Blog

The Manufacturing and Microsoft Technology Conference is an online event designed to help today’s manufacturing leaders improve operations, gain insights, and reach goals through the strategic use of modern business technology solutions.

Time to Act. That’s what many companies are feeling now that manufacturing risks and vulnerabilities have been exposed by the pandemic. Parts shipments have been delayed from Asia. Freight rates have doubled. Markets have changed and demand has shifted wildly. The economy is uncertain. What do we do now? We will discuss global manufacturing strategies and reshoring of manufacturing and sourcing. It’s time to rebuild manufacturing in America.

Choosing a new ERP or CRM solution is a stressful endeavor for any manufacturer that has long-lasting implications that affect the entire organization. Learn the four keys to choosing the best ERP or CRM solution for your organization and how to evaluate software based on fit, platform, partner, and cost.

Technology has transformed the sales process, empowering teams to become more efficient by qualifying leads faster and closing more business. While the technology tools are available, the key to success lies within your sales process. Hear from Dave Stahlman, VP of Sales and Marketing, as he discusses how to use modern tools to reach your goals. He’ll discuss how Stoneridge has found success driving qualified leads through retargeted ads, customer profiles, predictive buying, and look-alike audiences. You’ll also hear how chat functionality, bots, surveys, and relationship-building activities help to build a loyal customer base.

Learn how to harness the power of your data to master the production floor. During this session you’ll learn how modern technology can empower you with:

• Real-time production reporting on the floor
• Master production scheduling
• Real-time monitoring
• System automation
• Demand forecasting to predict required materials and resources

Learn how all types of manufacturers – from lean to discrete, process, batch, and beyond – are able to benefit from Dynamics 365 and become more efficient, reduce downtime, increase production, and grow profits. This presentation will highlight the core areas in Dynamics 365 that have made it a leading platform in the manufacturing industry.

Go beyond reporting and use your data to discover your true financial state, gain insights into customer satisfaction, and find opportunities for optimizing operations. During this session, you’ll gain a new understanding of the power of data and how business intelligence and easy-to-read dashboards can help you reach your goals and move your business forward. Whether you want to shorten your order to delivery time, surface data to support growth, or close more opportunities, data can get you there.

Learn best practices for dispatching maintenance workers or service techs to resolve issues at your manufacturing operation, or at customer sites, more efficiently and effectively. By using technology to facilitate the planning, optimization, and dispatch of employees you can cut costs, reduce downtime, increase your first-time fix rate, and improve workforce productivity.

The task of selecting an MRP system that meets current and future business needs has always been viewed as a daunting task – and it is. Careers and businesses have been lost due to poor planning, rollouts and poor product selection processes from the vendor and on-site. Learn why so many manufacturing operations are choosing to implement MRP right now. You’ll learn how MRP can benefit your company and the strategies to make managing materials and meeting business goals easier than ever.

Lot management is an integral part of the manufacturing process for all batch manufacturers. Learn how technology can help even the most complex businesses with lot management. From container and serial number management to lot splitting and merging, you’ll see how a modern technology solution can help your operation become more efficient, effective, and accurate.

If you go to market through a distributor network you understand the importance of building and growing your network. Learn how Dynamics 365 can help you manage and retain your distributors and communicate more effectively with them. You’ll learn best practices for increasing sales through your direct sales organizations, brokers, and franchisees.

Many manufacturers have been held back by monolithic environments that are cumbersome, contain risky customizations, are expensive to maintain, and don’t offer data visibility for strategic reporting. Learn how IoT devices, smart factories, cloud computing, AI, machine learning, and data are changing businesses by providing an end-to-end solution to increase productivity, profits, and efficiency. It’s time to rethink IT at your manufacturing operation in 2021 and beyond.

From technology to strategy and project timelines, there are many sides to an ERP implementation. However, the most overlooked area may be the impact on your employees. During this session, Dr. Lawton-Thesing will dive into his doctoral dissertation examining the impact of ERP implementation on employee retention and satisfaction. You’ll hear real implementation stories and learn how you can avoid employee turnover and dissatisfaction during an ERP implementation at your organization.

