SureFire MFG
SureFire MFG is a full featured window and door manufacturing package, including product configuration, order entry, factory scheduling, production paperwork (or paperless), machine interfacing, shipment planning, truck scheduling, dispatch, full inventory tracking and management, purchase order generation, receiving, invoicing, and factory service integration. SureFire MFG receives purchase orders electronically from customers using SureFire ONLine or SureFire PRO.
To be able to use SureFire MFG, manufacturers must have its products in a SureFire Product Definition. SureFire Systems, Inc. charges a fixed fee based on the products of the manufacturers to translate the manufacturer’s price books, catalogs, engineering, bills of material, and plant systems into a data base set unique to each manufacturer.
Order Entry Module
SureFire MFG is an easy to use tool for entering your customer orders. Standard functions that you would expect in any modern order entry system are present here – such as full field validations with pop-up help, complete customer information, shipment information, date information, and free-form note capability. The product definition entry runs in “Full Tutor” mode, whereby your order entry people are prompted for each product specification, and given a choice of the valid specifications on a context-based method. This “Tutor” mode guides the entry operator through the complete specification process that includes the capability to customize the product dimensions and specifications, and draws the product for review on screen. Once entered, the product specification accesses your product database information and the customer’s discount data to price the order quickly and accurately. But don’t let the terminology make you think that this system requires lots of time to specify a line item – SureFire MFG is also built for speed, with experienced operators entering lines as quickly as they can type. Of course, you get reporting about orders entered, total backlog, as well as checking proofs and drawing proofs to check your entry. All entered orders are in the Open Order pool awaiting selection for production.
Production Scheduling Module
With SureFire MFG, you decide what information you need to know to help you schedule your production runs. Quite often, a product line item must tally into several different planning buckets, for example, a line item entered as a window plus screen loads the window line and the screen line. SureFire MFG allows you to decide what you need to see to plan your production, and then gives you tools to “slot” orders by those needs. Orders are “slotted” into production days, or they can be simply committed to the next Production Run. Either way, SureFire MFG gives you information about the orders and customers you are about to commit to the plant.
SureFire’s factory documentation system provides all the necessary tools to operate the plant, provide information to purchasing, and provide detailed instructions about the order’s requirements, including interfacing to all your automated machinery such as CNC’s, glass cutters, saw stops, and muntin fabrication machines.
Production Documentation generation
SureFire MFG will create a full documentation package for the orders you have “slotted” under a production day. This documentation is based on your engineering data and your plant operation policies as loaded into your WorkCenters. For example, a DoubleHungAssemblyWorkCenter can be set to print out the production requirements by customer order or by descending size. You can decide to have SureFire MFG print a Product Label for each window, or a Quantity Label for each order line item. You can decide to report production for a WorkCenter, or not. The Glass Cutting work center might be set to sort its glass requirements based on the “Deliver To” work center, so that glass for Double or Single Hung and glass for Casement windows are separated in the WorkCenter. WorkCenter options are numerous, and a SureFire MFG specialist will sit down with your operations team to determine the best approach for each work center. Of course, the parameters can be tried and changed at any time, so you can experiment with what makes the most sense in your plant. A typical Production Documentation package consists of the WorkCenter requirements, Product Labels as specified, and Product Drawings as needed to communicate detailed or specific product configurations, along with the automatic printing of the Shipping and Staging documents for the package.
Production Reporting
SureFire MFG allows you to selectively decide which Work Centers must report their progress, and then change that decision at any time. We frequently advise manufacturers to first report only at the finished goods work centers, and then gradually implement deeper reporting back to fabrication and glass. For Work Centers that you decide you want reported, you can get reports showing both completions and open lines by WorkCenter. You can track production efficiently. SureFire MFG provides data entry screens to update the completion status of any line on a production schedule. SureFire MFG can also be set to require no production reporting at all, in which case the only required reporting is what you shipped to your customers.
Inventory Management
SureFire MFG provides tools to manage the task of keeping the plant supplied with the appropriate raw materials, and producing Finished Goods to an Inventory Plan. These tools start with your Engineering Data loaded into SureFire MFG that relates every order line to its raw material. SureFire MFG will post activity into the “Allocated” slot in the Inventory Master record for the raw materials needed on a Production Schedule. In addition, “Slotted” orders can be run against the inventory, providing a further look-ahead as to the needs of the plant. SureFire MFG maintains statistical information about raw material usage that together with vendor lead time, and can set Reorder points in the inventory system to ensure timely ordering of materials. A future booking method allows the allocation of a large job against current inventory levels to check for shortages. If capacity exists in a Product Line that has Finished Inventory defined, the production system will check what needs to be built, and fill the gap with inventory. The Stock Status report shows material shortages, and recommends purchase orders that the system can automatically create and issue. Full Purchase Order tracking of Open Orders and due dates helps keep the supply side of Inventory Management under control. Of course, SureFire MFG keeps track of your raw material costs in order to help manage the inventory investment and provide accurate product costs. When Vendor Invoices arrive for the items purchased, a check between the P/O price and quantity as listed on the SureFire MFG P/O receiving report and the Vendor price is performed, with any required updates being performed in SureFire MFG. The Vendor Invoice is then transferred via interface to your existing accounting package for payment processing. The Inventory system is fully integrated, and supports Cycle Counts using Frozen Counts to allow the system to keep working while inventory quantities are being tallied.
Shipment Reporting
SureFire MFG produces Shipping Paperwork as part of its Production Documentation package. These Shipping Docs are used to stage and ship the product to your customers. SureFire MFG supports full shipment reporting by line, including partial quantities and the generation of back order shippers. Back-Order reports can be run showing the orders and items not shipped.
Shipments are managed on a truck-by-truck basis, utilizing bar code technology, both on and off the truck. Branch receipts are verified via bar code or manually
Invoice Creation
SureFire MFG allows you to Invoice an order at any time, either complete or using partial quantities by line item. Invoicing can also be automatically linked directly with Shipment Reporting. With Partially Billed orders, SureFire MFG automatically ‘remembers’ what parts of the order have been invoiced, and only allows you to invoice the remaining items. Full invoices are printed and sent to the customer. SureFire MFG will then interface with your Accounts Receivable system to post the invoices into the A/R system to eliminate having to re-key the totals manually.
- Full Order Entry using your products and price book