you to quickly make changes to the general ledger and generate the appropriate invoices to include with shipments. In addition, Fishbowl has the ability to verify shipping addresses (through a USPS integration) and print packing lists and shipping labels.
The right tools for the job
Fishbowl offers all of the tools manufacturers need to improve their operations and stay ahead of the competition.