ERP Software
for the Fabrication Industry

Acumatica Manufacturing Fabricated Metals

The metal fabrication industry is increasingly complex, between manufacturing items and construction of projects, businesses are relying on new processes to deliver products to customers on time and within tight budgets. In recent years, fabricators have faced many new pressures, from declining profits to accounting standard changes. Knowing this, many are finding that they can take control of their business with accounting solutions and ERP tailored for them.

The Fabrication Industry

Companies in the fabrication industry have a wide variety of unique needs. With so many different products and processes included in this industry ranging from simple to complex, repetitive to bespoke, and small to large, fabricators often need a custom solution.

  • Metal Cans and Shipping Containers
  • Cutlery, Hand-tools, and General Hardware
  • Heating Equipment, Except Electric and Warm Air
  • Fabricated Structural Metal Products
  • Screw Machine Products, Bolts, Nuts, Screws, Rivets, and Washers
  • Metal Forgings and Stampings
  • Coating, Engraving, and Allied Services
  • Ordnance and Accessories, Except Vehicles and Guided Missiles
  • Miscellaneous Fabricated Metal Products

What Should Metal Fabrication Businesses Look for in ERP Software?

Those in the fabrication industry have unique needs—a combination of manufacturing and construction.  Specifically, a system with project management, materials planning, and contracts, and often needing more than a traditional manufacturing-focused ERP can provide.  Read more on how a modern Cloud ERP is robust enough to bring everything together and flexible enough to handle necessary integrations for companies in your industry, and intuitive enough to the rapid changes to your business.

Acumatica for Fabrication: Taking Businesses into the Future

Acumatica is a powerful solution designed for businesses in the fabrication industry who need the flexibility to handle rapid contract and schematic changes, control over revenue recognition, and so much more.  Designed to integrate with a wide variety of other applications—both in the Acumatica ecosystem and beyond.

Acumatica gives your fabrication business the power to manage everything from manufacturing to construction while handling all aspects of project accounting; such as, budgeting, inventory, change orders, time sheets, billing, profitability, and reporting for individual business initiatives.

Key Benefits of Acumatica for Fabricators include:

Take Control of Project Costs

With powerful integration and automation, you can take control of project costs including materials, labor, services, and inventory.

Easy Billing and RevRec

Bill customers on your terms, not your software’s. With flexible billing functionality, you can vary rates and recognize revenue your way.

Budget, Revise, and Track

Use real-time reports to track project actuals vs. projected costs, helping your business take control of each fabrication project.

Make Changes with Ease

Fabrication projects can change quickly, and you need to change with them. Acumatica makes the change order process easy with business intelligence, workflows, and audit trails.

Simplify the Quoting Process

Manage complex quotes for your fabrication clients with powerful ERP/CRM integration. Create quotes, update them, and track versions. When approved, create projects and provide billing details.

Handle Multi-Currency

Fabricators often fit a niche—one that goes beyond borders. With Acumatica multi-currency, you can make the most of exchange rates, pay suppliers, and bill customers how they want.

5 Easy Steps to Job Costing

You can’t compete for new clients unless you can produce accurate estimates. And you can’t produce accurate estimates until you’ve mastered manufacturing job costing. But job costing is typically a long and complex process. What can you do to simplify it?  View the smart way to streamline project accounting for your manufacturing business.

Need More Features?

Depending on your specific business, some fabricators may need to leverage more unique features of the construction industry, taking on additional processes including prevailing wage, retainage, and subcontracts.

In-Depth Fabrication Project Management

Understand the true financial workings of projects, including opportunities, contracts, schedules, budgets, change orders, subcontracts and compliance.

Collaborative Document Management

Include more people in your document management of plans, contracts, specifications, submittals, emails, change orders, photos, spreadsheets, inspection reports, and more.

Keep Everyone Aligned

Whether it’s a job or sub-job, being able to track the timing, costs, and changes of every single fabrication project is a necessity for success. This extra layer of control helps fabricators see the big picture.

Manage Complex Financials

For fabricators, Acumatica Construction gives you more power to manage costs, payroll, overheads, profits, cash, and taxes accurately.

Bring it Together with CRM

Leverage built-in Acumatica or integrated CRM solutions for better collaboration with your customers, smarter quoting, and easier contract management.

Complex Cost Tracking

Gain insight into your cost budget, including cost to complete, cost at completion, and percentage of completion. Compare actual to budgeted figures.

Manufacturing’s Competitive Needs and ERP Flexibility

 

Small and midsized manufacturers have an advantage against larger companies: their flexibility. If you find that your company can change processes, manufacturing techniques, product designs, and production volume more quickly than many of your rivals, don’t lose that competitive advantage.

Instead, find manufacturing business software that gives you the same advanced functionality the “big guys” are using without the cost and complexity. Find out how in a new white paper from Acumatica.

ERP and 9 Strategies for Mid-Sized Manufacturer Growth

 

“Technology adoption does have a dramatic impact on your company’s bottom line….Rest assured that all of these technologies will impact any and all manufacturers sooner or later – and the odds favor sooner.”

To drive growth, manufacturers need to focus on what they do best: designing and manufacturing great products while providing exceptional customer service. The last thing they should ever have to worry about is their ERP software or connected business applications.

Learn More: Crestwood and Acumatica

As a top Acumatica Partner, we have the in-house resources that can make Acumatica work for you. Crestwood was awarded a position in the Acumatica President’s Club consistently since it started, was voted Acumatica Partner of the Year for two years in a row, and won the manufacturing partner award for 2019.  Our staff boasts a large Acumatica team, including veteran developers, MVPs, and functional consultants that have the know-how to configure your system to best suit your needs.

Whether you need Acumatica Manufacturing, Project Accounting, or Construction Edition at your fabrication business, we are one of the few vendors trusted to deliver both solutions. If you are ready to learn more about driving your fabrication business forward with the power of Acumatica, we invite you to learn more about our work and contact us here.

Acumatica and Presidents Club logo

Software Checklist:  Compare Different ERP Systems

Certain fabricators have very specific needs—and choosing the right ERP to fit your business can be a challenging task.  There are many products to choose from and they all seem to have the same or similar functions.  Use our evaluation checklist to quickly compare your top ERP choices side-by-side.

This checklist will help you:

  • Get more value from your construction management system.
  • Compare features and benefits across five key categories.
  • Avoid wasting money on functionality you don’t really need.
  • Minimize the risk of your ERP implementation.
  • Find a solution that boosts productivity across your workforce.

Curious about Crestwood? Learn more about us!