Minotaur Business System

Minotaur Software - One System Is a Better Way

Are you ready to eliminate redundant data entry? Is expired product or backorders costing you money? Do you need better inventory and lot tracking controls?

The Minotaur Business System helps small to mid size manufacturers and distributors eliminate the need for multiple systems and spreadsheets. With a focus in the food and chemical industries since 1985, Minotaurýs industry specific software and practical industry experience will help your company integrate financial, inventory, traceability, manufacturing, customer service and quality assurance data. As the developer of the software, Minotaur is also ideal for companies with unique business processes and special needs. With real-time, integrated solutions for the office, production areas and warehouse, you can enjoy managed inventory, reduced costs and improved productivity; a solid basis on which to make decisions, grow your business and increase profits.

ýWeýre now doing eight times the volume we did seven years ago, with little to no increase in people cost. My investment in this solution was an bargain!ý -Richard Halenda, CEO of Halenda’s Meats in Oshawa Ontario

Improved Productivity

• increased revenues through various sales order entry abilities
• on the road selling/order entry
• barcode scanning for receiving, shipping and warehouse
• materials requirements information ý know what you need to make or purchase and when
• fully integrated EDI with retailers, warehouses, co-packers and used for intercompany transactions
• real time production recognition
• ease of tracking over and above agreements with retailers
• routing and route management abilities

Visibility of Costs and Margins

• know your profit margins across products, product groups and customers
• more accurate costing through the incorporation of duty, brokerage, freight on incoming raw materials
• the inclusion of labour/overhead costs in the manufacturing process into the cost of your finished products
• manufacturing yield analysis
• multiple customer sell price costing methods including multi level commodity pricing

Quality Assurance

• serial number and lot traceability
• ease of end to end traceability/recall abilities
• barcode scanning and label generation
• product test result tracking and release
• certificate of analysis generation
• allergen management

Why Choose Minotaur?

When you choose Minotaur Software, you are choosing a complete and customizable business management solution. You will enjoy a long term partnership built on accountability, respect and a desire for mutual success.

Accounts Payable

The Minotaur Accounts Payable module controls and manages your supplier accounts. An efficient business demands accurate cash control and with Minotaur, your whole payables situation can be seen in up to the minute, precise detail. Maintaining a complete bill and payment history, you can instantly see who and what is owed, and Aged Payable Lists can be generated for any specified date. You can pay suppliers at any time, in any currency. Appropriate transactions entered elsewhere in the system automatically update supplier accounts. Minotaur provides complete, convenient payables management, resulting in more control of your business.

Accounts Receivable

The Minotaur Accounts Receivable module fully manages your customer accounts, maintaining a complete history and receivables status for each. Aged Receivable Lists and Customer Statements can be generated at any time, for any specified date, allowing you instant and accurate data to improve collections and detect payment problems. Customer balances and history are immediately updated as transactions are entered elsewhere in the system. The result: With the Minotaur Accounts Receivable module, you will have fewer collection problems and increased cash flow.

Advanced Reports

The Minotaur Advanced Reports module takes you beyond normal reporting, to more in-depth, flexible, adaptable reports for any situation. When managing a sales force, you need complete information, presented simply and efficiently. With Minotaur, you’ll have all the sales reports that you need: sales by sales rep, product, area, industry, customer, customer type, and by month, with cost, budget, and previous year’s comparisons when needed. You also have access to the powerful Flexible Report Generator, which allows you to create reports to extract any information on your system, with minimal effort. Minotaur enables you get the ultimate in timely, relevant reporting, conveying complete information in a flexible format. The bottom line is that you will have the information you need to make the correct decisions that will increase your profitability.

Canadian Payroll

The Minotaur Payroll module performs complete Canadian payroll management. You can maintain a comprehensive employee file with full detail of each payroll. Minotaur automatically calculates the correct deductions and earnings for each payroll, and records the information for subsequent ROE and T-4 purposes. Flexible, user-defined Earnings Types (which allow you to create a flexible time sheet unique to your requirements) and Benefits allow for highly sophisticated allocations of time and cost. Data entry is simple, with many validity checks. The result: Minotaur Payroll module enables you to maintain an efficient, accurate payroll department.

