Revamping Manufacturing: Sotech's Journey with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Join Ryan and Emma on "Inside Insight," as they explore the transformative journey of Sotech, a leader in sustainable building facades. This episode delves into how Sotech revolutionized its manufacturing processes by implementing Dynamics 365 Business Central, overcoming challenges with bespoke production and inventory management. Discover the crucial role of Insight Works in streamlining operations and hear firsthand about the innovative solutions that enabled Sotech to enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and achieve scalability. Whether you're a manufacturing enthusiast or a Business Central user, this episode offers valuable insights into leveraging technology for business growth and operational excellence.

Advanced Inventory Count: https://InventoryForDynamics.com Product Configurator: https://CPQforDynamics.com Shop Floor Insight: https://ShopFloorForDynamics.com Warehouse Insight: https://WMSforDynamics.com Insight Works: https://dmsiworks.com

Episode Transcript

(05:20):
Welcome to Inside Insight, your quick hit of

(01:01:39):
tips, tools and trends for manufacturing, distribution

(01:50:56):
and dynamics. 365 Business Central brought

(02:33:10):
to you by Insight Works.

Emma (03:04:00):
Okay, let's unpack this. Have you ever wondered

(04:04:12):
why some companies seem to effortlessly deliver

(04:56:54):
customized products while others just seem

(05:42:03):
to drown in this sea of spreadsheets and item

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codes?

Ryan (06:58:40):
Yeah, it's a real challenge.

Emma (07:16:00):
It's this fundamental tension, isn't it? Manufacturing

(08:09:35):
efficiency versus you know, customer demand

(08:55:31):
for unique stuff.

Ryan (09:18:30):
Absolutely. Standardization versus customization.

Emma (10:03:50):
So this deep dive is all about tackling that

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exact challenge, specifically within Business

(11:32:29):
Central's configure to order processes and

(12:10:29):
how to conquer what we're calling bomb bloat.

Ryan (13:02:30):
Bomb bloat. I like that term. It's very descriptive.

Emma (13:46:30):
Right. So our mission today is really to extract

(14:38:16):
the most important nuggets on how you can move

(15:30:02):
from those static bills of material, those

(16:10:18):
boms, to something dynamic, something truly

(16:44:49):
responsive for product configuration.

Ryan (17:15:20):
And what's fascinating here, I think, is how

(17:50:53):
often businesses just hit a wall. You know,

(18:26:26):
their standard bill of materials.

Emma (18:48:40):
Their standard bom, which works great for standard

(19:25:24):
stuff.

Ryan (19:32:40):
Exactly. It's brilliant for repetitive manufacturing,

(20:02:30):
but it just, well, runs out of scheme the moment

(20:52:14):
a customer wants to mix colors or swap out

(21:36:59):
a motor or maybe ask for an extra drawer on

(22:26:43):
a cabinet.

Emma (22:36:40):
Ah, okay. So the simplicity that makes it work.

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Well, normally it bites back.

Ryan (23:59:20):
It bites back hard when customization comes

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into play, and that often leads to this chaotic

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scramble, you know, that just slows everything

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down.

Emma (26:11:30):
That limitation sounds like a serious bottleneck.

(26:49:25):
Can you walk us through the. Maybe the specific

(27:38:10):
consequences when that standard bomb hits a

(28:16:05):
custom request? What happens? What are those?

(28:54:00):
Immediate headaches?

Ryan (29:04:50):
Yeah, it kicks off a whole series of, well,

(29:54:34):
cascading problems. The first one, and it's

(30:33:16):
probably the most visible, is what we mentioned.

(31:17:29):
Bomb bloat. Okay, just imagine this literal

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explosion of almost identical item codes just

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filling up your system. Every tiny variation

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needs its own entry.

Emma (33:42:20):
So like a purple frame versus a blue frame.

Ryan (34:21:00):
Yep. Or a maple top versus an oak top. Each

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one has to exist as its own separate item or

(35:35:45):
maybe part of a really lengthy variant list.

Emma (36:05:40):
Wow.

Ryan (36:14:20):
And this isn't just, you know, a messy ledger.

(37:04:12):
It's an actual exploding item ledger just full

(37:48:32):
of near duplicates that might only differ by

(38:32:52):
paint color or length or something small.

Emma (39:11:40):
I can almost picture the screen just scrolling

(39:58:44):
endlessly. So, okay, that's headache number

(40:34:02):
one. What else does this, this bomb bloat cause?

Ryan (41:31:00):
Headache number two is the ballooning engineering

(42:16:52):
time. It just swells up because for every single

(43:15:50):
variant Every little tweak, every custom request,

(44:01:42):
someone in engineering has to manually copy

(44:47:34):
and paste an existing bomb.

Emma (45:20:20):
Oh, tedious.

