What are the top features you should look for in a furniture ERP?
The furniture industry can be complicated. With hundreds of products and potentially thousands of variables for each, making the customer journey from ordering to delivery as smooth as possible should be at the forefront of every furniture company’s mind.
Furniture ERP Features
An ERP system tailored specifically to the industry can facilitate this, and if that’s the path you choose to take (like many other companies including TNP customers ScS, DFS, and Shackletons), there are certain requirements that you should be looking for from your furniture ERP.
These include:
Make your employees' lives easier with a suitable furniture ERP solution!
Read the Shackletons story
Sourcing Capabilities
Knowing exactly what can be where in a certain time could make the difference between a very happy customer and a ‘just satisfied’ customer. Having the right product, in the right location from the correct source is crucial – and can all be automated if you get the right system put in place.
For example, if you have different warehouses that goods are sent into and out from, a product bound northwards may ordinarily live in the south.
Rather than manually organising getting the product from the warehouse in the south, up to the north, then onto the customer, your system should be able to do this for you. Not only does automating this process save time, it removes the possibility for human error, improving the efficiency of the business.
Load capacity organisation
Vehicles can only hold so much, and drivers can only work for a certain part of the day. The arduous task of working out what days certain goods can be delivered, by whom and on what route, can be managed by your system.
Investing in a functionality that helps the retailer to manage vehicle availability with capacity planning allows the movement of goods to maintain momentum, as the delivery days are automatically updated every time a new one is confirmed.
Procurement Automation
Advanced procurement – a tool that a furniture company can’t live without once they’ve got it. It’s a revolutionary asset. Setting up chains of events for ‘what if’ situations saves time and fuss.
For example, if a Sales Order gets cancelled, advanced procurement capabilities mean that any possible transfer orders get immediately cancelled too, with no human involved. Or, if a purchase order is due to be delayed, the system can automatically let someone know to rearrange the sales order delivery with the customer.
TNP's nYwhere App
Dynamics 365 Business Central combined with TNP’s nYwhere app is designed specifically for collecting the details of a customer furniture order, and feeding it directly back into Dynamics 365 Business Central. The benefits of integrating the sales process into the ERP means that room for error is reduced, as there is one source of truth. It is tablet-based, making salespeoples’ jobs easier by allowing them to be much more mobile in the stores.
As well as having the ability to sell a product from anywhere in the store, it gives salespeople access to any additional information they need. All orders received through the nYwhere app look like they have been keyed into Business Central directly, keeping everything uniform and accurate. It’s an intuitive system that enhances the ordering, sale, and delivery of furniture much smoother than it has ever been before!
See TNP's nYwhere App
The Importance of a Good Partner
It is important to remember that a system is only as capable as the Partner you choose to implement and support it. TNP are furniture ERP experts. We have been working with well-known UK furniture companies for over 25 years, including brands such as Loaf, ScS, and Barker & Stonehouse.
Let us take care of your furniture ERP system and have confidence in the knowledge that our industry experts will help your business work better, faster and smarter!
