This week, thousands of manufacturers will gather at Hannover Messe 2025 for insights into solutions to unprecedented challenges, from rising energy costs to supply chain disruptions, workforce shortages to geopolitical conflicts. Top of mind for many attendees is how AI agent-led automation, production, and supply chain processes can help empower a high-performance and sustainable industry.

To help answer these questions, Microsoft leaders and industry partners will showcase the very latest AI innovation for manufacturers designed to help address today’s most critical challenges.

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AI agents will transform manufacturing in 2025 and beyond

Moving forward, four transformative trends will set the pace of growth and success in the evolving manufacturing landscape:

• Improving supply chain operations
• Driving operational excellence with operational technology data from siloed sources
• Delivering great customer experience
• Increasing energy efficiency and employee productivity

At the Microsoft expo booth, manufacturers will learn how they can achieve these trends by using agents across critical business processes and workflows with Microsoft Dynamics 365 autonomous ERP solutions.

Improving supply chain operations with AI agents

Manufacturers face increasing supply chain challenges, from fluctuating customer demand to geopolitical uncertainties that can pressure organizations to restructure supply chains or reshore operations to unaffected regions. It’s imperative to have the agility to adapt to rapid demand shifts while operating profitably and keeping costs in check.

AI agents can play a crucial role in manufacturing operations, autonomously monitoring processes for potential disruptions, with the ability to proactively mitigate potential issues before they’re serious issues.

The Supplier Communications Agent in Dynamics 365 autonomously manages interactions with vendors and suppliers to help ensure on-time delivery of purchase orders helping to avoid downstream delays to customers. The agent provides visibility into the supplier’s supply chain and allows teams to spend more time improving supplier relationships and negotiating better contracts, rather than firefighting shortages.

Lifetime Products—a global manufacturer of products ranging from basketball hoops to picnic tables, sheds, and kayaks—depends on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to optimize operational capabilities. In addition to handling logistics and supply chain management more effectively, the manufacturer is implementing AI agents to “rebalance” its knowledge workforce to do more with same and be more efficient rather than reduce labor.

“One of our biggest learnings has been to let the autonomous agent run its own calculations. You’ll get a more comprehensive, better result.”

—Sinahi Lopez, Global IT Functional Manager at Lifetime Products

The company is now preparing to deploy the Supplier Communications Agent in Dynamics 365, to autonomously communicate with suppliers to proactively mitigate order delays and supply chain disruptions.

Based on study with IDC, $3.5 million in annual inventory-related cost savings, using Dynamics 365, optimizing working capital​.¹

Achieving operational excellence with operational technology data from various silos

To stay competitive, manufacturers need to optimize operations by reducing costs, minimizing downtime, improving agility, and ensuring efficient production. This requires data-driven decision making that takes advantage of the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), AI-driven automation, integrated data clouds, and edge-to-cloud architectures to enable real-time insights, predictive maintenance, and quality control. Microsoft Dynamics 365 includes applications to manage finance, supply chain, sales, and customer relationships, designed to unify business data, improve efficiency, and simplify decision-making. The applications work seamlessly with Microsoft 365, which enhances productivity and collaboration with leading applications like Word, Excel, and Microsoft Teams, while Azure provides cloud infrastructure and IoT capabilities.

A key innovation is the AI agent, powered by Microsoft Copilot Studio, that automates tasks and streamlines workflows, securely grounded on data sourced from various systems by using Microsoft Dataverse as a central hub. Microsoft Fabric enhances analytics, helping businesses turn data into insights. For customization, Microsoft Power Platform offers low-code tools to build apps and automate processes, while Microsoft AppSource provides industry-specific solutions from Microsoft partners.

Together, these technologies create a connected ecosystem, reducing data silos and enabling businesses to operate more efficiently. With everything working seamlessly, organizations can focus on growth, innovation, and smarter decision-making.

Enerjisa Üretim, Türkiye’s largest private electricity generation company, replaced its legacy asset management system with Dynamics 365—a modern, user-friendly solution that provides end-to-end lifecycle management of all 312,500 assets across 29 power plants.

The organization is also transforming operations with Dynamics 365 and Azure, achieving efficiency, cost reduction, and workforce empowerment. Integration of asset management, IoT, and Microsoft Azure Digital Twins provides real-time insights for predictive maintenance. Unified systems improve data consistency, streamline workflows, and enhance collaboration, setting new standards for operational excellence in energy.

