The air was brisk in Boston, but the manufacturing was red hot. Boston is the largest and capital city of the state of Massachusetts and home to some of the most passionate people in America. I saw and felt this passion for the city and manufacturing at the Design & Manufacturing New England Expo.

The event had nearly 400 exhibitors with the vast majority of them focused on machine building or tooling companies for the electronics, medical, and aerospace industry serving over 4,000 attendees from nearly every industry imaginable.

Each and every manufacturer I spoke with, whether a machinist, production manager, CFO, or owner, all had common heartburns to address – increase automation, improve profitability, and increased competition.

Global Shop Solutions has been helping small- and medium-sized manufacturers simplify their manufacturing for nearly 40 years. Achieving a simplified manufacturing process improves your profitability and increases your ability to compete. In order to get there you need to perfect many things…but not all at once.

Many of the manufacturers I spoke with are evaluating ERP software due to a failed implementation or failed continuous improvement strategy. We like to keep it simple. First, we train you, then train you, and train you some more, because the more you know about our software and how other customers are using it the better a user you will be and the better your business will be. Global Shop Solutions ERP Software University has three pillars with the vast majority of it free to you as a customer.

  • Friday Features – in-depth online training for FREE nearly every Friday at 10 am central taking you from quote to cash in the spring and the fall.
  • Power Up You ERP – face-to -face and online events for FREE taking you from quote to cash in one day.
  • ERP Boot Camp – face-to-face classroom style training for FREE teaching you the basics.

Just like a strong home, a successful ERP software implementation requires a strong foundation. That foundation comes in the form of accomplishing the big three during the first phase of your implementation – accurate inventory, accurate costs, and flow operations data to an accurate financial statement in real time. Once you accomplish those three results and perform it over and over again flawlessly can you move your manufacturing to the next level. Knowing what materials and inventory you have, what it costs you to make product, and what your cash flow looks like you are already ahead of many of your competitors. We have a dedicated consulting team of over 50 professionals that average nearly 10 years manufacturing experience each helping you to simplify your manufacturing.

Next, in order to compete globally, reduce cost, and increase margin you need to automate. Automation can come in the form of setting up your facility so it is running 24 hours a day or in the form of making sure the screen you login to each day only has the fields and buttons on it that you need. Every manufacturer runs their facility differently and in order to achieve automation you require the ability to customize your software. We offer one of the only manufacturing software programs with a software development kit (SDK) that allows you to customize the software and screens to how your business runs. Additionally, we offer an app store with over 1,200 applications and reports that integrate directly with our ERP software. Talk about making it easy for you.

In summary it was a great show with passionate manufacturers from one of the great cities in America – Boston, MA. I look forward to seeing you at a tradeshow in the future. A big thank you to all of our great customers that stopped by to see us including Andy’s Machine, M&H Engineering, Axenics, and Advanced Precision.

Jimmy James Hunt is a Business Development Manager at Global Shop Solutions focused on the Eastern United States and Canada. Jimmy has been with the company for over 15 years and is one of the first points of contact by phone, email, or at industry tradeshows for a manufacturer looking to move from good to great with the help of ERP software.