Containers

Minotaur Softwareýs container building module enables businesses to build, transfer and ship containers of product, in addition to assigning rack and bin locations within a given warehouse. Whether it is a box, pallet or trailer containing a single item or mixed items, warehouse efficiencies will be increased as item location and handling processes are improved. When used in conjunction with Minotaurýs hand held module, pallet barcode labels can be scanned and containers managed in the same manner as any other single inventory item. When used with EDI, it makes creation of MH10 labels for retail easy.

CRM

The Minotaur CRM module allows you to manage your business contacts, both prospects and customers, to help you track all interactions for improved customer service. A master record for each contact keeps track of all your key information about that contact. Each Minotaur user can be assigned tasks to complete for a given contact, like preparing quotes, following up on complaints, etc. When complete, the Minotaur user can record the task as finished and add in any related comments in the notes section. All entries are date stamped for an easy chronological showing of events. A prospect can be easily turned into a customer so the entire history of your sales prospecting is retained.

Important Features

• Individual user task reports
• Complete complaint tracking for ISO quality control
• Your prospect can become a customer easily so you eliminate the need for a separate CRM package
• Up to date information is accessible by all users

Additional Features

• Unlimited length notes section for recording details of customer/prospect interaction
• Management can view all open tasks by user to keep on top of what contacts have issues
• You can print labels for mass mailings to prospects/customers
• Contact list reports can be produced showing summarized or detail information
• You can assign multiple tasks to different users all relating to a single contact
• You can set up multiple people from one company with their individual addresses phone numbers, extensions and direct email addresses
• Your staff can now use one central repository of information about a contact thereby avoiding individual staff members from maintaining their own personal database of information on a customer that is not accessible except through them
• On the road sales staff can connect remotely to manage their prospect and customer accounts through the internet

EDI

The Minotaur EDI module is a comprehensive EDI package completely interfaced to the order entry, invoicing and inventory control modules. Incoming purchase orders are validated and then loaded directly as sales orders. Functional acknowledgements can be generated automatically or manually. Outgoing documents are prepared from the corresponding Minotaur document.

Outgoing documents can be prepared from any workstation on the network and transmitted as required. Incoming functional acknowledgements are applied and documents with outstanding functional acknowledgements are listed as a report identifying outstanding FA’s by system document number. All aspects of the EDI module are available at any workstation on the network. Coupled with communication software, generally provided by the VAN at nominal rates, this package provides all your EDI needs.

Important Features

• Completely Integrated
• ASC X12, VICS and UCS supported
• Purchase Order Processing
• ASN, Invoice and statement generation
• Shipping Label ( MH10, UCC 128 Common Shipping Label)

Additional Features

• Completely integrated
• ASC X12, VICS and UCS supported
• Functional Acknowledgement with tracking and auto or manual FA generation
• Purchase Orders, distributed order support, GLN supported and a unique purchase order verification before loading
• Automatic carton serial number generation and tracking with pallet and carton support
• Shipping Labels (MH10, UCC 128)
• Invoices
• Statements
• Compatible with all major VANS

Fixed Assets

Minotaurýs Fixed Asset module allows you to input assets, existing and newly acquired, decide the depreciation method that applies, record the life and salvage value. Then the system will establish the depreciation schedule, calculating setting up the appropriate G/L entries for the upcoming periods. Accountants like that it sets up the future entries but has a separate mechanism for posting so that adjustments can be made without the complication of adjusting entries. The fixed asset module allows you to manage early disposals and provides reports by asset, user defined asset class and G/L entries by time period.

