Business Central For Manufacturing Solutions
Drive operational efficiency with Microsoft’s manufacturing ERP software
Reduce Costs Across Operations With Microsoft’s Cloud-Based ERP For Manufacturing
Achieve operational excellence across manufacturing production and processes with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
As an expert Business Central manufacturing partner, Akita tailors Microsoft’s ERP application to meet the requirements of manufacturers worldwide.
Whether a small-scale manufacturer looking to simplify your shop floor or an enterprise aiming to streamline your global operations, we’ll implement and support advanced manufacturing ERP solutions that drive improved operational efficiency and profitability.
Why Choose a Business Central Manufacturing Partner?
Manufacturing ERP projects require more than technical expertise. Successful implementations depend on understanding production processes, inventory management, supply chain operations and financial reporting requirements.
Akita is an expert Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner with specialist experience delivering Business Central ERP solutions for manufacturers.
Our manufacturing ERP consultants understand the complexities involved in managing production, inventory, and supply chain operations, helping manufacturers configure Business Central to improve operational visibility, strengthen planning processes and support more informed decision-making.
As manufacturing requirements evolve, Business Central can be adapted to support new production processes and inventory strategies, including just-in-time manufacturing, helping organisations scale without replacing their ERP platform.
Akita supports manufacturers throughout the ERP lifecycle, from new Business Central implementations and migrations from legacy Dynamics NAV systems to solution enhancements, integrations and ongoing support services.
Is Business Central Right for Your Manufacturing Business?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed for manufacturers looking to improve visibility, streamline operations and support future growth from a single cloud-based ERP platform.
It is particularly well suited to:
- Discrete manufacturers producing individual products or assemblies
- Make-to-order manufacturers managing customer-specific production
- Engineer-to-order organisations delivering bespoke products
- Process manufacturers managing batch production, recipes, traceability and quality control
- Multi-site manufacturers requiring greater control across locations
Manufacturers typically invest in Business Central when they need to replace spreadsheets, improve inventory management, strengthen production planning or gain better visibility across operations and finance.
If your organisation is looking for a scalable manufacturing ERP solution that integrates production, inventory, purchasing, sales and financial management, Business Central could be the right fit.
Features Of Business Central For Manufacturing
Business Central offers an advanced range of MRP features and tools:
- Production Planning: Create and manage production orders within Business Central with tools for planning and scheduling. Define routings, calculate material requirements, and optimize production schedules.
- Bill of Materials (BOM) Management: Define and maintain detailed BOMs with multiple levels and versioning to keep track of changes/updates.
- Quality Control: Define quality criteria, perform inspections, and record quality results. Ensure that products meet specified standards and track quality issues and non-conformances.
- Resource Planning: Manage manufacturing resources such as machinery, equipment, and labour. Define and allocate resources to production orders, track resource usage, and optimise resource utilisation.
- Demand Forecasting: Business Central offers forecasting tools that use historical data, sales trends, and other factors to predict future demand.
- Capacity Planning: In-built tools to define and manage capacities for work centres and machines. It allows you to schedule operations based on available capacity and identify bottlenecks or underutilized resources.
- Shop Floor Control: Manage shop floor operations by enabling operators to record time, material consumption, and quantities produced. Can be integrated with wider shop floor terminals, barcode scanning, and IoT devices.
- Costing and Financial Management: Integrates with Business Central’s financial management capabilities and wider finance systems, enabling better cost accounting and budgeting. Track manufacturing costs, calculate product costs, and analyse profitability.
- Inventory Management: The solution provides comprehensive inventory management capabilities, including tracking and control of raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), and finished goods. It supports inventory valuation methods, and reordering point calculations, and provides real-time visibility into inventory levels.
How Business Central Supports Manufacturing Methods
Discrete Manufacturing
Business Central supports discrete manufacturers with comprehensive bills of materials (BOMs) functionality, routings, production orders, inventory tracking, and warehouse operations.
