M1 ERP

Vorteile

Improvement of inventory tracking coming from an Excel-based, manual process that'd grown to be quite cumbersome. MFG's capabilities eliminated many spreadsheets and many hours maintaining those spreadsheets.

Visibility throughout the organization of order status; pieces completed, what's in-process, what's already shipped, etc.

Searchable criteria in MFG is quite robust. Prior to MFG we were only able to search via customer part numbers, this left a lot to be desired. Now we can search based on many, many more variables.

Nachteile

The biggest hurdle/challenge in learning and implementing MFG was understanding a whole new terminology; allocations, transfers, material/job requirements, processing, etc. and how those functioned in MFG specifically. As well sometimes, certain terms are used interchangeably in certain places and this can lead to temporary confusion.

There are many ways to accomplish a single task. This flexibility is nice once you're used to the system but can be overwhelming in the beginning.

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Vorteile

Helps immensely with organization and the customization options are excellent.

Nachteile

It does not allow for a user to have more than one order open at a time, which makes it difficult for multitasking or referencing a previous order. This is one feature that we greatly miss from Job Boss. Also, the training provided could have been better, there was a lot of situations that the training did not cover and we had to learn on our own.

Vorteile

This software is very detailed and makes it easy to make changes that keep production going. There are a lot of different steps to assist with making sure changes are correct, which helps with accuracy and decreases human error.

Nachteile

I wish there was a grid in the Order Entry tab to search for the Part Number. When I need to see what orders are open on which parts, I have to use the binoculars to search and there is no part number available until I go into edit those orders.

Vorteile

We really enjoy the way that we can customize the system to our exact needs. Also, it is very user friendly and easy to learn. We use it for multiple departments and love that it is integrated for inventory, production, purchasing, etc.

Nachteile

The sales and engineering departments have difficulty with quoting - it's a bit complex. Also, the inventory for issuing materials can be manual and complex.

Vorteile

This is the most customizable ERP I have ever dealt with or implemented. Love, Love this as it easily can modify to serve the challenges of about any size company, growth rate, and experience levels. This is the best feature of this software.

Nachteile

The main con from my exoperiences has been the support personnel and the lack of knowledge of the product and the response. With that said, let me say that it is not complelely fair as the compaqny has experienced a rapid growth and with that comes new personnel and the years of experiences are just not there.

Vorteile

Visibility is key for us, and with this software you can follow an opportunity through from initial stages of quoting through final stages of billing and everything in between. And Customer Service is Top Notch!

Nachteile

It can be difficult to make changes to orders once in process, but hopefully that is something their team recognizes and will help to rectify in the future.

Vorteile

The most we like about E2 is the following,

1 user friendly , specially the help line
2: database module an bill bill of married module and part search engine
3: project setup and process routing
4: real time cost capture
4: we envoy the accounting module

Nachteile

The most we like least about E2 are,

1: Converting proposal to order
2: Lack of creating report to show the Balkance of non invoiced for any particular order

Vorteile

The software makes it easy to find a lot of data that can be exported and used as necessary

Nachteile

It is more difficult to set up reports and customize fields for users that do not want to see all fo the background data and only want specifics

Vorteile

Ease of use. Navigation of windows. Ability to run many custom reports in Hotspots.

Nachteile

Cost of additional users can be expensive.

Vorteile

This ERP software is very intuitive and very flexible relative to the previous software from Made2Manage that my organization ran for the past 24 years. The input of transactions is straightforward with minimal training, and searching for almost any data is substantially easier.

Nachteile

The only issue we've had any challenge with so far is with the conversion of our old Made2Manage data, which was an old FoxPro version into a pure SQL format. Some data came across easily, and some data didn't come across at all. We could have come up to speed running the new software much faster if we'd have been able to convert our M2M data in a more timely fashion.

Vorteile

The ability to bring everything together in one place, where all management and supervisors can access it has been great. I like to ability to use shop floor terminals for data entry and the ability to generate reports from that data.

Nachteile

A regular challenge I face is trying to figure out the right location or combination of steps it takes to change certain items within the system. There are not explanations of pathways. For example, the other day I wanted to pick specific lots of material for a job we were running. I thought I would be given the option right at job material processing. Nope. I can see the different lots, but the numbers are locked, I couldn't change them. After many failed attempts. I finally called support. Long story short. I have to process, go into details, unprocess the line, go into the sub-details and type in the amount for each lot. That's an example of a common frustration I find in the system. There are lots of locked numbers. I understand some are necessary, but others just don't seem to make sense. The process to then alter them does not always follow a discernible pattern. You can often find the same information in multiple spots, but finding the place it drives from is a shot in the dark.

Vorteile

The drill-down from reports feature is great. The where used is extremely helpful to find specific info. The software is customizable (though not easily) and fully searchable. Being able to email customers their Invoices and Vendors their POs via email is a plus.

