Crowe Metals Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Product Information Management

Dynamics 365 and Crowe Metals Accelerator (“CMA”), provides a robust framework for managing product lists by utilizing product variants, attributes, and specifications. Here is how it enhances products:

• Product Variants and Attributes: Dynamics 365 allows for the creation of product variants and attributes that can be configured to meet both internal and customer/vendor needs.
• Product Specifications: CMA adds product specifications to enable the configuration of min/max values and tolerances at the item level. This is crucial for industries where precise measurements are essential, allowing for adjustments on an order-by-order basis.
• Pricing Flexibility: Companies can set up pricing strategies based on product or inventory dimensions or tie them to commodity indices like the LME or CME. This flexibility is vital for industries affected by fluctuating commodity prices, as it allows for real-time updates to commodity pricing and adjustments on open orders as needed.
• Multiple and Dynamic Units of Measure: CMA supports multiple and dynamic units of measure, accommodating materials that are handled in various units. This is particularly beneficial for supply chain management, where different units of measure are often used for purchasing, stocking, and selling products.

These features collectively enable companies to streamline their product management processes, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and responsiveness to market changes.

Inventory Management

Inventory management in Dynamics 365 with CMA allows for plans and controls to be set from the raw material to the customer’s finished goods. CMA offers extensions to the Dynamics 365 base in the following areas:

• Inventory usage and position: The inventory workbench allows users to see inventory usage by dimension, product dimension, attribute, or tag number.
• Clarifying tag availability: When using soft and hard reservations on transactions, users can specify the tag level to which material is assigned. 
• Viewing weight in key places: transactions such as sales order and transfers are updated with the ability to see weight per line and weight per order based on a set unit conversion.

Master Planning

Dynamics 365 offers the ability to optimize material usage with planning optimization. Companies can run master planning and have it suggest orders (purchase, production, transfer) to help fulfill demand in the system. Planning optimization offers the ability for real-time planning and provides suggestions based on material delays or resource constraints. Master planning works as an all-inclusive process keeping the buying, manufacturing, and selling sides in sync with one another.

Warehouse Management

The Warehouse and Transportation Management modules in Dynamics 365 offer comprehensive solutions for managing the flow of materials and products within a supply chain. Here is an overview of their capabilities:

• Predefined Logic: Allows for the setup of warehouses with predefined storage and movement logic, ensuring efficient put-away and picking processes.
• Mobile integration: Supports integration with mobile devices and scan guns for both receiving and shipping, enhancing flexibility and efficiency in warehouse operations. 
• Shipment and Load Planning: Provides tools for shipment and load planning, giving shipping personnel better visibility of outbound orders and aiding in the reduction of shipping and distribution costs.

CMA Enhancements:

• Cross-docking: This feature supports advanced planned cross-docking, directing inventory straight from receipt or production to the correct outbound dock or staging area, bypassing the regular put-away process when possible.
• Flexible packaging and bundling: This process integrates flexible packaging and bundling requirements into the production process, accommodating various product configurations and delivery needs. 

These modules work in tandem to streamline operations, from receiving raw materials to distributing finished goods, ensuring that companies can manage their inventory effectively and respond swiftly to market demands.