According to this Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. is suddenly in a factory building boom—setting an all-time record of over $100B in new factory construction in 2022, which is more than the building of schools or healthcare facilities or office buildings.
Numerous factors are contributing to this sudden rush of manufacturing re-shoring, many of which were exacerbated by the COVID pandemic of a few years ago:
- Volatile shipping costs from far-flung supply chains that make landed product costs difficult to predict
- For anyone that recalls the Los Angeles port backups, unreliable delivery schedules
- Besides being more reliable, shorter in-country shipping is just flat faster—obviously better for short time-to-market products
- Substantial government incentives for re-shoring some industries, such as chip manufacturing and electric vehicle production
- Geographic redundancy can make your manufacturing base less susceptible to interruption by natural events like blizzards, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
- For industries implementing greater automation, it’s easier to fine tune when you’re closer to the technicians
With all those issues, who WOULDN’T want their manufacturing close at hand? Well, there could be issues of raw material availability and, for highly manual human assembly jobs, a significant gap in labor cost continues but is closing. However, even with continued challenges in the labor market, U.S. production capacity in 2022 posted the strongest growth since 2015, so it looks like America is back!
Certainly the location of your manufacturing installations is a complex decision, but have you stopped and re-considered the options lately? The game HAS changed…
Then rest assured NexLAN stands ready with robust and flexible manufacturing and warehouse management expertise and tools, so that you can manage everything smoothly in one integrated system!
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We’re actively using the new AccountMate ClickToPay portal in our in-house system now and getting clients configured with this FREE built-in functionality to provide their customers an online payment portal. Hope you didn’t miss it in our last newsline! You can watch a webinar recording too, see below.
Regards,
Kevin E. Stroud
kestrou@nexlan.com
NexLAN, LLC
https://nexlan.com
Acumatica New Release: 2023 R1
The first of this year’s two new versions of Acumatica is out, and the top theme for the new features is “Exceptional Usability” to keep your Acumatica cloud system super-modern and helpful.
Check out the full long list of key new features in Acumatica 2023 R1, and meanwhile we’ve selected five to point out, plus one to highlight in more detail:
➤ Improve business event transparency by sending notifications about event activity to users who previously owned the event, such as support or sales staff.
➤ Increase the accuracy of your internal controls and reporting by uncovering errors, omissions, or duplications by synchronizing fixed assets and GL periods.
➤ Save payment processing time and effort by creating batch payments with the Prepare Payments form.
➤ Gmail integration: Send emails and share files with internal and external contacts without leaving Acumatica.
➤ Increase the flexibility of your pricing tactics per customer and item variant with simplified matrix item creation, through which you can easily define variant characteristics for each object generated from the template.
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New Sales Order Type “Mixed Order” for Counter Sales and Will Call Orders
A new Acumatica sales order behavior for wholesale distributors simplifies transactions for counter sales representatives at warehouse sites, when customers walk up to purchase and return items.
Mixed Orders make it easy for the counter sales person to stay in Acumatica Sales Order Entry to process everything, even if they don’t know at the start whether the order will be net positive or negative.
- The system will automatically assign an Issue or Receipt order type per item, based on whether an item quantity entered is positive (for a purchase) or negative (for a return).
- Based on whether the order total is positive or negative, the invoice type will automatically be assigned to a type Invoice or Cash Sale—or Credit Memo or Cash Return.
And Mixed Orders have no shipping functionality on the screen, to keep things simple for counter sales.
To learn more about this new feature and see it in action, watch an excellent 5-minute video: 2023 R1 Feature Review—Mixed Order Type.
We’ll highlight more cool 2023 R1 features soon! Meanwhile, check out the full list of top features and choose a few that look most appealing for your business and get started using them. Reach out to NexLAN with questions and/or look up the online product documentation for any new feature in the Acumatica Help Portal.
New AccountMate ClickToPay Online Payment Portal Webinar Recording
Just in case you missed the live webinar on April 5 about the new ClickToPay Online Payment Portal, here’s a summary of what the portal does:
- It’s a portal that your customers can use conveniently anytime to view and pay your invoices, and receive payment reminders.
- Those payments get entered into your AccountMate system automatically, saving you lots of data entry time, resending invoices, updating expired credit cards, etc.
- It’s new and it’s free. (It requires V12.3 of AccountMate SQL/Express and the AR Module).
What’s not to love about that?!
Learn about the full potential of this portal by watching the 34-minute webinar recording, co-presented by AccountMate and vertical solutions provider REPAY.
