Business Central: How to Become a Part of the Saudi Vision 2030 with Smart Manufacturing?

Manufacturing is the core of the global industrial landscape and is an essential factor in pivoting the local economy towards sustained growth. With the manufacturing industry incorporating high-tech processes to reduce cost and maximize efficiency, manufacturers are swiftly moving towards truly embracing Industry 4.0. Kingdom of Saudia Arabia (KSA) announced ‘The Future Factories Program’ in which it will be automating four thousand factories. With its vision 2030 and minimizing its oil dependence, KSA has been rapidly investing in digital tools for automating manufacturing processes.

In this blog we will discuss the need for smart manufacturing processes and how Dynamics 365 Business Central can pivot the manufacturing industry into the future.

Benefits of Smart Factories for the KSA

KSA’s strategic progression plan towards adopting cutting-edge technologies and implementing them was curated to position itself as a pioneer in the fourth industrial revolution. Automating current factories, building more smart factories and cities are the major aspects of this strategic digital transformation.

Incorporating digitally innovative tools in the manufacturing processes can leverage various benefits for the region, economically and socially. Let us delve into some of these benefits:

1. Smart manufacturing will enable the Saudi industries to match strides with the global industries and the digital enhancements taking place within.

2. It can enable the local Saudi products to be placed in international markets, causing the economy to flourish.

3. The Kingdom’s national export system will prosper, in accordance with the international quality standards of the manufactured goods.

4. Smart factories will create new job opportunities for advanced talents.

5. Smart manufacturing will attract local and foreign investments in the region, which will enhance economic growth.

6. Smart manufacturing processes will improve efficiency and enhance costs causing profitability to boost.

Business Central: Driver for Smart Manufacturing

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, as a versatile ERP solution, leverages the power of AI, IoT and automation to digitize business processes. Its versatility allows it to provide customized features for businesses in every domain. Today, we will dissect the Manufacturing capabilities in Business Central and the features it employs to digitize manufacturing processes.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers robust functionality for streamlining processes with an intuitive interface. The intuitive interface is easy to learn and does not come with a steep learning curve for inexperienced users. Its ability to seamlessly integrate with other Dynamics 365 applications makes it more robust and efficient.

Manufacturing Features in Business Central

These features in Business Central let manufacturers stay ahead of their consumers’ expectations and drive accurate forecasting. It efficiently churns various outputs with variable inputs and lets you track all aspects of the manufacturing workflow individually. Small and medium enterprises can enjoy industry-grade data unification capabilities, which mitigate data siloes and efficiently puts data to use.

To put it concisely, Business Central digitizes the entire manufacturing cycle, from planning, production, vendors, and inventory to packaging and sales.

Bill of Materials:
As a detailed list of material needed for parent manufacturing, inaccuracy in BoM is detrimental to cost and efficiency. The BoM feature in Business Central produces accurate lists which include the description and quantity of each component, with other optional additional information. It lets manufacturers incorporate fifty levels of items, subassemblies, and phantom BoMs. If the quantity of parent items is changed in BoM, it automatically changes the quantities of components needed to produce the item, hence keeping the inventory up to date.

Production Orders:
As a core component of the manufacturing system, Production Orders in Business Central allows seamless conversion of purchased raw material into manufactured items. It streamlines material planning, material requirement, manufactured orders and more, in one place and convenient to track. These can be created manually from the Production Order tab or generated from Sales Order Planning tabs.

Supply Planning:
Inventory management is an essential part of cost and production management. The Supply Planning feature in Business Central is an efficient tool that lets the managers manage the supply of materials and maintain inventories. It centralizes inventory data into one place, which makes it easier for managers to determine the shortage or surplus of material at a glance. It even incorporates the intelligent capabilities of demand forecasting, which employs previous sales data, market trends and seasonal changes to analyze and forecast future demand.

Assembly Management:
As a feature that lets manufacturers streamline the assembly of manufactured products, it is an efficient tool. It lets them differentiate between assembly and production orders. It significantly reduces the risk of human errors and greatly affects the customer satisfaction rate. It lets manufacturers meet customized customer requirements, without affecting inventories, through a just-in-time inventory strategy. Moreover, assembly orders are directly created when a sales order is created.

Agile Manufacturing:
The agile methodology in manufacturing is when the entire process is broken down into multiple ‘sprints,’ with each sprint allotted a time frame. Business Central allows agile manufacturing through Agile Project Management, creating sharing and feedback loop between customers and the stakeholders, and employing the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) to maintain quality and efficiency and prioritize orders and manage production plans accordingly.

IoT Capabilities with Azure Integration:
Business Central allows manufacturers to truly automate their manufacturing processes by leveraging Azure’s IoT capabilities. IoT enables remotely guiding manufacturing processes, allowing machines to detect maintenance issues, making digital twins, inventory tracking and more. Incorporating IoT into manufacturing revolutionizes it bolster efficiency and productivity.

Business Central Manufacturing Benefits

Microsoft Business Central specifically caters to small and medium enterprises and offers enterprise-grade capabilities to such enterprises at an affordable price. The manufacturing module in Business Central is invaluable in the sense that it provides automation capabilities to manufacturing processes like material procurement, inventory, production, and customer service and even accounting. We have listed down some benefits for Microsoft Business Central’ Manufacturing module, for SMEs:

• Organizations can securely store their data on the Azure Cloud, which is protected by enterprise-grade firewalls and other security measures.
• With efficient tools, manufacturers can expedite top-notch production planning.
• With the powerful capabilities of AI, manufacturers can drive intelligent and precise data-driven insights.
• The system enables accurate and real-time inventory and supply chain management which mitigates stock over runs and surplus.
• Manufacturers can navigate through the complex manufacturing regulations with Dynamics 365 Business Central’s regulatory compliance.

Include Your Manufacturing Business with KSA’s Future Factories Program with Dynamics Solution and Technology

Majority of the SMEs are rapidly growing in the Kingdon of Saudia Arabia. According to The General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha’at), the number of startups increased by 25.6% in 2022 from the previous year. Moreover, the Future Factories Program launched by the Saudi Government, in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030, shows its dedication towards truly empowering the Saudi businesses and factories with digital transformation. It operates on the adoption of international methodologies and Industry 4.0 and aims to pivot businesses in the same direction of digitization and automation.

You can make your manufacturing business eligible to be included in the Future Factories Program by automating your processes with Dynamics 365 Business Central. Dynamics Solution and Technology emerges as your trusted implementation partner in this digitally competitive landscape. Our dedication to expedite Microsoft’s vision of digitally transforming businesses can be validated by our extended range of satisfied and digitally transformed clientele across the Gulf and MENA regions. With our expert ideation, efficient development, and top-notch post-implementation support capabilities, we remain with you every step of the way.

Begin your journey into the digitally advanced world of Industry 4.0 and position your business and your country on the precipice of true automation. Contact us now.