Composer NPD

The word ‘seamless’ is not a hollow adjective when used to describe the relationship between Composer NPD and Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing. The order-to-cash interface is dedicated and therefore behaves in a manner transparent to the user.

No other small business accounting package has the fundamental BoM/Inventory capabilities required to support the comprehensive interface touch-points listed below.

The Composer NPD"/Peachtree order-to-cash business process supported:

• Establish suppliers in Composer NPD" and synchronize them within Peachtree.
• Define raw materials in Composer NPD" and synchronize them within Peachtree.
• Define formulas and end-items in Composer NPD" and synchronize them within Peachtree.
• Create Purchase Orders in Composer NPD" (with user-defined receiving units) and have the purchase order automatically created in the Peachtree system.
• Receive shipments in Composer NPD" against Purchase Orders. This action will simultaneously create lot-specific inventory in Composer NPD" and update quantity on-hand in Peachtree. This receiving action will also create the Purchase Invoice for supplier payment.
• Create Sales Orders in Peachtree that will appear in the Composer NPD" scheduling application.
• From Composer NPD’s" scheduling application, create fill tickets and batch manufacturing instructions against Sales Orders received from Peachtree.
• From the scheduling application, assemble formulated and end-item products referencing lot-specific inventory. This includes previously batched product that might be included as a formulated sub-component. This action will:
  • Reduce detailed raw material inventory in Composer NPD" and adjust the quantity on-hand in Peachtree.
  • Record detailed inventory in Composer NPD" (i.e., lot #, shelf-life, etc.) and increment the on-hand quantity in Peachtree.
  • Apply any necessary adjustments to raw materials and COGS on the Peachtree side to account for overruns/batch adjustments.
• Invoice from Composer NPD" against Sales Orders in Peachtree referencing detailed inventory in Composer NPD". This action will:
  • Relieve finished goods inventory in Composer NPD".
  • Relieve on-hand quantity of the item in Peachtree and register the appropriate COGS transactions.
  • Automatically create the Sales Invoice that will be sent to the customer.

This interface guarantees that no duplicate handling of data occurs and that your financials reflect real-time transactions. With Composer NPD" there is no alternating between Peachtree and the manufacturing system to manage data; allowing you to fully realize all of the powerful real-time accounting functionality that Peachtree has to offer. Unlike competitive systems, there are NO SUB-LEDGER ACCOUNTS to manage and no end-of-month ‘dumps’ into the accounting system to determine profitability.

Take control your product structures! Enjoy a feature-set not realized in the many of the most expensive ERP systems on the market. You will be awestruck by the search capabilities and the ease at which you can copy an entire product structure. Composer NPD" will also drive a significant level of discipline in unit-of-measure definitions that will help improve the consistency of your product structures.

Composer NPD" ushers in a new era of configuration management that bridges the gap between the worlds of ‘process’ and ‘discreet’ manufacturing. For instance, formulating in grams and stocking in fluid ounces is now a non-event. Composer NPD" manages all of the complex calculations required to convert a process recipe to an appropriate ‘Each’ oriented assembly in the ERP system.

Lot-specific inventory management: Composer NPD" can be used to manage the receipt, quality status, and consumption of detailed inventory. Materials can be carried in inventory on four different levels from fully-aggregated to unit serialized. Composer NPD" supports multiple stocking locations on the Site-Warehouse-Zone-Bay levels. In addition to serialized generation of lot numbers, shelf-life expiry dates are automatically calculated at the time of inventory creation.

Batch Manufacturing Instructions

Composer NPD" has overcome the historical challenges of R&D hand-off to manufacturing. Through the modeling of enterprise manufacturing capabilities, Composer NPD" can generate machine-specific instructions from a single template defined by a Formulator or Process Engineer. Batch sizes are also flexible. Whether you are requesting a 500g batch for laboratory use or 500Kg batch for a customer order, the resulting instructions will present the appropriate level of precision in the stated material quantities. Designed holistically to support the way you manufacture, Composer NPD" batch instructions contain much more than just compounding procedures. You will find support for potency adjustments, material substitutions, Hazardous Material Identification System (HMIS) classification, cleaning procedures, waste disposal, product release, and packaging. With Composer NPD" batch instructions, you are assured that the appropriate equipment will be selected for manufacturing, all material quantities are accurate, and no capacity violations occur.

