Visibility and Altico Address the Challenges Faced by To-order Manufacturers

In an interview today with Ken Rayment of Better Process Podcasts, Mike Kean, President of Altico Advisors and Steve Carson, Executive Vice President of Sales at Visibility Corporation, discussed the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry, and specifically those faced by manufacturers of complex products. Kean and Carson further addressed some of the ways that manufacturers are meeting these challenges and the solutions they have found for maintaining a competitive edge in the global marketplace.

Rayment opened the discussion with a question on the challenges faced by small to mid-sized manufacturers in high mix/low volume environments. Rayment sees manufacturing heading in this direction, given the need for specialized products and services to be delivered. Kean and Carson replied that mid-market manufacturers today are often selling to global markets and have to manage large bills of materials. To compete, they have to be able to provide a high level of service, deliver fast turnaround, and adjust quickly to changing demands.

As the interview progressed, Rayment, Kean and Carson focused on more of the specific demands and solutions; how fully integrated systems allow companies to compete and deliver cost effectively. One key point was made regarding the ability to track the profitability of each project in real time and ensure that the company is reflecting true costs when quoting on similar projects in the future. This business critical data can be lost or take too long to extract when disparate systems are not integrated.

VISIBILITY.net ERP is built on the Microsoft®.NET platform and runs on a Microsoft® SQL Server database or Oracle. Critical data flows from the production modules into the financial application and from the front end order entry system into all of the back end systems. Jobs can be tracked from start to finish, inventory levels are maintained properly, and profitability is calculated in real time.

When asked about the size of companies using VISIBILITY.net ERP, Kean and Carson explained that while it is an ideal solution for mid-market manufacturers with complex environments, it will scale to much larger companies as well as divisions of even the largest enterprises where a given division may have significant complex manufacturing requirements that are not being met by the system that the parent company is running.

For a link to this informative podcast, visit the Visibility homepage @ www.visibility.com.

About Visibility
Visibility Corporation (www.visibility.com) is a leading developer and supplier of business software solutions designed for the unique needs of project-based, engineer-to-order and to-order manufacturers. Visibility's Enterprise Application solutions help midsize manufacturers of complex products operate their businesses effectively.