Choosing the right ERP software should maximize the efficiency and productivity of every functional area of your business. In a crowded ERP solution marketplace with confusing messages, it takes a methodical approach to match the right solution to your business. This involves clearly defining your purpose, assessing your business requirements, and having qualitative and quantitative objectives. It requires an…
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Accounting is how you know if your job shop is doing well or not. And it’s about more than whether you’re making money. Accounting gives you a look into how your shop is doing, provided you have the in-depth reporting to tell you. Decision-making If you have accurate, real-time accounting data, you can make better decisions for your shop….
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Buying an ERP system isn’t something you can do quickly if you want to get a good fit. It’s a process. However, it doesn’t have to be complicated or take a long time. Below are four questions you can ask to help search more effectively. What does your shop need? You can’t buy the right software if you don’t know what your shop’s needs…
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Getting customers to feel warm and fuzzy about their job shop often isn’t on an owner’s radar. However, owners of small shops know how important it is to have great customer service. Providing great customer service will help your customers feel more connected to your shop, which will bring them back when they have other jobs. So how…
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Choosing new ERP software can be a long process, and after you’ve chosen your software, you want to make sure your employees use it. Even if you’ve picked the right software for your shop, you may end up not using that software you spent so long picking out if you don’t have a plan. Read below for our list…
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ERP software can make a huge difference in a shop by raising the bottom line, increasing productivity, improving quality, and many other things. However, ERP software can also help a shop before it’s even implemented. ERP software can help your shop, but it tends to magnify whatever already exists. So, to get the biggest impact…
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Spring is often the time we start cleaning out homes and making them look nice. This spring, consider cleaning up your shop’s operations and making them more efficient. Below are four tips to help you. Track Important Data To make your shop more efficient, you have to determine how you’re going to measure that. Do you want to send out more…
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Data collection is often an unsung hero of ERP software, but it’s what we build everything else on. Putting good data into your ERP system means getting good information out. First Tool Corporation and Rapid Design Group both saw first-hand what data collection could do for their shops. First Tool Corporation First Tool Corporation has seen some great changes from data collection….
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This past year has been hard on small businesses. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council partnered with TechnoMetrica to survey small businesses and find out what impact software on the cloud had on their businesses. Their cloud software helped a large majority in various ways. The two biggest ways it helped them were by keeping their shops open…
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Virtual meetings have become huge over the past year, and they’re here to stay. Even after we can gather in groups again, customers may still opt for the convenience of a virtual meeting rather than an in-person meeting. This means you might be making your first impression through a computer screen rather than in person. Make…
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Things change quickly in job shops, and it’s important to make sure everyone can keep up. However, it’s hard to talk to people on the shop floor while social distancing. The more your shop is optimizing for things like profitability and meeting due dates, the more often you might need to communicate with the folks on the…
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While legacy ERP software is better than spreadsheets, it’s not nearly as good as ERP software that is still getting updated. As technology continues to advance, having unsupported ERP software means that your shop is falling behind. You could also lose some of the functionality that you already have. Far from helping your shop, legacy…
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On the surface, low volume, low-value RFQs from unfamiliar customers may seem like a waste of time for your machine shop. They’re too small to bring in as much profit as larger orders, and you don’t want to take time to figure out a quote for a new job. However, these jobs can be a…
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If you’re looking for a way to make your shop better, you’ve probably heard of ERP software. You’ve also probably heard that it helps with efficiency and that it helps get more jobs out on time. But that doesn’t really tell you what it is. It doesn’t have to be hard to get a straight…
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If you haven’t yet reached the deduction limit for section 179, there are less than two months to make your purchases. You don’t want to leave money on the table. There have been a few changes to this section of tax law for 2020 to continue to help businesses. This article gives a quick overview…
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2020 has hit hard. As manufacturers reopen and continue to find ways to keep their employees safe and their machines running, efficiency and improvements become even more important. Technology can help any job shop become more efficient and keep it running. Below are three ways ERP software can assist a shop post-lockdown to run even…
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When choosing ERP software, it’s important to consider support. Most vendors will have phone lines available for support, but there are times when different methods are better. Sometimes it’s best to make answering your question a group effort. Shoptech’s E2 Customer Community truly is a community of Shoptech customers that allows them to come together…
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Every year, the first Friday of October is MFG Day. MFG Day is a time for shops to show off what they can do, and for curious people to learn more about them. Like with so many other events this year, MFG Day 2020 is going to look a little different. Fortunately, the people behind…
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Over the years, ERP software has been changing to help fit its users’ needs. Most recently, those needs have made software that is safe, accessible, and smart. Imagine being able to hold all of the information you need to run your shop in the palm of your hand, and access it from anywhere. What if…
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Running a job shop is difficult work, and each has specific needs. However, there are four building blocks, along with a good ERP software, that can help any job shop. With accurate invoicing, a broad customer base, great customer relationships, and efficient scheduling, any job shop will have a great foundation to succeed. Accurate Invoicing…
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Many people have been working from home over the past few months, and one of the side effects they’ve seen is fewer meetings. There’s a joke that many meetings could have just been emails. Now people are seeing the truth behind that. There are many things in a machine shop that you can’t do from…
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Cost estimating software, in a nutshell, helps your machine shop send out estimates or quotes that are consistent and have the right profit margin for your shop. Being able to do this with software makes your life, and the life of your estimator, much easier. Using cost estimating software in an ERP system can help…
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We’re going to continue to see the impact from COVID-19 for a long time. Your shop has probably already had to make changes, and you may have to make more. As long as you’re making changes in your shop, it may be time to think through some improvements you’ve been considering. These improvements can be…
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There’s been a lot of upheaval and changes in the last few months. For some manufacturers, they have fewer employees working, but a similar amount of work to get done. Whether these employees are out on sick leave, were laid off, or any other reason, that leaves the shop owner to figure out how to…
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Everyone is looking for answers because this pandemic is uncharted territory. Decision Makers are doing their best with the information they have, but it’s hard to come up with the best solution if you don’t know the options. There are best practices for running a shop during the pandemic, and you can apply them to…
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If you are a current customer with a support question, please email shoptech-techsupport@ecisolutions.com directly.
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