Suggestions for Manufacturing Accounting Systems

Go to DBAManufacturing.com. I have used this software in a small (5 million annual revenue & 50 employees) manufacturing environment. It's not perfect, but it works and it's much less expensive than large software packages that are $100K + and must be tailor fit with many upgrades. But it is much better than working with off the shelf softwares like Peachtree & Quickbooks and patching the gaps together with spreadsheets. Hope this helps.

I would recommend PLEX. It is a well thought out software with a lot of options and gives you the ability to grow.

Check out JOBBOSS. It is made for small to medium sized manufactures and is not real expensive. It is made by Exact Software.

I have used QAD, Inc. in Southern California several times, with good results usually. They assign a project manager who will lead you through the set-up phase, but it's good to have one or two internal people really take ownership of the conversion and the day to day transactions. Getting the "right" PM for your company and group is crucial...

Full disclosure. I am the President & CEO of Expandable Software. Our focus is manufacturing companies with strong enough capabilities to handle the strict FDA regulations/requirements that about 1/3 of our installed base are Medical Device companies. Our installed base includes pre-revenue through multi-billion. Our main competitors are Epicor, QAD, Microsoft Dynamics, and Syspro so I suggest you look at those as well.

I put together the evaluation for our company on making this same type of purchase a few years ago. We are a small manufacturer, and after extensive research we decided to go with Global Shop Solutions www.globalshopsolutions.com. We found them to be priced competitively, and allow for extensive customization and expansion as your company grows. We have been using the software for 2 years now; we use it for everything you mentioned: job costing, purchasing, inventory management, AP, AR, GL, financial statements, quality control. We are extremely happy with it.

I am sure all small manufacturing accounting software have pro's and con's. I would actually be trying to find a software with a local software solutions consulting company that is familiar with your type of manufacturing. This firm should be close to your headquaters and will offer discounted rates for a set number of hours. Smaller consulting firms tend to be a little less expensive (less overhead) and will not always charge you for a 10 minute question. Also pick a package that will give you several different consutling companies to work with this way you can also find other support if you don't like the consultants you hired. I like Dynamics - GP for a manufacting environment. There are several consultant in the Cleveland area that suppor this product, it is backed by microsoft so it works well with Excel and I have also found a consulting company that works well with me and knows the product. Remember set up and integration along with training are very critical to a software package.

I have used Dynamics NAV 2009 in the past. Very intuitive, simple and reasonably priced. They key with going with the Dynamics platform is working with a really good partner to get all the modules identified and deployed correctly. Otherwise you will spend plenty of time on the phone trying to get them to work (been there)