“Our equipment data is the key to operational efficiency. The Asset Management [capabilities] in Dynamics 365 extends the lifespan of critical infrastructure. By leveraging real-time data and advanced analytics, we can predict equipment failures before they happen.”

—Alper Serçe, Deputy General Manager, Enerjisa Üretim

Dynamics 365 integrates seamlessly with Enerjisa Üretim’s external systems like SAP, streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency. Real-time inventory updates from SAP into Dynamics 365 helps ensures that technicians have the right materials. And integration with HRweb and Yüklenici Entegre Sistemi (YES) optimizes resource allocation, matching skills and qualifications to work orders.

Based on study with IDC, 85% reduction in unplanned asset downtime, using Dynamics 365, ensuring smoother operations​.¹

Deliver better customer experiences

Manufacturers are facing intense global competition, making customer experience essential to maintain relevance. To differentiate and retain customer trust, they must reconsider traditional business models and explore new revenue streams like product-as-a-service and aftermarket services.

Dynamics 365 assists manufacturers in transitioning to a product-as-a-service (PaaS) model by integrating IoT, AI, automation, and flexible financial frameworks.

• Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Microsoft Azure IoT enable real-time product performance monitoring and predictive maintenance, reducing downtime, helping to ensure timely spare parts delivery and streamlined logistics, which are important for service-based models.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service uses AI and IoT data for a predictive service model, enhancing efficiency and optimizing service contracts to improve customer satisfaction.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance supports flexible pricing, pay-per-use, and subscription models, converting products into ongoing services.

Hobart Corporation, a provider of commercial food equipment, needed to modernize its field operations to better support nearly 400,000 customers across the United States and Canada and solve inefficiencies in service delivery.

By adopting Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Field Service, Hobart standardized processes, improved dispatch accuracy, and provided field technicians with mobile access to real-time inventory and customer data. This transformation enabled quicker response times, improved first-time fix rates, and better parts availability. The solution also facilitated predictive maintenance, ensuring proactive issue resolution before failures occurred.

As a result, Hobart significantly enhanced operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and workforce productivity, reinforcing its reputation for high-quality service.

Organizations facing similar issues can also use the recently announced Scheduling Operations Agent (SOA) for Dynamics 365 Field Service, now in preview. This AI agent creates optimized schedules for technicians, even as conditions change throughout the workday. Whether it’s traffic delays, double bookings, or last-minute cancellations, the SOA helps ensure that schedules remain efficient.

The SOA uses advanced algorithms to address common scheduling challenges. By considering factors such as technician skill sets, territories, and promised time windows, the SOA maximizes technician utilization and prioritizes work orders effectively. This enhances productivity and helps ensure that customer commitments are met accurately.

Based on study with IDC, 40% faster order and product delivery times, using Dynamics 365, increasing customer satisfaction.¹

Operating sustainably by driving energy and employee efficiencies

Manufacturers are under increasing pressure to improve energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint while maintaining productivity. By integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP solutions and Sustainability Manager in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, manufacturers can gain real-time visibility, AI-driven insights, and automated tracking to drive sustainability at scale.

Dynamics 365 ERP collects energy consumption data from IoT sensors, smart meters, and production systems, offering a comprehensive view of energy usage across facilities. This data flows into Microsoft Sustainability Manager, where AI-powered analytics identify inefficiencies, benchmark performance, and recommend optimizations. Manufacturers can track carbon emissions in real time, ensuring they meet sustainability targets.

With predictive analytics and AI-driven workload balancing, manufacturers can optimize machine usage, reduce energy waste, and lower costs. Additionally, optimized supply chain operations help minimize environmental impact through smarter logistics and material sourcing.

Camfil, a leading manufacturer of premium clean air filtration solutions, is using Dynamics 365 to enhance sustainability and profitability. By implementing Dynamics 365 with a standardized data model, Camfil has harmonized its processes across more than 30 production facilities and nearly 6,000 employees.

The integration of Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and Dynamics 365 Sales has improved operations such as ordering, manufacturing, warehousing, shipping, and invoicing. This harmonization enabled by Dynamics 365 has led to better resource utilization, improved energy efficiency, a more connected and collaborative culture, and enhanced customer satisfaction through continuous innovation in air filtration systems—all contributing to a more sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing operation.