Ryan (45:43:40):
And its routing. And then modify it. I've seen

(46:36:10):
engineers honestly, where their main job basically

(47:17:00):
becomes a human copy and paste machine.

Emma (47:57:50):
That sounds soul crushing.

Ryan (48:35:10):
It is, and it's completely unproductive. And

(49:09:03):
then there's the third headache. Yeah, a massive

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loss of planning visibility.

Emma (50:08:30):
How so?

Ryan (50:18:30):
Well, sales, they're under pressure, right?

(50:44:08):
They need to get quotes out fast, so they often

(51:26:53):
resort to shortcuts, like maybe just typing

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free text lines on orders instead of using

(52:31:00):
a proper item.

Emma (52:43:50):
Okay, I can see that happening, but that means

(53:27:38):
planning.

Ryan (53:35:10):
You know, the people trying to figure out what

(54:18:45):
materials to buy and when to schedule production,

(54:57:30):
they can't see the full picture of what's actually

(55:41:05):
needed, not until it's maybe too late.

Emma (56:16:20):
Right, so the demand signal gets completely

(56:59:30):
garbled.

Ryan (57:09:40):
Exactly. And beyond just those three headaches,

(58:06:47):
the native model, the standard BOM structure,

(59:03:54):
it simply can't describe reality when you start

(60:09:11):
introducing complex rules.

Emma (60:33:40):
Like what kind of rules?

Ryan (60:51:40):
Well, things that depend on options. Like if

(61:34:48):
the bench is 8ft long, then you need to add

(62:28:43):
two extra support legs. The native model just,

(63:11:51):
it can't enforce those kinds of rules automatically.

Emma (63:56:20):
Okay, so it sounds like a pretty chaotic and

(64:45:42):
yeah, soul crushing mess for the people stuck

(65:29:35):
in the middle of it. Given these really deep

(66:18:58):
seated problems, what's the fundamental shift

(66:51:53):
needed? How do we get from that manual reactive

(67:41:15):
process to something integrated and well, dynamic?

Ryan (68:19:40):
Yeah, the fix, and this is key, it isn't necessarily

(69:18:10):
some big expensive external CPQ portal that

(69:59:07):
sits outside your main system. Often the best

(70:45:55):
solution is a dedicated configuration layer

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that actually lives right inside Business central

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itself.

Emma (72:11:50):
Ah, so you don't have to leave the system.

Ryan (72:51:50):
Exactly. You don't leave your familiar environment.

(73:33:50):
So picture this, a user is on a sales order

(74:33:50):
line, right? They just click a button maybe

(75:21:50):
labeled configurator and it launches something

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we call BOM Designer.

Emma (76:21:50):
BOM Designer.

Ryan (76:35:50):
Yep. And they're still on their familiar BC

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page. All their existing permissions, their

(77:52:25):
dimensions, their posting groups, all that

(78:25:15):
context is preserved. That's a huge benefit

(79:03:32):
for data integrity. And just for making it

(79:47:18):
easy for people to use.

Emma (80:17:20):
That's a really critical distinction, isn't

(80:44:12):
it? Staying within the system you already know

(81:20:02):
and use. So okay, once you're in this BOM Designer,

(82:04:49):
what does it actually do? How does it help

(82:45:07):
solve those headaches we talked about?

Ryan (83:14:40):
Right, so what's really quite fascinating here

(83:54:22):
is how the BOM Designer works. It essentially

(84:39:46):
breaks the product down into logical Groups

(85:19:28):
of options. Right. Like for a bike, it might

(86:10:32):
be frame, handlebars, finish, accessories.

(86:38:54):
You get the idea. And as the user makes choices

(87:35:38):
in these categories, the page updates things

(88:15:21):
like cost and weight instantly. It can even

(89:00:44):
sometimes show a rendered picture of the configured

(89:46:07):
product as you build it.

Emma (90:14:30):
Oh, cool. Visual feedback.

Ryan (90:51:10):
Yeah. And behind the scenes, there's this powerful

(91:42:26):
rule engine. It's enforcing logic.

Emma (92:14:30):
Okay, enforcing logic. Like the bench leg example.

Ryan (93:08:40):
Exactly. Or it might suggest, say a matching

(93:56:21):
light if you choose aluminum handlebars, maybe

(94:38:04):
because they fit together. Or it could automatically

(95:25:45):
insert those extra support brackets if you

(96:07:29):
choose an oversized tabletop.

Emma (96:31:20):
So it handles those dependencies automatically.

Ryan (97:14:39):
Precisely. Then when the user's happy, they

(97:52:51):
press ok. The configurator then generates a

(98:31:03):
clean, accurate assembly bom, or maybe production

(99:09:15):
bom plus the associated routing. It assigns 155 99:47:28,236 --> 100:36:35,490 Ryan