Features of Composer NPD Batch Manufacturing Instructions:

• Automatic batch sheet creation from template-based configuration
• Multiple instruction sets per formulation (i.e., a la S-88 by Site, Resource, etc.)
• Scale from bench quantities to bulk quantities
• Modeling of process capabilities
• Automatic material quantity adjustments based upon assay variation
• Support for material trade-name alias’ when picking inventory
• Support for premix requirements in the batch sheet
• Constrain scheduled batch sizes by pre-configured volume/weight (optional)
• Factor yield loss and final product density when determining initial batch size
• HMIS WIP tickets support OSHA requirement for vessel identification
• Material-specific HMIS information on the instruction level
• Washout instructions print with batch instructions
• Raw, in-process, and finished product quality tests can be include on batch instructions
• Material addition can be stated in receiving unit-of-measure (i.e., ‘Bag-50Lbs’ vs. ‘Lbs’)
• Incorporation of ‘stump’ or off-quality ‘work-off’ inventory

Bill of Materials

Composer NPD" is an enterprise-wide multi-user product that allows organizations to model complex product structures often referred to as Bills-of-Material. By design, Composer NPD" supports the integration of discrete and process-oriented components within the same Bill-of-Material. This is a significant point-of-difference in the realm of such product offerings. Most competitors address either discrete (bicycles) or process (chemicals) oriented bill development, but not both within the same environment. This feature of Composer NPD" permits an organization to satisfy the needs of all product designers within the context of one system. The result is one comprehensive system that leverages a central repository of company data. The benefit is improved communication and a reduction of data-based errors.

R&D product structures that are approved for production are easily synchronized in Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing. Complex unit-of-measure (UoM) relationships in formulas are converted to ‘ERP friendly’ stocking unit terms for the financial system.

Features of Composer NPD Bills of Material:

• Supports multi-level BoM structures
• Advanced search on materials and quality characteristics
• Material search and replace
• BoM/Formula copy
• BoM/Formula genealogy (find parents and children of)
• Customer-specific formula variants without creating a new material id
• Material and cost rollup
• Limited material calculations (how big a batch can I make?)
• Automatic balancing calculations (i.e., q.s. calculations)
• Build formula using percentages or actual quantities
• Protect sensitive formulas from view/edit by others
• Differentiate between wet/dry blends
• Associate HMIS info with finished product and raw materials

Certificates of Analysis

Many organizations are still producing Certificates-of-Analysis (CoA) manually. Composer NPD" reduces this to an automated process via integration of the batch manufacturing and quality testing modules. When lot testing has been completed and the product has been approved, a customer service representative may electronically produce the CoA. This feature alone has saved countless hours and headaches from manually administrating this process.

Features of Composer NPD Certificates of Analysis:

• Customer-specific CoA’s (driven by customer-specific specifications/formula)
• Optionally include/exclude shelf-life, specification ranges, etc.
• CoA will not print for rejected lots without formulator approval
• CoA’s print with your customer logo in the header
• Customizable text in the CoA footer
• Special section for contract manufactured items if applicable

Document Control

Composer NPD" provides a simple yet effective system to facilitate the approval process for new Formulations. This is accomplished via configurable ‘Approval Routes’ established by the System Administrator. An Approval Route is a group of individuals assembled from functional departments for the purpose of reviewing/approving new formulations. Movement of the document within the route may be configured as ‘Concurrent’ or ‘Sequential’ with respect to how approval occurs. The sequential mode can be configured to be hierarchical where approval proceeds from level-to-level in the organization as required. Two separate approval modes, ‘Consensus’ and ‘Majority’, are selectable for the approval basis. Any action performed on the document by a member of the Approval Route are communicated via email to the other members on the route.

Features of Composer NPD Document Control:

• User-defined approval routes
• Email notifications of approval activity
• Centralized group evaluation comments

Formula Management

Composer NPD" is an enterprise-wide multi-user product that allows organizations to model complex product structures often referred to as Bills-of-Material. By design, Composer NPD" supports the integration of discrete and process-oriented components within the same Bill-of-Material. This is a significant point-of-difference in the realm of such product offerings. Most competitors address either discrete (bicycles) or process (chemicals) oriented bill development, but not both within the same environment. This feature of Composer NPD" permits an organization to satisfy the needs of all product designers within the context of one system. The result is one comprehensive system that leverages a central repository of company data. The benefit is improved communication and a reduction of data-based errors.