Go beyond reporting and use your data to discover your true financial state, gain insights into customer satisfaction, and find opportunities for optimizing operations. During this session, you’ll gain a new understanding of the power of data and how business intelligence and easy-to-read dashboards can help you reach your goals and move your business forward. Whether you want to shorten your order to delivery time, surface data to support growth, or close more opportunities, data can get you there.

Today’s CFOs must be able to take financial data and use it to influence operational decision-making and strategy. Access to real-time, accurate data is key to producing the automated reporting and analytics required for forecasting, predictive analysis, and business insights. But how do you get started? Join Michelle Schumacher, CFO at Stoneridge Software, as she discusses strategies for getting started with BI. She’ll share insights for

• setting your BI vision and goals
• structuring your team to include reporting and hiring the right team member
• transitioning into data analysis and intelligent reporting
• structuring KPIs by departments
• determining a strategy for push and pull reports

With 100’s of ERP solutions on the market, how do manufacturers determine the solution (or solutions) that best meets their business requirements and goals? In this session, we will discuss what makes ERP so important and tips for a successful ERP selection. You will also learn about the most pervasive risks related to ERP implementation and how to address them.

Plante Moran is among the nation’s largest accounting, tax, and consulting firms and provides a full line of services including assurance, tax, consulting, and wealth management to organizations in the following industries: manufacturing and distribution, financial institutions, service, health care, private equity, public sector and real estate and construction.

To do business in today’s economy, cybersecurity is not a choice, it’s a necessity. With cybercrime at an all-time high, have you taken the necessary steps to protect company systems and client data from risk? Hear real-life scenarios of cyberattacks, recoveries, and what you can do to prevent them.

Join the Director of Security, Sean Todd from Network Center, Inc. to learn:

• What to do if you are breached
• Vulnerability best practices
• Policy health checkup

Quality and compliance are vital to increasing sales, ensuring long-term customer satisfaction, and remaining in good standing with regulatory requirements. Learn how Dynamics 365 and ProBatch are helping batch manufacturers capture electronic signatures, manage a secure audit trail, reconcile labels, manage inspection plans and samples, and much more. After this session, you’ll understand how a modern technology platform can ensure consistently high production quality and keep you in compliance.

ERP selection and implementation have defined many careers – some for the good, and others for the bad. Learn how to make calculated, data-driven decisions that will lead to a successful, on-time, on-budget project.

The number of assets that a manufacturing company relies on to continue production is far beyond what a single employee, or even a team of people, can manually track and manage. Learn how Dynamics 365 helps manufacturers effectively manage manufacturing assets, predict when machines need repairs, understand the true cost of production, and produce orders on time.

Companies who rely on Dynamics GP and Key2Act for their financial management and field service solutions are steadily moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central. With any business system change, it’s important to understand the financial implications and expected ROI.

During this session, you’ll hear an overview of how to budget for services during an upgrade and how you should plan.

• Data Migration Costs
• Implementation Services
• Change Management
• Training

Learn how batch manufacturing CFOs are using custom dashboards and intelligent business reporting strategies to make better financial decisions that lead to record level profits and a deeper understanding of the state of the business.

To run an efficient manufacturing operation, your machines and equipment need to be able to fulfill your orders. Learn how Dynamics 365 can help you predict when maintenance should be scheduled and automatically create work orders to help reduce downtime and keep production running.

About the Presenter:

Chris Elston is a Senior Consultant on the Dynamics AX/D365 FinOps team. Prior to joining Stoneridge, Chris spent his entire career at The Greenbier Companies, Inc., most recently as a Senior Dynamics AX Business Analyst.

Learn how Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management enables you to collect data from a variety of sources in order to analyze, summarize, and evaluate cost data. Learn how you can use this information to make key decisions related to price updates, budgets, cost controls and more.

About the Presenter:

Anne Kaese is a Senior Consultant and Analyst for the Dynamics AX/Dynamics 365 Enterprise team at Stoneridge Software. She was previously employed at HCL Inc. & Info Software where she was a Senior Analyst, Support Consultant and ERP, JIT and Finance subject matter expert.