It enables businesses producing individual products such as machinery, electronics, automotive parts, and furniture to track components, labour, costs, and finished goods throughout the production lifecycle.
Process Manufacturing
For process manufacturers, Business Central helps manage recipes, batch production, inventory consumption, quality control, and compliance reporting.
Businesses in sectors such as food and drink, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics can improve traceability, maintain consistent product quality, and monitor raw material usage across production runs.
Make-To-Stock (MTS)
Make-to-stock manufacturers can benefit from Business Central's forecast demand, optimise inventory levels, and automate replenishment planning.
By aligning production with expected customer demand, businesses can reduce stock shortages, improve fulfilment times, and maintain efficient warehouse operations for packaged goods and retail stock items.
Make-To-Order (MTO)
Business Central links sales orders directly to production orders, helping businesses manage customised production workflows, material planning, and delivery timelines.
This is particularly valuable for manufacturers producing bespoke machinery, specialist equipment, or custom-built products.
Assemble-To-Order (ATO)
Business Central helps assemble-to-order manufacturers streamline assembly processes by combining standard inventory components into configurable, finished products once customer orders are received.
This approach supports faster fulfilment while maintaining flexibility for businesses producing configurable systems such as modular equipment or custom computer builds.
Batch Manufacturing
For batch manufacturing environments, Business Central provides production scheduling, batch tracking, lot control, inventory management, and quality assurance capabilities.
Manufacturers producing goods in batches, such as pharmaceuticals, ingredients, or clothing producers, can improve traceability, reduce waste, and maintain production consistency across multiple runs.
Microsoft Cloud Manufacturing Software
160%+ ROI From Adopting Business Central
Read Forrester’s Total Economic report on the benefits of adopting Business Central for manufacturing and wider operations:
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Powering Your Complete Operations
Beyond core manufacturing functionality, Business Central contains a range of features that support wider operations, including:
- Sales Management: Manage the sales process, including quotations, order processing, pricing, and customer management, improving visibility and customer service.
- Supply & Production Planning: Planning tools help businesses forecast demand, manage resources, schedule production, and maintain optimal inventory levels.
- Integrated Accounting & Finance Management: Combines financial management with manufacturing operations, providing real-time visibility into costs, profitability, cash flow, and reporting.
- Production Orders: Create and track production orders, monitor materials and labour, and improve efficiency.
- Supply Chain & Order Management: Improves visibility across procurement, inventory, warehousing, and logistics, helping businesses streamline supply chain operations and fulfil orders more effectively.
Benefits Of Business Central For Manufacturing
Business Central’s MRP features can help your organisation achieve the following operational benefits:
- Integrated MRP and MPS – Operate a single, powerful system for all your manufacturing, resources, finances, sales and much more – with seamless dataflow between all of them.
- Improved Efficiency – From materials to shopfloor operations – have the information needed to drive new cost and time efficiencies.
- Cost Control & Resources – Make overspending and production bottlenecks a thing of the past with an ERP production system.
- Improve Business Intelligence – Receive the insights needed to make production decisions, helping you decide when to ramp up or scale back production on specific lines.
- Support with compliance – Ensure compliance at every production stage with automated quality checks and log incidents.
- Scale with ease – Proven to support organizations of all sizes, from SMBs to enterprises, so you can grow with confidence knowing that it won’t hold you back.
Case Studies
Discover ERP solutions we’ve delivered for our manufacturing customers:
Business Central Integration For Vehicle Safety Manufacturer
Integrating sales CRM and manufacturing ERP solutions to create more accurate finance tracking:
Sage 200 To Business Central Migration For Door Manufacturer
Modernising finance and operational software to deliver faster billing and more efficient production, reducing costs in the process:
Business Central For Global Furniture Manufacturer
Implementing Business Central as a unified manufacturing ERP platform to bring down cost of production and cut waste:
Business Central Manufacturing Partner
Get In Touch
Find out more about Business Central as a manufacturing ERP solution:
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