While Dynamics has the ability to serve both styles, it is extremely strong in discrete manufacturing. Similar to the manufacturing industry as a whole, the discrete segment has its own segments with their own particular needs and requirements. The most common are Make to Order and Make to Stock.
Make to Order (MTO) – In this style, the manufacturer waits until a customer places an order before production begins. Dynamics manufacturing has powerful tools to assist MTO manufacturers:
- MO – SO Link – The ability to directly tie a manufacturing order to a customer order. This ensures that manufacturing produces exactly what customer wants, when they want it.
- Configured Bills of Material – When a customer places an order in a MTO environment, they may need to specify specific features and option. This can be managed in sales order processing seamlessly through the Dynamics GP configurator, to create customer specific Bills of Material.
Make to Stock (MTS) – A MTS manufacturer tries to keep enough inventory on hand to satisfy any customer order and ship the product immediately after the order is placed. MTO manufacturers also have tools in Dynamics to assist them:
- MRP – Material Requirements Planning is the key to the success of a MTS manufacturer. Accurate MRP will allow a company to predict trends and keep inventory levels as low as possible while being able to quickly service the customer.
- Forecasting – A MTS manufacturer does not wait until a customer places an order, they rely on understanding their order history and trends to determine the appropriate stocking levels of not only the finished goods, but raw material as well. By accurately forecasting sales, a MTS manufacturer and also accurately create production schedules.