Special Projects Manager, Erie Architectural
Production Coordinator, Cooke & Denison
“Manufacturers should absolutely use Sabre for their Business Central implementation. The team was very professional, responsive and extremely knowledgeable and that’s exactly what you need when you’re putting a project like this together. They provide good advice and helpful tips. You can tell they’ve gone through many implementations before. We found working with Sabre to do our implementation to be a very enjoyable process.”
VP Sales & Marketing, Engineered Lifting Systems (ELS)
An ERP system for custom manufacturing, design-to-order, or engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing has different requirements than one designed for repetitive manufacturing. Fortunately, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central includes many features that cater to custom manufacturing companies right out of the box. However, there are also areas where it falls short. That’s where Sabre ETO comes in—designed specifically to meet the unique needs of engineer-to-order, custom, and design-to-order manufacturers.
If you’re a design-to-order manufacturer considering an ERP like Business Central, understanding these differences is crucial for a successful implementation.
Interested in Business Central pricing? Read our detailed guide: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Pricing.
Engineer-To-Order is a term used most frequently in APICS and other professional organizations. It refers to a kind of manufacturing that is unlike the volume, repetitive and batch manufacturing that most other manufacturing falls under.
It can also be known as:
Engineer-To-Order Manufacturers (ETO) have unique ERP needs that differ from other modes of manufacturing. That’s why we have designed our Sabre ETO addon and Dynamics 365 Business Central training and implementation that is specific to the needs of ETO manufacturers. With over 30 years of experience helping engineer-to-order manufacturers, we are the go-to Dynamics Business Central partner for ETO in North America.
The Sabre ETO addon supports design to order Business Central projects, and also Custom Engineering or Custom Manufacturing Dynamics 365 projects.
We are experts with Microsoft Business Central and bring custom manufacturing best practices to our projects. Sabre has created the Sabre ETO Add-On, our Microsoft AppSource extension for Dynamics Business Central. In combination with this robust product, we use our unique implementation approach to ensure success for your custom engineering ERP implementation.
Our years of experience in Engineer-to-Order and custom manufacturing means you can trust us to understand your business, and focus on your needs without the struggle of explaining your processes to consultants who don’t “get it.”
The Sabre ETO Addon helps Project Manufacturers to import and control the full BOM structure. Every system including sub assemblies such as an index table can be independently managed and controlled.
Sabre ETO creates a Dynamics 365 Business Central ETO solution allowing Architectural Manufacturers to manage entire projects from a single dashboard.
Helping a project manager ensure that parts are available when required, and tracking assembly team progress is a key feature in the Sabre ETO addon.
Sabre Limited is all about helping ETO manufacturing companies improve through better technology.
We are experts with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central along with ETO manufacturing best practices. Sabre has created the Sabre ETO Add-On, our Microsoft AppSource extension for Business Central. In combination with this robust product, we use our unique implementation approach to ensure success for your ERP implementation.
Our years of experience in Engineer-to-Order means you can trust us to understand your business, and focus on your needs without the struggle of explaining your processes to consultants who don’t “get it.”
Explore the power of Dynamics 365 for ETO manufacturers in our expert video series. Discover how Sabre ETO can streamline your unique manufacturing processes and bring efficiency to your operations. Start watching now and transform your ETO operations with Dynamics 365 Business Central and Sabre ETO.
Microsoft Business Central streamlines and integrates every need of your manufacturing process from scheduling and planning, to distribution and inventory to financial management and project costing.
Project Costing
Engineer-to-Order are focused on projects, not widgets. The out-of-the-box project accounting modules of Business Central are ideal for tracking project completion, forecast, budget and actuals: before, during and after your project finishes.
Track the sales estimated costs as well as outstanding / committed costs on your projects.
Project BOM
Unlike the typical, static BOM used by production manufacturing – an ETO BOM is often in-flux and both more complex and detailed but less structured than traditional manufacturing. We leverage the standard project planning lines in Business Central to create and manage your ETO BOM.
Purchasing
The interactions between engineering or project management and purchasing can be an area of ETO manufacturing where communication must be carefully controlled. Sabre ETO allows the engineer and buyer to coordinate and have visibility into each other’s actions.
Manufacturing
Sometimes Dynamics Business Central ETO users also have manufacturing capabilities on-site, from a small job shop to a full fledged production floor. Planners can release project BOM elements directly to manufacturing – including using integrated MRP/MPS capabilities driven right off the project dashboard.
ETO businesses are driven by engineers, and in particular they rely on data originating in CAD systems such as AutoCAD, Inventor or SolidWorks.
Import BOM data from drawings into the Dynamics Business Central ETO solution via spreadsheet integration. Optionally utilize CADLink for an industry standard automated bi-directional integration with the most popular CAD systems.
Sabre ETO offers basic and enhanced BOM Management, and allows for the automatic creation of items directly from import data sources.
Microsoft Dynamics Business Central ETO manufacturers need to track labor broadly for their projects. This includes engineering time, technicians, field service staff and other non-traditional manufacturing workers.
In addition, ETO manufacturers sometimes need to track status of activities on different components and requirements of their projects.
With the Sabre ETO addon and the standard out-of-the-box capabilities of Business Central Projects, time and activity completion can easily be tracked in your manufacturing projects.
A less common type of Business Central ETO installation involves project manufacturing. At Sabre, we distinguish between other types of engineer-to-order and project manufacturing by the scale of the work.
Project manufacturing typically involves large scale custom design and engineering. For the size of company that would look at Business Central engineer-to-order for their project, manufacturing is sometimes done by sub-contractors but often the project manufacturer has a full manufacturing shop with complete production capabilities.
Occasionally, the business might also include specialized manufacturing techniques or materials that are unique to the project.
Projects can often span many years and sometimes tens of thousands of hours of work. The Sabre ETO addon for Business Central supports this kind of engineer to order manufacturing very well.
One area where Dynamics 365 Engineer to Order processes are required is in architectural manufacturing. Architectural manufacturing is a type of custom manufacturing typically involving creating building components and systems for construction projects. Examples are: companies that make curtain walls (window systems); structural steel assemblies (such as trusses and frames); and concrete elements like manholes or sewer pipes. You may even encounter manufacturers that pre-fabricate entire structures and deliver and then install them at the job site.
Using Business Central for architectural manufacturing is achieved with the Sabre ETO addon. Capabilities like sequencing delivery, including installation services, and tracking zones and locations for installation are standard.
Another form of engineer-to-order manufacturing that Business Central supports is industrial equipment manufacturing. This kind of custom engineering fabrication is a critical sector of the manufacturing industry. It focuses on the production of machinery and equipment used in various industrial processes.
Some industrial equipment is referred to as automation equipment or industrial automation. Examples are assembly centers, robotic cells and material handling cells.
Industrial equipment manufacturers can also sell heavy machinery used in construction and mining, more specialized equipment used in manufacturing, agriculture, and energy production. Industrial equipment manufacturing requires advanced engineering capabilities to produce high-quality products in these industrial applications.
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