General Ledger

The Minotaur General Ledger module maintains your company master ledger, giving you a precise, up to date, comprehensive financial picture. Transactions posted throughout the system are automatically recorded in detail in the General Ledger. Financial Statements are available for any date or period, and can include previous year and budgeted figures and percentages. Financial reports are flexible and can be configured to meet your specific requirements. Control is built into the Minotaur system, with complete audit trails, flexible audit dates with password protection, and user-operated compression programs. The result: Minotaur gives you unprecedented access to complete, accurate, and up to date financial information, enabling you to make the informed, intelligent, and timely business decisions needed to ensure your corporate success.

Handheld/Barcode Scanning

Using Minotaurýs handheld warehouse management module, you can automate your warehouse and/or production area feeding live information to your Minotaur system through the use of barcode capable handheld computers or PDAýs. Minotaur documents can be designed to include barcodes to minimize thumb typing. Scan standard GS1 EAN128 labels from your suppliers or produce labels for raw materials or buy/sell items not arriving with appropriate labels. Minotaur can also produce barcode labels for your finished goods including lot numbers. Once items are labeled, handhelds can then be used to scan items as they are moved around the warehouse, for picking, use in production, conducting inventory counts and finally for picking and shipping sales orders to customers. This ties directly to the Minotaur Lot Control Module for quick recall tracking.

Benefits

• Complete warehouse management including Rack and Bin locations when used with our Container Module
• Assists with end to end traceability reducing paperwork
• Items are received in real time making them immediately ready for warehouse storage, shipping or for use in production
• Eliminates manual keying of data for increased accuracy and efficiency.

Inventory

The Minotaur Inventory module keeps accurate track of all the products you deal with, whether finished goods or raw materials. Barcode capabilities, serial numbers, lot control, multiple locations, EDI interface with suppliers, all enhance your control over stock levels. The part file is comprehensive, storing all the information you need about each part and updating it automatically. All transactions and costs are recorded in detail, allowing part histories and inventory valuations at any time, for any date. With Minotaur Inventory, you achieve unprecedented tracking and control of your inventory, resulting in lower inventory carrying costs, lower overhead, increased cash flow, and higher profitability.

Invoicing / Order Entry

The Minotaur Invoicing/Order Entry module tracks each customer order, shipment, and sale. Control of your information begins with sales. You can quickly find out who has ordered what, for delivery when, so you don’t lose opportunities. You can generate a sales journal printout at any time. With Minotaur you can print various sales documentation, such as picking and packing slips, order acknowledgments, shipping labels, invoices, etc. Minotaur interacts with EDI, electronically receiving orders from customers and sending shipping notifications and invoices. The order, shipping, invoicing process is so convenient, allowing partial shipments and automatic backorders. Barcode capabilities allow for highly efficient shipping process. Multi-branch orders from head offices, rebate marketing agreements with retailer customers, budgeting for projected sales of parts; all are made easy with Minotaur. The result: faster, more efficient invoicing means faster payments and a more profitable business.

Lot Control

Lot Control

• Inventory parts can be assigned to require lots. If lots are required, it will force you to assign/use lot numbers for all transactions for that part. If lots are not required, it will allow you to use lot numbers, but not force the use of them. This allows flexibility for the level on control you wish to enforce.
• The system will not allow you to use/sell more of a lot number than is available.
• Lots can be assigned to all in-coming products (inventory receipts).
• Lots can be assigned to all manufactured products.
• Lot numbers on raw materials used during production can be recorded.
• Lot numbers shipped and invoiced to customers can be recorded.
• Inventory is tracked by lot number, so in the event of, for example, a product recall, it is easy to identify the usage/sales of an item.
• Inventory can be adjusted by lot number.
• Lot numbers can be totally tracked in between locations.
• Documentation (inventory labels, packing slips etc), can all be formatted to print the lot numbers.
• Costing can be tracked by lot number, so if you sell two different lot numbers of the same items on an invoice, and those lots have different costs associated with them, the invoice costing report will reflect this accurately.

