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Tim O'Brien

Tim has over 20 years of successful experience helping companies improve their processes and operations using enterprise software solutions. Those enterprise solutions include Enterprise Resource Planning for manufacturers, Service Management for service oriented companies, and Enterprise Asset Management in the process manufacturing industry.

Recent Posts

The Top Benefits of ERP According to Industry Professionals

By Tim O'Brien on 2/2/22 10:23 AM

 

What others say are benefits of ERP

We’ve written many articles about the benefits of ERP, but also wanted to poll the industry to hear what others had to say. Below is a compilation of the answers we received to our survey question, “What is the best benefit you or your company has experienced from using an ERP system?”

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What Does Field Service Management Software Do?

By Tim O'Brien on 12/29/21 10:00 AM

Applications for field service management software

There are multiple uses for field service management software, across many different industries. This type of platform is widely used by companies that do service and repair work in HVAC, electrical, commercial, and industrial maintenance industries. It’s also used in the repair industry itself, where work is performed onsite and remotely.

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Why Switch from Infor VISUAL to Infor CloudSuite Industrial SyteLine ERP?

By Tim O'Brien on 11/24/21 10:00 AM

Should you switch from Infor VISUAL to Infor CloudSuite Industrial SyteLine ERP?

The team at Visual South often discusses that question, both internally and with our customers, and the answer varies. The fact is, you need a reason to switch. A real business reason (or reasons). Otherwise, it will be difficult for “to order” manufacturers to justify the ROI to replace a highly functional ERP application like Infor VISUAL.

If VISUAL is working fine for you, there may be no reason to move. If you think you can better utilize VISUAL ERP, our team can help. But if you have maximized VISUAL’s functionality and scalability, it might be worth switching to CloudSuite Industrial SyteLine. But let’s validate that case together.

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How To Calculate Total Manufacturing Costs

By Tim O'Brien on 10/27/21 10:00 AM

Knowing your manufacturing costs are critical

A recurring theme we’ve seen with companies over the past 25 years is they want to know their total manufacturing costs. Not only do they want to know these costs, but they want to trust the numbers are accurate, and be able to make important business decisions with that knowledge.

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Production Planning: The Common Challenges

By Tim O'Brien on 10/6/21 10:00 AM

Everyone wants to optimize production scheduling

While everyone wants to be good at production planning, not many are. The most common challenge we see is that everyone wants to use their respective ERP’s scheduling application, yet they struggle to make it work. And this struggle leads to the abandonment of the native ERP application and the subsequent creation of spreadsheets, custom reports, and a variety of other methods that attempt to manage production planning. Needless to say, these “Band-Aids” can cause challenges of their own, and ultimately result in a lack of a unified and coherent approach from a systemic standpoint.

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Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine ERP Pricing and Budgeting Tips

By Tim O'Brien on 9/29/21 10:00 AM

Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine ERP Pricing – How It Works

Whether you are working with an Infor Channel Partner or Infor Direct, you’re using the same pricing data. There are no dealer markups or first-line support charges like those that value-added resellers (VARs) typically pass on to their customers.

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Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine is the Best ERP for Project-Based Manufacturers

By Tim O'Brien on 8/25/21 10:00 AM

Project-based manufacturers have specific needs

Overwhelmingly, project-based manufacturers have a requirement for a physical project plan to execute against, where costs can be captured at many levels. That is why Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine ERP provides a good solution for traditional build/engineer/configure-to-order manufacturers who need to manage a more complex series of events to manufacture finished goods.

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Do You Need ERP Software Development?

By Tim O'Brien on 6/16/21 10:00 AM

Yes, no, or maybe?

The answer to the question of “Do your need ERP software development services?” is typically “no,” but that’s based on having a capable and purpose-built ERP application, such as Infor CloudSuite Industrial ERP. There is a caveat: Sometimes you may need to extend the application using the native toolset to address business-specific requirements.

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What’s New in Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine 10

By Tim O'Brien on 6/3/21 10:00 AM

Infor continues to rapidly develop CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine ERP

The development team for Infor’s CloudSuite Industrial ERP continues to follow the well-planned product roadmap, and is executing the plan efficiently. The roadmap enriches and extends the highly ranked and widely accepted application, which now has well over 5,000 manufacturing sites running it worldwide.

In this article, we’ll highlight our favorite features that have been released since the CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine 10 core application debuted in 2018.

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The Best ERP for Medical Device Manufacturers

By Tim O'Brien on 4/7/21 10:00 AM

Medical device manufacturing ERP requirements

Medical device manufacturers need specific functionality in their ERP system. The functionality requirements fall into three main categories: in-depth abilities to handle cradle-to-grave lot and serial traceability; integrated quality control; and extensive abilities to meet demand requirements and schedule the associated work orders to build-to-stock, build sub-assemblies, and produce finished goods.

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