1. Keep everything in one place
Probably the most crucial piece of IT advice when it comes to managing Bespoke Kitchen Design and Manufacture is to keep everything in one place. Stop flitting between multiple spreadsheets and databases and stick it all in one giant file. Put it this way- if you were back to working on paper, you wouldn’t leave stock lists strung around the office like a washing line and production orders in a pile resembling a paper maché project; you’d keep it all in one massive (but well-ordered) filing cabinet. This way you reduce human errors, duplication, unnecessary overheads and can access records in seconds.
2. Create unique orders instantly
Customers don’t want to wait around for you to collect their preferences, go away and generate a quote, come back and pitch the quote, go away with a revised order, come back for signatures and then go away again to create a production order. In 2016, they expect a seamless process in which they can go from the initial conversation to having their dream kitchen built and installed in a matter of a few swift processes. “But how much would that come to if I swapped X for Y and got rid of Z?”- you should know, instantly.
3. Keep a constant watch on stock levels
There is nothing worse that calculating a whole quote to find that one specific type of door handle is out of stock. As a business, you need to know what you have in stock before the customer asks and, even better, you should keep stock level equal to demand wherever possible. You could go ahead and hire whole teams of people to fill in stock order forms every time something runs out, but this costs time and money and is likely to result in human error. It’s always embarrassing having to tell a client you don’t have something in stock that the system previously said you did. Don’t let it happen to you.
4. Don’t make mistakes
While you’ve got points 1-3 on your mind (and probably a million other things) don’t make any mistakes. The competition doesn’t slip up, so you can’t either. You’ll just have to submit production orders, manage stock, generate quotes and deliver a sales pitch all from the database that is your brain. I just hope mental maths is your strong suit.
It’s obvious that these four points aren’t going to materialise without a little help; that’s where Mercurius IT comes in. Our industry-based solution, built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, encompasses all business transactions- sales, purchase, logistics and finance- all aligned to Industry demands. We can help you achieve a sophisticated and simple to understand approach to product configuration for bespoke orders.
Contact us at [email protected] or call us on 01908 508080 to find out more!