Webinar Recording—Next-Generation Payments—REPAY / AccountMate ClickToPay Benefits & Portal
Then reach out to NexLAN to get ClickToPay up and running on your system.
AccountMate SQL/Express Core Training
June 7 – July 13
Can you fit in just two sessions per week on Wednesdays and Thursdays for six weeks? If so, you can refine your understanding of what AccountMate’s core modules offer—including time for hands-on exercises, and questions for the expert instructor (from AccountMate Corp’s staff) about applying AccountMate processes to your company’s specific requirements.
Whether you want to brush up on the details of the modules you use day-in and day-out, or you want to to learn another module or two to make it easier to take on new responsibilities to grow your career, these training sessions are online, convenient, and empowering.
The Course Overview has details on how many free seats you quality for if you’re on Lifecycle Maintenance, and info about sending different people in your company to sessions on different modules.
Check out the class details:
Call or email NexLAN if you have questions or if you’d like to register.
Acumatica Manufacturing Edition:
Tips and Tricks Webinar May 11
Here’s an easy way to get a few new ideas for doing more with your Manufacturing Edition.
In this 30-minute webinar, Acumatic’s Manufacturing Edition team will review tips and tricks to help you save time, and upgrade your experience to use the edition more effectively.
Tips covered will relate to:
- Independent vs. dependent demand
- MRP goals
- MRP basic steps
- MRP input / outputs
- Data accuracy key to MRP
Webinar—Tips and Tricks: Manufacturing Edition
Thursday, May 11, 2023 from 1:00 – 1:30 PM CDT Register
Can’t make the webinar date and time? No problem. Register and you’ll receve a link to the webinar recording afterward. View the full list of Acumatica webinars anytime on Acumatica’s Events page.
AccountMate Tech Note: Understanding Other Comprehensive Income Accounts
Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) is part of the total comprehensive income; however, it is excluded from the net income. Transactions that can be recorded as other comprehensive income include, but are not limited to:
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- Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment
- Unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities
- Revaluation of Property
- Plant and Equipment
- Tax effects of Other Comprehensive Income
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Since these other comprehensive income transactions are not closed to retained earnings, they accumulate as other equity items, commonly called “Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income.”
Article #1339: Understanding Other Comprehensive Income Accounts discusses how the accounts are set up and presented in AccountMate.
AccountMate Tech Note: How Expired and Unreleased Blanket Sales Orders and Purchase Orders Are Treated
Using the Release Blanket SO/Release Blanket PO function, a blanket sales order/purchase order can be released any time within its validity period (i.e., on or before the date indicated in the Create Blanket Sales Order and Create Blanket Purchase Order functions’ Valid Until field). There are, however, instances where quantities remain unreleased even after the validity date. In those cases, the unreleased blanket sales order/purchase order becomes expired.
Article #1063: How AccountMate Treats an Expired and Unreleased Blanket Sales Order and Purchase Order discusses what happens to sales orders and purchase orders that are beyond their validity date.
Acumatica Technical Tips
I’m Seeing Different Average Costs for the Same Item
Q: My Stock Item Price shows the average cost is 256.85 but, in my Sales Order, when the SKU is selected it is showing 303.50.
Further, I verified that the average cost value is coming from the Inventory Summary – Estimated Cost column. Why isn’t the estimated cost value updated on the average cost details under that SKU? Note: All receipts are released, and there are no pending transactions for this item on the purchasing side.
A: Average cost is calculated differently for Stock Items and for Sales Orders. This gives you visibility as a whole, as well as deeper into each warehouse, as it could cost more to get the item from another warehouse.
For Stock Items: The Average Cost fields in the Stock Item screen show the Average Cost for the Qty On Hand across all warehouses. Average Cost = Qty On Hand in all warehouses, divided by Total Cost.
For Sales Orders: The Average Cost in Sales Order Details will show the Average Cost for the selected warehouse. Average Cost = Qty On Hand in the selected warehouse in the SO Line, divided by Total Cost.
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Can a Sales Order Be Fulfilled Via Over-The-Counter and Ship/Dropship?
Q: Is it possible to fulfill a sales order by doing an over-the-counter delivery for one item and a drop ship for another item on the same order? When I create a sales order, it assigns shipping labels to all of the items, however, if I do over-the-counter, I don’t get shipping functionality. Much like the ability to split shipments by Ship Date, I want to be able to split it by “Ship Via.”
