As a business manager, you have to keep a lot of plates spinning and it can quickly become overwhelming. The right job costing software can help ease the load and give you time back.
But, not all job costing software is created with manufacturing businesses in mind. That can mean that you are spending money on features you don’t use, and losing out on functions that you do need.
In our recent guest blog with Laurus Bookkeeping, we covered this in more detail. Read “Job Costing Software is not one size fits all: identifying your unique industry needs” to learn more.
Here are some of the top things that you should look for that show you a job costing system is designed with manufacturers in mind.
A huge part of manufacturing is producing stock for your shelves. While a lot of job costing systems can help you manage projects for clients, they aren’t designed to create and add stock that you plan to sell later.
Without the right tools, you might not be able to accurately track the stock produced, or the cost associated.
The Production Jobs function in WorkGuru.io helps make tracking your manufacturing much easier. By reporting on the materials used, the time taken and the number of products produced, WorkGuru will add to your stock and work out the per-unit cost, even if you produce multiple types. Using back-ordering, you can work on larger orders over a number of days, while still adding to stock.
Learn more in the quick explainer video.
Depending on what you produce, your cost of goods might be one of your biggest expenses. So, tracking what you use (and what projects you’ve used it on) can help you stay stocked up, and ensure that you’re making money on your jobs.
The right job costing system will help you to track stock you’ve ordered, received, sold and used as easily as possible. It will help you understand how much your making on stock and make sure that you have materials available to complete jobs.
Read More: Keep Inventory Management Simple with these 5 tips
Without being able to track your costs and margins it can be hard to know which jobs make money and which don’t. WorkGuru.io lets you build templates for your projects and understand your forecast profits before you start working, and then help you stay on track as you work.
WorkGuru.io also give you the tools to track your costs while you work, so you can keep up to date in real-time. It means that you can keep while you work and make sure your projects stay on track.
When you work with high-cost materials, or in highly competitive fields, then your project margins can be small and tracking your actual costs become highly important. Making sure you get good visibility on your real costs helps you keep every project profitable.
Timesheets & time tracking give you and your team a clear idea of what your days are focused on and which projects and production jobs are scheduled. It can help your team to understand where they are spending most of their working day and help them to identify areas for improvement.
Not only that, but more visibility, with tools like project scheduling, means that you and your team see what they are doing each day. It reduces the randomness of the workplace and gives you a clear view of your team’s productivity while saving you time on team meetings and misunderstandings.
Whether you have a small team or a large multiple-location business, managing each members time and the tasks they work on can help you stay profitable and fit more productive work into your day.