A well-empowered workforce can better manage inventory, demand planning, and supplier interactions, reducing waste and inefficiencies.

Based on study with IDC, 27% more manufacturing processes automated, 20% improvement of productivity across supply chain, procurement, and inventory management teams by using Dynamics 365 AI-powered ERP solutions.¹

Future-proof your manufacturing operations in 2025 

AI-powered solutions for ERP and service systems are more than a technological upgrade. They’re a strategic imperative for manufacturers aiming to improve the supply chain, drive operational excellence on the factory floor, deliver great customer experience, and operate sustainably and efficiently.

If you’re registered for Hannover Messe, we invite you to visit the Microsoft booth (#G06, hall 17) and join Sameer Verma, Microsoft’s GM, Dynamics 365 AI ERP, to learn how Dynamics 365 drives manufacturing excellence with AI agents. The session will take place on Monday, March 31, 2025, at 12 PM Central European Time (UTC +1).

Also, continue to visit the Dynamics 365 blog to learn more about how Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform are helping retailers reimagine the road ahead; and feel free to contact us to learn more about the Dynamics 365 AI-powered ERP system solutions. 

Source

¹ IDC White Paper, sponsored by Microsoft, The Business Value of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Manufacturers, doc #US53226425

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Manufacturers worldwide are investing heavily in digital transformation, overhauling almost every aspect of their operations and business models. But one key group—frontline workers —are still awaiting their digital renaissance.

Today, many organizations feel their workers are not empowered or digitally well-equipped. Manufacturers struggle with high turnover and the challenge of training and upskilling new workers. Downtime and worker productivity remain nearly universal issues.

To help address these issues, Microsoft is investing in frontline worker enablement across a broad range of technologies. This includes new solutions to help frontline workers deliver exceptional service with next-generation AI, as well as on our ongoing investment in mixed reality hardware and solutions. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides cultivates collaborative environments where people put knowledge into action. Here are three ways mixed reality is addressing frontline worker training, support, and knowledge transfer across industries:

1. Resolve issues quickly with remote support and collaboration

Unplanned downtime is costly. The average manufacturer confronts over 800 hours of equipment downtime a year, or 15 hours per week. Industrial manufacturers consequently spend almost USD50 billion on downtime every year.¹ In these high-pressure situations, communication across functions can either speed resolution or create blockers to forward progress.

Historically, manufacturing environments fostered knowledge silos with valuable insights confined to individuals, groups, or departments. Mixed reality shifts this dynamic. Workers can share real-time, situational video of their environment, allowing others to experience it firsthand—regardless of location. Expert guidance, troubleshooting, or step-by-step instructions are immediate. This eliminates the need to travel, while minimizing downtime and production disruptions.

Gone are the days where access to experts, communication barriers, or information silos dictate how knowledge is shared or when assets are repaired. Working on assembly or service lines requires specialized skills and expertise. Access to individuals with the relevant, hands-on experience, however, is not always possible. With Dynamics 365 Guides, when specialized skills are required, experts are a Microsoft Teams call away. 

Together, Dynamics 365 Guides and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist with Teams connect workers beyond their physical limits. A communication hub, Teams enables collaboration across the workforce. Its integration with Dynamics 365 Guides allows workers to extend this to the physical world on any device.

2. Accelerate training with information in context

Frontline workers are the backbone of industry operations. These roles demand technical savvy, quick decision-making, and resiliency. Traditional in-place training and onboarding processes are often ineffective or add to the cognitive burden of overwhelmed frontline workers.

Hands-on training with physical assets is expensive, time-consuming, and at times dangerous. Inconsistent quality or impersonal training is often the result. However, holographic environments can mitigate these on-ramping risks. Embracing mixed reality accelerates learning by introducing relevant, task-specific knowledge in new immersive and data rich environments.

Using 3D models and digital twins, frontline workers receive a better understanding of the machines and processes at hand. Related materials are retrieved or amended instantly, nurturing knowledge exchange, which is further enhanced by AI. Mixed reality is the eyes and ears of AI. Delving into operation nuances for personalized, in-depth learning becomes easier. When integrated, mixed reality and AI accelerate worker training, shortening steps and supplying users with the working knowledge they need for the task at hand.

With Dynamics 365 Guides frontline and service workers can start accelerating their role-based knowledge today. Workers receive purpose-built, interactive guidance on complex machinery, assembly protocols, or maintenance steps when and where they need it.