Serial Control

• Inventory parts can be assigned to require serial numbers. If serials are required, it will force you to assign/use serial numbers for all transactions for that part. If serials are not required, it will allow you to use serial numbers, but not force the use of them. This allows flexibility for the level on control you wish to enforce.
• The system will not allow you to use/sell a serial number that is not available.
• Serial numbers can be assigned to all in-coming products (inventory receipts).
• The system will not allow duplicate serial numbers to be assigned to the same inventory item.
• Serial numbers can be assigned to all manufactured products.
• Serial numbers on raw materials used during production can be recorded.
• Serial numbers shipped and invoiced to customers can be recorded.
• Inventory is tracked by serial number, so in the event of, for example, a product recall, it is easy to identify the usage/sales of an item.
• Inventory can be adjusted by serial number.
• Serial numbers can be totally tracked in between locations.
• Documentation (inventory labels, packing slips etc), can all be formatted to print the serial numbers costing can be tracked by serial number, so that if you sell 2 serial numbers of the same item on an invoice, and those serials have different costs associated with them, the invoice costing reports will reflect this accurately.

Manufacturing

The Minotaur Manufacturing module offers both assembly and disassembly manufacturing. Core functionality includes multi-level bills of materials including by-products with labour and overhead components. You can include proportional components such as labour and packaging or fixed components such as set up or clean time. Production runs can be scheduled and monitored, to ensure you meet your due dates. You can print detailed work orders, formatted to your specifications, and track variance and waste. Reports show you what production is required, the status of each production run, cost and waste factor analysis, and detailed cost breakdowns. The result: Minotaur gives you complete control of your manufacturing operation, providing the information you require to react quickly to changing demands.

Benefits

• Built in unit conversion by item
• Know what you need to make and or buy and when
• Analyze overruns, cost and yield variations
• End to end lot traceability
• FIFO or first to expire lot allocation
• Barcode generation
• Quality control specifications tracking by lot
• Track allergens, organic, COR products, etc.
• Generate certificates of analysis
• Currently eight disassembly costing methods

Point of Sale

Minotaur Softwareýs Point of Sale Module offers you the ability to tie sales from your retail outlet(s) into your core business management system.

A fully integrated computerized store checkout system will enhance business management through improved inventory controls and transaction processing while efficiently handling the check out process. Store transactions and inventory remain identifiable yet fully accessible from within the core system.

As with all Minotaur Software modules, all point of sale transactions impact the relevant areas of the system from the sales journal and inventory to the general ledger, in real time. Management and Operations are able to monitor all aspects of their business at their convenience and without the delay often experienced by those companies whose store inventory is not fully integrated.

Product Development

Managing new product development can be a challenge. Often production and R&D have different needs and from an operations standpoint ý things need to be kept separate. Minotaur Softwareýs product development module was designed to handle the unique needs of development without impacting mainstream production.

Benefits

• Keep new/sample raw materials and finished goods separate from mainstream production.
• Track multiple versions of formulae.
• Allow developers to use product development raw materials in addition to existing inventoried raw materials when developing formulae.
• Calculate the cost associated with each formulation.
• Print a work order for a sample batch and run a pilot production run.
• Easily transfer an accepted formula into mainstream production.

Purchasing

The Minotaur Purchasing module controls the inventory purchasing side of your business. You can track Purchase Orders, supplier prices, and quantities on order. When used in concert with the Inventory and the Invoicing/Order Entry modules, the Purchasing module can calculate quantities to order to meet customer commitments. Built-in lead times will ensure that your purchasing meets your customer or production due dates. Minotaur’s EDI capabilities will allow you to interface with your suppliers, issuing P.O.s electronically. With Minotaur Purchasing, you will increase your inventory efficiency and eliminate costly shortages.

