One of the more crucial aspects of being in the manufacturing industry is finding an efficient way to conduct scheduling. Having your company's time laid out in an organized and productive fashion could be the difference between seeing a loss and a profit in the bottom line come year's end. Kenneth Hamlett of The Houston Chron​icle recently laid out some common techniques businesses employ when deciding how they will schedule their operations.

The first tactic that Hamlett outlines is the "chase strategy, " which he describes as when companies "produce only enough goods to meet or exactly match the demand for goods." The next step up, says Hamlett, is "level production," where a company projects the average amount of goods demanded over a certain period of time and always produces enough goods for that average, hoping that surpluses in production here and there will make up for times of goods shortages.

Hamlett goes on to list "make-to-stock," defined as when goods are always produced before customers' orders. A related but different option is "make-to-order," when companies "produce goods after receiving an order from the customer," something that's often reserved for businesses that deal in "one-of-a-kind goods."

Lastly, "make-to-assemble" is a strategy employed that allows for consumer customization of specific orders. This is the status quo for companies ranging from the fast food to the automobile manufacturing industries.

Whichever approach you take, scheduling logistics are undeniably time-consuming. That's why having a manufacturing ERP software is an enormous boon to any business trying to produce goods in a cost-effective manner.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is the industry leader when it comes to enterprise resource planning for small to mid-size manufacturing businesses, and we at Accent Software have the expertise to implement, customize and help you manage it. If your Indiana, Ohio or Kentucky business is looking to streamline its inner workings, get in touch with us.