True project manufacturers are a mix of traditional manufacturing and ETO. They could be a large industrial equipment manufacturer who's products or jobs result in sufficient volume that they begin to standardize. They track everything against projects, and need robust shop floor manufacturing control with labor barcoding. They release work orders to full production and record completion as well as materials used. They have stock and inventory that is used for their manufacturing.

Project manufacturing involves the production of a number of truly manufactured products that results in several pain points.

• Standard ERP do not handle the volume of deliveries sometimes required by these companies.
• A mix of traditional "invoice when shipped" and progress invoicing can be part of the projects.
• Installation and service of the products are often involved, which many manufacturing systems do not handle well.
• A large number of traditional production orders need to be coordinated and brought together for the final project.
• Engineering design needs to be clearly estimated and quoted at the project level.
• Engineering and other high-skill time is often a major part of the cost but not well captured.
• A combination of both standard manufacturing and project level tracking.
• Unlike some other ETO, a Project Manufacturer might carry a large amount of standard inventory for manufacturing.
• Often lost in Excel sheets to track progress and costs

Sabre ETO with Dynamics Business Central supports a number of features that are specifically designed for project manufacturing. Sabre ETO has designed to enhance the out-of-the-box Business Central system without dramatically changing it's function.

Here are some benefits of Dynamics Business Central ETO in this sub-type of manufacturer.

• Sabre ETO Planning Lines can be individually scheduled and categorized for delivery management.
• Full inventory management and warehouse control within Business Central.
• MRP and other production manufacturing modules.
• Mass data load of engineering details into the system allows end to end tracking and replaces Excel sheet hell.
• Advanced CAD loading tools allow the creation of component BOM simultaneously with the Project build.
• Standard Business Central production manufacturing or requirement level task tracking is supported.
• Integration with standard Business Central time tracking addons, or basic time cards fully supported.
• Standard Business Central manufacturing (light or full) integrated with Project Costing and management simplifies processes.

There are a number of unique challenges in this space. From the outside, an architectural manufacturer may look like a high volume production manufacturing company. The reality is that many of these businesses have extremely high product variation - with many variants in small quantities.

Their customers are notorious for not holding to schedules (due to weather and many other causes). Here are some major pain points:

• Complex delivery schedules constrained by space and sequencing at the job site.
• Requirement to track section, pallet, truck level logistics and coordinate with the installers/GC
• Very high product variation between modules produced for the job site
• Large up front purchases of mass or bulk product specific to the job such as aluminum extrusion or concrete aggregates…
• A combination of both standard manufacturing and project level tracking.
• Requirement to track both Lower skilled shop floor staff and highly skilled engineering staff
• Often lost in Excel sheets to track progress and costs

The Sabre ETO solution and Dynamics Business Central offer a number of features that are specifically designed to support this kind of manufacturing. Sabre ETO has been used successfully in these kinds of businesses, and has been enhanced in critical ways to support the unique requirements.

Here are some benefits of Dynamics Business Central ETO in this sub-type of ETO.

• Sabre ETO Planning Lines can be individually scheduled and categorized for delivery management.
• Mass data load of engineering details into the system allows end to end tracking and replaces Excel sheet hell.
• Both finished items and raw materials can be tracked, including customer owned materials / consigned materials.
• Standard Business Central production manufacturing or requirement level task tracking is supported.
• Integration with standard Business Central time tracking addons, or basic time cards fully supported.
• Aggregate/Job level time and material tracking can be used to simplify the process - eliminating the need for overwhelming production or manufacturing orders.

The traditional manufacturing ERP offers some but not all features required by this kind of ETO. The focus on production orders (work orders, manufacturing orders) in a typical ERP often causes issues as the level of detail required is much less than these systems are intended for. Common pain points are:

• A need to release long lead time parts to purchasing before the engineering design is even completed.
• Ensuring the use/re-use of items left over from previous projects.
• Tedious and sometimes unworkable entry of BOM data and creation of items.
• Inappropriate time collection systems for engineers and skilled trades.
• Complicated progress invoicing and dispositioning processes that are not well tracked.
• Requirement to locate old jobs as "samples" or "copies" to be used in new jobs.
• Extensive outsource manufacturing - either fully outsourced or materials supplied and labor outsourced.

The Industrial Equipment manufacturer benefits from features out of the box from Business Central, as well as capabilities of the Sabre ETO solution and/or other addons.

The following features tend to be of great benefit to this ETO category.

• Easily add and release long-lead-time parts to purchasing
• Begin manufacturing, purchasing and production while engineering is still on-going
• Mass import and dynamically create large numbers of parts
• Simple time sheets for high skilled shop floor and engineering staff
• Unlimited invoicing flexibility without requirement for shipping.
• Easy managing of ad-hoc expenses against the project
• Keyword search to find similar projects
• Easily track activity status against real items or milestone items/requirements.