3. Ensure transfer of information, insights, and skills

As employees near retirement, their wealth of expertise needs to be captured and shared. These experts understand the assets and processes that keep production moving. Retaining and transferring that knowledge is vital. There’s just one problem: Manufacturing is experiencing a talent exodus. Globalization, unemployment, and a rapidly aging workforce together are compounding operational challenges. Organizations are rightfully concerned. One-third of manufacturing executives claim retaining and replacing high-performing employees as a strategic priority in 2023.² Mixed reality is poised to help solve this by capturing information for informed decision-making and greater productivity.

Mixed reality facilitates knowledge retention and transfer across an organization through the creation of immersive experiences and simulations, regardless of location or device. The versatility of mixed reality makes up-skilling faster and more accessible. Dynamics 365 Guides offers industrial workers the opportunity to document unique situational processes and procedures not included in asset operating manuals. Step-by-step instructions, annotations, and “on the ground” insights are placed in context and immediately accessible throughout the day.

With Dynamics 365 Guides embedded in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile, mixed reality is democratized for every worker. Organizations now have asset, maintenance, and service information at their fingertips. This combination in one app improves worker accuracy, productivity, and efficiency—while offering powerful guidance on the device at hand.

Realize your future manufacturing potential

Mixed reality is a key part of an emerging technology category known as the industrial metaverse. Its foundational cross-platform technologies—including AI, cloud to edge, digital twins, machine learning, and mixed reality—are shifting our relationship with data from stationary to dynamic experiences.

Mixed reality is an essential glue that visualizes the diverse elements of the industrial metaverse. Seamlessly integrating the physical and digital, mixed reality creates immersive experiences that transcend traditional industrial operations. Guides overlays information atop real-world assets and scenarios, making knowledge available in context where it is needed most.

Prepare your workforce for their smart manufacturing future with mixed reality. Learn how Dynamics 365 Guides can help realize tangible business outcomes.

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¹Manufacturing Without Unplanned Downtime Could Become A Reality Sooner Than You Think, Forbes.

²2023 manufacturing industry outlook, Deloitte.

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The post The Future of Productivity and Growth in Manufacturing appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Norway-based Sapa Group is an international aluminum manufacturer, creating and distributing products like automotive parts and energy-efficient building materials.

With over 20,000 employees working in 40 countries, to say their operations are extensive is an understatement. Through rapid expansion and numerous global acquisitions, the Sapa Group has grown exponentially over the last 10 years. The group grew quickly through acquisitions and ended up with multiple ERP Systems spanning over 100 locations across the globe that were inefficient and costly to manage. The company was seeking a new, company-wide ERP system that was flexible and customizable enough to meet their unique and evolving needs

By implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX, the Sapa Group was able to consolidate and retire legacy ERP solutions previously used within the company. With everything running together in one place, Sapa Group is able to maintain productivity and service while providing reliable distribution of goods to customers in the building, transport, engineering and telecom industries.

Read more about how they deployed AX without any lapse in service to their customers here. 

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Safetykleen provides expert parts washing machines and chemical application services across automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries. Servicing over 18,000 machines per week, the company is leveraging Microsoft solutions to deliver significant productivity benefits in the field and in
the back-office which will enhance the customer experience.

The Visionary Awards recognize Microsoft customers who achieved notable accomplishments with their Microsoft solutions. The 2015 Visionary Awards, which are presented in 9 categories, recognize and celebrate Microsoft customers that have achieved notable accomplishments using Microsoft solutions. This year’s winners were chosen from nominations of Microsoft customers across EMEA, including 34 showcase customers for Convergence 2015 EMEA. Established in 1997, the Visionary Awards are awarded each year at the Convergence conference.

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Today is a great day for manufacturers. They have more comprehensive offerings available to them than ever before. Connectivity options enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing adoption and the emergence of powerful business applications allow manufacturers to be closer to the marketplace and build better products more effectively than ever before. Sometimes, however, faster, better, and cheaper is simply not enough. Manufacturers need to delight their customers while satisfying the needs of their internal employees and business partners. They need more…and Microsoft Dynamics AX has arrived to help achieve that goal.