R&D product structures that are approved for production are easily synchronized in Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing. Complex unit-of-measure (UoM) relationships in formulas are converted to ‘ERP friendly’ stocking unit terms for the financial system.

Features of Composer NPD Formula Management:

• Supports multi-level BoM structures
• Advanced search on materials and quality characteristics
• Material search and replace
• BoM/Formula copy
• BoM/Formula genealogy (find parents and children of)
• Customer-specific formula variants without a new material id
• Material and cost rollup
• Limited material calculations (how big a batch can I make?)
• Automatic balancing calculations (i.e., q.s. calculations)
• Build formula using percentages or actual quantities
• Protect sensitive formulas from view/edit by others
• Differentiate between wet/dry blends
• Associate HMIS info with finished product and raw materials

Invoicing

Invoicing occurs from the Composer NPD" interface and simultaneously relieves detailed inventory in Composer NPD" and aggregated inventory in Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing. Invoices are created automatically in Peachtree Accounting for transmission to the customer.

Features of Composer NPD Invoicing:

• Real-time transaction for inventory, receivables, and COGS
• Interface acknowledges credit checks at the time of invoice

Job Estimating/Tracking

Uniquely integrated with Peachtree Accounting, Composer NPD allows you to develop quotations and convert those quotes to orders with a single click. New customers/orders are automatically added to the financial system when the quote is accepted and not before. Robust unit-of-measure definition and conversion rules enable accurate assembly and inventory management. Below is a list of the additional features you will find.

• Allow consumption of ‘temporary’ materials against a Job. Other systems require you to replace these temporary materials with a ‘legitimate’ material Id that must be created in the financial system. This effectively eliminates ‘one-shot’ materials from ever reaching your financial system.
• Automatically build price based upon selected ‘Line Item’ or ‘Total’ markup method. Defaulted markup percentage from the material master file may be edited on a line-by-line basis. Standard freight cost (with override) per stocking unit-of-measure can also be included in the recommended price. Price passed in during the order conversion may be the system-built price or an override price indicated by the user.
• Copy existing quotes for new job proposals with the ability of carrying forward actual material consumption values as the new target quantities.
• Automatically get current material costs from the financial system. User may override with a planned unit cost on a line-by-line basis.
• Email alerts for new customers, short shipments (from integrated Purchasing), and job cost overruns.
• New customers/orders are automatically added to the financial system when the quote is accepted and not before.
• Robust unit-of-measure definition and conversion rules enable accurate assembly and inventory management.
• Easy application of labor to individual jobs with allocated wages clearly broken-out in the accounting system. Pay rates for specific individuals retrieved from the accounting system at the time labor is being applied.
• Easy generation of a parts list for completed jobs when referencing replacement parts.
• Allow intermittent assembly and invoicing against a large long-term Job. Scheduling/Assembly application indicates the ‘balance to assemble’ for the job.
• Material consumption register for a specific Job. (date/time stamped detail so you know what you’ve applied)
• Ability to seamlessly ‘reverse’ transactions in the accounting system for miss-applied materials and labor.
• The ‘Site Suppliers’ grid indicates whether or not the price/part from a specific supplier includes freight. This allows better assessment of cost alternatives when sourcing decisions are made.
• Material consumption register for end-of-month environmental reporting. (consolidated by material and quantity)
• In Invoicing, visibility to available inventory is not constrained to the inventory built for a specific customer’s job. Peter may be ‘robbed’ to pay Paul. The user receives a high-visibility warning that the ‘inventory selected does not match the customer order selected.’
• Final order closure (which can only be determined by the user) is effected via the Quotes application. Whereupon a final inventory adjustment is made to accurately reflect the total cost of the job in the financial system.
• Integrity of all costs from raw materials, to work-in-process, to finished-goods are effectively maintained outside of Peachtree’s conventional assembly process (thus making all of this possible). The Quote header tab indicates actual margin versus the expected margin for the job.
• Get current material costs from the financial system.

Lot-Based Inventory Management

The critical characteristic of most ERP systems, which renders them in-effective for process manufacturers, is a lack of support for lot-tracking. Most small business accounting packages are even worse. These lower-end accounting packages typically support one storage location and one stocking unit. This is completely unacceptable for the process manufacturer.