A: You can do both on a Sales Order. In the Sales Order, on the line you want to be the drop ship, mark it for PO with the PO Source type specified as Drop-Ship.
For the other line item, from the Sales Order top menu (three dots), Create Purchase Order and Mark for PO just that item. Then in the Sales Order Shipping tab use the Will Call checkbox; when the Will Call check box is checked, it indicates that the customer will pick up the goods. To cause the Will Call check box to be checked, leave the Ship Via field empty.
You can then Confirm Shipment for the drop ship item when it’s ready to ship.
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How to Get Items without Replenishment on Order to Show Up on Purchase Orders
Q: When a sales representative puts an item not in stock on a sales order (and the item does not have a replenishment set), the item is set to back order. Our buyers do not know to order that item when the buyers are placing purchase orders. And the backordered item does not get ordered. Can Acumatica automatically add these backordered items to a Purchase Order? If not, can we get Acumatica to show us we need to put these backordered items on a Purchase Order?
A: Your sales person can select ‘Mark for PO’ on the sales order and then ‘Purchase to Order’ for the PO Source. Your buyer can then use the Create Purchase Orders process screen (PO505000) to combine the “IN Replenishment” and the “SO to Purchase” types to generate a single PO.
Another approach would be to insert a replenishment plan with a 0/0 min/max. Then on the Prepare Replenishment Screen (IN508000) set up a filter to view Qty on Demand > 0 + Max Qty = 0 to view all demand against items without a true re-order point.
Note: The system allocates quantities purchased to Sales Orders. You can set it to then allocate remaining items to back orders, with the Replan Order checkbox on Inventory Preferences.
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How to Change the Export Name of a Report
Q: We need to change the report name when we export the report to PDF or Excel.
A: To change the export name of a report, go to the Report Designer (Start > All Programs > Acumatica > Report Designer). Open the report. Go to the Properties tab in the bottom right pane of the screen, to the Data section, and find the line with the ExportFileName field. Add the name you want to use.
Changes like this are super-easy to do yourself in the Acumatica Report Designer, for slightly-nerdy users who are comfortable working with small bits of code or who can already do fancy things in Excel. Typically a company will designate someone like this to be their inhouse Report Designer rather than ask all users to learn it. If you need help installing the free Report Designer on your computer or server, and if you’d like us to teach your designated Report Designer person how to make custom report design adjustments very quickly on their own, please reach out to NexLAN and we’ll be happy to assist. We can also verify your formulas for accuracy when you’re using formulas in the Report Designer to get a desired output. And we can do the report designs for you if you don’t want to.
AccountMate Technical Tips
I Can No Longer Find the OR STT-1 Tax Form in AccountMate
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: PR
Q: I can no longer find the OR STT-1 Form in Tax Forms. Why?
A: The OR STT-1 Form is obsolete. The information is now reported in the OR OQ Report. Note that the OR STT-A Form will also be obsolete by year-end.
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How Do I Pay a Retiring Employee Their Paid Leave Balance?
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: PR
Q: An employee is retiring, and I have converted to cash the employee’s paid leave balance using the Convert/Adjust Unused Paid Leave function. The paid leave balance now shows zero but how do I pay the employee?
A: Converting to cash the unused paid leave balance automatically creates an additional payment transaction. Run the Apply Payroll function and select the Additional Payment Pay Type to process the additional payment. Then, access Print Check to print the computer check or generate the ACH file to pay the employee.
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Why Is the Print Check Option Disabled in the Post AP Invoice Window?
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: AP
Q: The C.C.Payment, Print Check and Post HW Check options are available in the Post AP Invoice window that is displayed after saving an AP invoice transaction; however, the Print Check option is disabled. How can I enable the Print Check option?
A: The Print Check option is enabled only if you have entered an amount in the AP Invoice Transactions ► Information ► Apply Amt field. The Apply Amt field is automatically populated if the Apply Full Amount Automatically checkbox is marked in the Vendor Maintenance ► Settings tab. Entering an Apply Amount means that the invoice is authorized for payment; thus, the Print Check option will be enabled, and you can print a check to pay the AP invoice.
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How Can I List Every Master Item That’s Assigned a Certain Component Item?
Versions: AM12 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM11 for SQL and Express
AM10 for SQL, Express, and LAN
AM9 for LAN
Module: AR
Q: Is there a report where I can find every master item where a certain component item is assigned?
A: Yes, generate the Bill of Materials Report sorted by Component #. The report will display all components and the list of master items where each component item is assigned.
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