Nachteile

Too many things to know how one transaction affects another. Many reports are not set up the way we would like them. We were told when we bought the software that you did not need to know coding to be able to customize parts of the software or reports. Customizing is difficult to the average user, and for anything to be customized by M1, it always costs extra. Security settings are trial and error/very gray. Not black and white. For our business to utilize other aspects of the software we purchased, we would need to hire people just to run the software.

Vorteile

M1 is incredibly visual; whether you prefer traditional forms or spreadsheet views, you can customize the navigation and data forms with ease. Search features are robust in the spreadsheet style views. M1 is also fairly flexible for customization regardless of programming skills. We can easily add fields to any module and forms can be manipulated to match our information flow. In our business every order is a custom order yet the straight forward manufacturing module makes planning and scheduling simple. Dashboards on the start screen are great to monitor daily activities. While most ERP implementations require significant work, the visual nature of M1 really helped us keep the project on track. The M1 implementation specialist spent time to learn our business and specific information needs. 9 months running and we are very happy. We have added several additional modules since the implementation and have linked M1 to our sales tax service provider. The suite of included reports are handy, though they need some customization when you start up. Export to Excel is very easy. We added Spreadsheet Server option to really increase the capability to share data with Excel. Security controls are very robust.

Nachteile

At times customer service response is a bit longer than we would like though once they are working on an issue, they are great at resolving. Some of the included reports are fairly complex yet require customization in Crystal Reports. Best to have some working knowledge of Crystal reports. Some modules in M1 are not consistent with others - probably different programmers or different schedules for upgrading - however that slows the process just bit when you move module to module.

Vorteile

Overall, the product is very easy to use. The modules "talk" to one another and the data flows with ease. Our A/R and A/P departments use the software in conjunction with purchasing and sales and their experience has been positive. The data collection system is very user friendly for the employees on the floor and provides great feedback and reporting for the management team. The quick analysis reports, or dashboard reports, provide a snapshot of what's going on in your business at a quick glance.

Nachteile

There are nuances to the software that only a "seasoned user" would know exist. If the user is unaware of the nuances, the data could be skewed, or the user could be stopped in their tracks, or worse yet, the action of the subsequent user could be negatively impacted. To that point, the overarching concern I have is that we have a lot of tribal knowledge when it comes to E2 MFG and if an employee chooses to leave our company, the next hire will "learn" the software, but they won't really "know" the software for quite some time.

Vorteile

This software is highly customizable and provides freedom for the many integrations that we implement regularly.

Nachteile

This software is not the most user friendly for a sizable chunk of our end users. Customers with limited computer experience find the interface difficult to use outside of tasks they perfomr regularly. This issues are largely easily solved by regular attention from the software administrators or super users.

Vorteile

Once you understand the features and how to navigate, it is a fairly easy software to use. Information is easy to find. It is also easy to query for information.

Nachteile

There are not any modules available that we know of that can assist in training to understand the features that M1 has to offer. There are several features that we don't use. Features that we wish we knew more about are scheduling and the possibility of integrating a bar code scanning system. Our IT admin has been working on this with M1.

Vorteile

It is very intuitive and extremely detailed. Nothing is missed.

Nachteile

Hard to learn at first, but customer support more than makes up for it. Very helpful and professional.

Vorteile

Abilty to customize per user and not effect others.

Nachteile

Clear upgrade evaluation from V 8 to V 9.2

Vorteile

Easy to use. Broken into modules so everything is grouped together. You can have multiple tabs open and traverse in-between them. Being able to access SQL backend is beneficial for writing customized reports.

Nachteile

Would like to see what users are logged from login screen as sometimes concurrent licenses are orphaned.

Vorteile

We have been using this software for 10 years and I don't know how we ever survived without it.
Product Configurators really helped us streamline our estimating and planning processes.

Nachteile

We have tuned M1 to a point where we have very little issues. It took some time to really figure it out but we realized that the core system didn't really need a lot of the customizations that we thought it did.
I'm not good at cons...

Vorteile

The training and implementation was fantastic. The product is well suited for our needs and the cost tracking functionality is great. The greatest strengths of the software are inventory control, cost/labor tracking, and reporting.

Nachteile

The accounting functionality and process can be burdensome. While it does get the job done, incorporating a FIFO system with real time cost of goods sold entry would be much more advantageous. Currently M1 only offers average, standard, or last cost of goods sold, which can really make things difficult if inventory costs change. Additionally, not having "real-time" financials is frustrating. You don't get the "actual cost of goods sold" until an accounting entry is made, so you cannot track financials daily or weekly unless your accounting department has time to make this entry and reconcile it on that same interval. Granted, moving to the COGS program could fix this issue, but the additional work and potential for mistakes makes it easier to wait for financials.

Vorteile

We replaced Global Shop with M1. We like M1 because is quick and efficient. We are working on more customized reporting and moving to the newest version - very exciting for our company!!