Composer NPD" can be used to manage the receipt, quality status, and consumption of detailed inventory. Materials can be carried in inventory on four different levels from fully-aggregated to unit serialized. Composer NPD" supports multiple stocking locations on the Site-Warehouse-Zone-Bay levels. In addition to serialized generation of lot numbers, shelf-life expiry dates are automatically calculated at the time of inventory creation. All inventory transactions (FG and Raw) conducted in Composer NPD" are synchronized with the aggregated stocking units in Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing.

Features of Composer NPD Lot-Based Inventory Management:

• Control raw material ordering by approved Supplier
• Search 17 characteristics of inventory including age, quality status, and supplier
• Support for storage on for levels: Site, Warehouse, Zone, and Bay
• Unlimited number of user-defined receiving units-of-measure
• Receiving-to-Stocking unit conversion factors
• Multiple suppliers for the same item
• Automatic quarantine of newly received items
• Supports internal lot number and supplier lot number for each item
• Final assemblies are created referencing lot-specific inventory

Purchasing

Composer NPD" interfaces directly with Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing to produce purchase orders. The key benefit of using Composer NPD" is the ability to create an unlimited number of receiving units-of-measure for each raw material and manage the conversion to stocking units when the material is later received. Many accounting packages limit the number of receiving units that can be defined.

For the process manufacturing company, Composer NPD" imposes a welcomed level of discipline in the purchasing process. Most ERP/Financial systems will allow the purchase of anything from anybody. Composer NPD" allows the coupling of materials with approved suppliers. This eases confusion in the purchasing interface by appropriately limiting the options by material or supplier.

Features of Composer NPD Purchasing:

• Create relationships between materials and approved suppliers
• Reference lead times for delivery
• Reference the suppliers part number for the item
• Unlimited number of receiving units-of-measure for materials
• Automatic serialization of purchase order number
• Visibility to cost/receiving unit for the individual supplier
• Visibility to minimum lot quantities for a selected supplier
• Automatic creation of purchase order in Peachtree Accounting
• Automatic calculation of expected delivery date on PO

Quality Control

As Composer NPD" is targeted to the process industries, special attention is given to the iterative nature of batch adjustment during the process of quality testing. Composer NPD" allows Laboratory Technicians to iteratively test and adjust batch composition as required to achieve target performance. Adjustment history is available to Formulators for the purpose of aiding master formula modification. This capability supports the elimination of redundant Lot testing and adjustment cycles that consume valuable labor hours. Final test results for each Lot are used to create a Certificate-of-Analysis (CoA) that can be printed on-demand.

Features of Composer NPD Quality Control:

• Lab technicians work within the same screen. No repetitive logging-in/logging-out.
• Unlimited number of tests
• Support for pass/fail assessment
• Support for test conditions
• Multiple options for specifying test range boundary conditions
• Tests can be included/excluded from CoA
• Create test specifications by material and customer
• Search 11 characteristics of historical lots including number of adjustments made
• Quick reference to historical adjustment materials and respective percentages by Lot
• Electronic signature for approval. Double-validation for quality overrides
• Integrated test procedures

Receiving

Composer NPD" interfaces directly with Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing to handle received product. At the time of receipt, Composer NPD references the raw material record to determine how the item is to be carried in inventory. If it is to be carried with lot-level detail, Composer NPD" will generate an internal lot number to assign to the material. The product is then received into a quarantine bay with a quality disposition of ‘Hold’. At some point later, an individual with authority may assign a supplier lot (if available) and update the quality status of the material. The on-hand quantities for the material in Peachtree Accounting are automatically updated and the purchasing invoice is automatically generated.

Features of Composer NPD Receiving:

• Automatic creation of detailed inventory on the lot-level
• Receive multiple times against the same PO
• Receive partial quantities
• Automatic creation of the purchasing invoice within Peachtree Accounting
• Default material storage location and material status to ‘Hold’

Scheduling

Composer NPD" is directly interfaced with Peachtree Premium Accounting for Manufacturing sales order entry. When new items are entered into Peachtree, the unscheduled items show up in the Composer NPD" scheduling graphical interface. Individual work orders (WO) and batches can then be created to fulfill these customer orders.

Upon completion of a batch/WO, the finished or intermediate goods are assembled from lot-specific material inventory where they become available for shipment and invoicing. The scheduler may then close the sales order item and indicate it complete.

Features of Composer NPD Scheduling:

• Create batches for formulated product
• Create Work Orders for end-items on the sales order
• View the status of lot quality testing