Important Features

• Detailed Part File tracking
• Multi currency purchasing
• Report by order, part or supplier
• Unit conversion

Additional Features

• EDI interface with suppliers for sending P.O.s electronically.
• Unlimited parts can be tracked in the Purchasing module.
• Unlimited P.O.s can be recorded and tracked on the system.
• System prompts user to purchase sufficient quantities to take advantage of bulk discounts.
• Receipts or Supplier Bills entered in the Inventory module automatically close filled P.O.s, or change P.O. quantities in the case of backorders. Remaining P.O. quantities can be canceled during Receipt entry in the Inventory module if desired.
• Detailed Part File tracks all the information needed for each purchased part.
• P.O.s can be issued to any number of suppliers for a single part, and can print the supplier’s SKU number for the supplier’s reference.
• User can easily see what is on order to suppliers, what is in stock, and what is committed through customer orders, when Purchasing is used in concert with the Inventory and Invoicing/Order Entry modules.
• P.O. numbers are automatically generated, for convenience, but can be changed by user.
• Unlimited parts and comments can be recorded on a P.O.
• P.O.s can be given a due date, or each part on the P.O. can receive its own specific due date.
• If using Inventory module, user can enter unlimited number of Receipts or Supplier Bills per single P.O.
• Multiple Part Updater allows mass changing of selected part file information for a range of parts.
• Reports conveniently inform user of what is on order, by part, and by supplier.

Real Time Plant Floor Production Recognition Options

Minotaur offers various solutions for capturing your production data in real time from the plant floor. These options include:

• Minotaurýs Touch Screen Weigh/Label Production Module
• Read in files produced by your existing equipment. Ie. weighing and labeling stations
• Scan barcodes using the handheld barcode scanning module with applicable functionality options.

Minotaurýs Touch Screen Weigh/Label Production Module

Minotaur Softwareýs Touch Screen Production Module offers live plant floor weigh scale monitoring and printing of barcode labels. It is an efficient way of recording weighted product, as it is being made. This is especially valuable in environments where using a keyboard is not practical such as production areas that are messy or wet and for Operators wearing thick gloves. Product can be produced to inventory or against specific customer orders which is often utilized when producing fresh product. When producing against customer sales orders, customer specific labels are generated plus items weighed are added to order manifest eliminating the need to later scan those items.

Benefits

• Unique serial numbers are created for each item weighed with barcode labels
• Labels produced to your specification can include customer name, customer code, order number, item code, item description, net product weight, production date and more
• Case weights of finished goods are tracked and costs calculated, raw materials and packaging items are depleted
• Tare weights are utilized to ensure labels and production information reflect the actual weight of the product being produced.
• Improved accuracy on the production lines.
  • Operators select orders and items to be produced.
  • Avoids keying errors and over producing of items
• Increased efficiency and accuracy for office staff.
  • Great for fresh product manufacturers because orders entered in office appear instantly on production floor, no paperwork or call downs ý Production information is transferred live into your Minotaur system. No keying of information or transferring files.

File Reads

If your existing weighing and labeling equipment can send a file to the server containing the required production data, Minotaur can load that information into the system.

Barcode Scanning

Staff would scan each case label as it is produced. Cases could be scanned into inventory or against a customer sales order if applicable.

Regardless of the option utilized, packaging, labour and other overhead costs can be incorporated into the cost of your finished goods. Due to the variations in customer processes and goals, Minotaur currently offers 8 disassembly costing methods.

Retail Marketing Programs

Minotaur Softwareýs Retail Marketing Programs Module will assist you in tracking your rebate agreements with retailers. It tracks both off-invoice and accrued deductions. It can also track those type of programs which fall into neither category (for example your Volume Incentive), where you want to track the programs, but not accrue or deduct from invoice. Rebates can be accrued automatically, based on quantity, weight or dollar sales.

Benefits

• Eliminate spreadsheets and staff time spent trying to reconcile these programs.
• Easily reconcile off invoice discounts
• Know your liability with each customer and/or program at any time.
• Customer Profitability reports can be run to include the marketing programs for a true reflection of your profitability on your customers and items sold.