Nachteile

Getting new downloads up and running is a little difficult. Hard to coordinate M1 Support with our outside IT Consultant

Vorteile

i like the range of information that is available at the fingertips

Nachteile

could have a more modern look and feel to it

Vorteile

There are multiple ways to perform functions within the software. The access to data through QuickView and report hyperlinks makes finding the information very easy.

Nachteile

Once a job is "In Process" making changes becomes very difficult. The lack of being able to use UPS ground freight pricing has added extra work onto our Shipping department. Hopefully, the interface will be completed soon.

Vorteile

The amount of report options is wonderful you have many different options to retrieve your report

Nachteile

trying to figure out the best way to get a report

Vorteile

The low cost of overhead to run M1 is its best feature. It is very robust, and runs day after day with minimal support required. M1 is very user friendly and intuitive. Also, the use of Crystal Reports on an SQL database allows for easy modification and development of reports that then are easily run from inside M1 giving users a seamless feel. We have had excellent support during implementation and post implementation.

Nachteile

I am anxious for continued development of the manufacturing floor scheduling.

Vorteile

User friendly dashboard. Advance options for all the modules. one stop solution for all the resources planning.

Nachteile

Not enough features for multiple platform usage. Little Slower. No report modification format for user

Vorteile

All the functionality of a larger program without the big program cost and the flexibility to do minor customization.

Nachteile

Slow performance. Some reports of tools are at times very slow. Our Job Analysis report runs very slow at times. Usually when the quantity is more than 1 and the material quantity is more than 100.

Vorteile

The ability of this software to fully integrate all aspects of our business. It is very stable and easy to customize.

Nachteile

As the M1 has grown, there have been times where response times have been a little longer than expected.

Vorteile

The vendor is wonderful to work with. From the sales thru the president, their open door policy is forward thinking and provides customers with a sense of being taken care when they need it. The product M1 has proven to be the most customizable and flexible system I've dealt with in 36 years however I'm still learning more of what all it can do.

Nachteile

The least liked, even though it this is by no means a dislike on my part, for the product would be the way item master must be for the local bin and not being able to have multiple bins per one location for one item.
The vendor side would be the fresh talent they are with vs. Those with 20 plus yrs.

Vorteile

I will have to compliment the trainer and the ECI Conference held in Orlando. I felt that all areas were fully addressed. Obviously as time goes on, more comfort and trust is gain in the product. Having been on Sage previously, I like how this is a real financial package although it can be cumbersome at times. I still have lots to learn about the entire package.

Nachteile

There is no refresh button.

Vorteile

Works as advertised or better.
Easy to train and use.
Fast and reliable.
Simple to upgrade and backup.
Very powerful search functions and grids are adjustable by user.
Customization is available to users with included tools and then adding Crystal Reports.
Easy migration from our other software.
M1 technical support is extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Nachteile

Nothing negative to say.

Vorteile

All modules integrate together.
One ERP system covers all areas of the business.
Ability to customise for special needs.

Nachteile

On older computers it can be a bit slow. Especially if you have multiple windows open.

Vorteile

Features - does most of what we need right out of the box.
Customizable - Very easy to add fields, tables, code, etc.
GREAT customer service.
Implementation was as easy as this kind of thing can be.

Nachteile

Some screens are a little clunky or "busy".
Job costing and analysis can be a little weak.

Vorteile

We are still implementing, but so far, everything is working as demonstrated.

Nachteile

Importing of products is sort of complicated since some of the items in the product setup is in different database files. Therefore, manual entry or several imports are required.

Vorteile

Easy to use and train
Ability to customise
Affordability
Reliability
Interaction with Windows programs ie. Outlook

Nachteile

Limited sales analysis
Limited financial analysis

Vorteile

IT support is timely and almost always available.

Nachteile

It doesn't account for scrap within a job, and scrap tracking overall is very difficult. The software seems to want to manage scrap with completed good parts together, and that does not work when trying to track to meet ISO requirements.

Vorteile

Customizable, covers accounting and Manufactoring. Good reports that are easily changed

Nachteile

Could push towards iso controls, we use the call management to handle feedback and CAPA's

Vorteile

I very much so like the ability of user customization on tables and search grids.

Nachteile

Some things that I was lead to believe were not true about the capabilities of the product

Vorteile

User Friendly, Easy to implement, easy to administer, very customizable

Nachteile

Weak Quality module, Poor Lot number capabilities

Vorteile

The product already has deep features but it has the flexibility which allows for code to be written by us to enhance the system. This allows us to get specific on certain methods we use that may not be stock methods for an industry.

Nachteile

At this point in the process, we have not uncovered a negative.

Vorteile

Most expandable system for up and coming manufacturing companies that do mixed mode manufacturing for OEM equipment. Very complex equipment that requires many different disciplines of manufacturing.

Nachteile

I would like more training videos for standard usages and work flows.

Vorteile

Very intuitive, very customizable

Nachteile

I can't think of any.

Vorteile

All inclusive

Nachteile

Costly for add-ons