On Thursday November 19, 2015 Microsoft announced the next release of Microsoft Dynamics AX and its availability in the first quarter of CY2016. While this might seem like a generic announcement of a product, in fact, it’s truly a momentous announcement reflecting years of effort by the Microsoft R&D team to build a transformative ERP solution that addresses the needs of customers and Microsoft partners. This next release of Dynamics AX is a significant first step in Microsoft’s redefinition of the ERP space for manufacturers. No longer will your ability to respond to customer requirements and market changes be limited by your software solution. Au contraire mon ami: you’ll now have a modern application built and architected on Azure that brings the speed, scale, and flexibility of the Microsoft cloud to life for manufacturers.

For businesses the importance of speed, connectivity, business insight, and operating intelligently cannot be overemphasized, but for manufacturers there are additional needs for more connected operations.  Whether they need to accelerate new product introductions, agilely execute on the shop floor, effectively and intelligently fulfill orders, or other traditional needs as detailed in the Microsoft Dynamics AX Factsheet, manufacturers using Microsoft Dynamic AX will have more options and power than ever before…for example here’s a walk-through on how to Simplify Production Floor Management.

It all starts with having a system that empowers users to work the way they want to work. As Mike Ehrenberg explains in his blog, there’s an expectation that for a tool to be effective it must be able to address “the right scenarios with the right experiences on the device of the user’s choice.” When user expectations are fulfilled by a solution like this, improvements happen across the board. We see visibility throughout the organization, business productivity and process optimization become the norm, and key insights are gained through enhanced analytics. With Microsoft Dynamics AX manufacturers will prosper.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is an enabler to the next generation of businesses as outlined by Christian Pedersen. We’ve validated our research with customers and partners to get direct feedback into our R&D process. When manufacturing customers said we want more powerful analytical capabilities and recommendations…we listened. You now have the ability to analyze your supply chain and make predictive determinations to ensure you have the right product, in the right quantity, arriving in the right place at the right time. This is not just the power to view or have access to data, but now having the ability to take this information and turn it into action.

It’s real…it’s now…and it’s enabled by a Microsoft solution built on Dynamics AX and the cloud.

This is definitely an exciting time. Manufacturers are now right smack in the middle of the convergence of many technologies like IoT, Business and Operational Intelligence, Predictive Analytics, and advanced production capabilities. Now manufacturers have an ERP solution in Microsoft Dynamics AX that can take advantage of these technologies to make them industry leaders.

With Microsoft Dynamics AX…this next generation in business solutions is going to be fun!

The post The Next Generation Manufacturer appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Microsoft’s ‘Intelligent Ecosystem’ had another opportunity to engage with leaders on the front lines of the manufacturing renaissance. Last week it was at the Smart Manufacturing Summit, in Indianapolis USA, sponsored by the Chief Executive Network. This two-day annual conference was attended by the business executive leaders from 100 mid-sized manufacturers, while being hosted by some of Indianapolis largest manufacturers – Cummins and Eli Lily – representing a spectrum of discrete and process manufacturing verticals. 

Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing? Its Still a Revolution. 

A different continent. Smaller businesses. Smart Manufacturing rather than Germany’s Industry 4.0. However the underlying themes were the same. How do manufacturers counter the commoditization trend by reimagining the customer journey, challenging existing business models, and redesigning operational processes? Manufacturers, are reputed to be a conservative crowd, and conventional wisdom suggest you don’t use radical words like ‘transformation’ or ‘revolution’, but manufacturers openly discussed the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, and the opportunities presented for a ‘digital transformation‘ at the Smart Manufacturing Summit in Indianapolis.

Microsoft’s Intelligent Ecosystem is Leading the Revolution 

Partners such as Rockwell Automation, eLogic, and Vertical Solutions are all ready for the new era of Systems of Intelligence, and led, listened and learned, at the various solution exchanges, roundtables, and panel discussions. Mike Shields of eLogic has provided his seasoned insights on the executive discussion on the Industrial Internet of Things, and the status (and misconceptions) about CRM and Intelligent Customer Engagement in his blog “The Voice of the Customer on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and CRM“. Meanwhile Kris Brannock from Vertical Solutions has summarized the insights she gleaned from contributors such as  Cummins, Pratt and Whitney, Stanley Black & Decker, and Rick Smith of the Additive Manufacturing Council on the disruptive potential of 3D composite materials, and 3D printing (of IoT parts for Field Service) in her blog: “3D Printing Creates New Possibilities for Industrial Internet of Things“. Rockwell Automation generously joined Microsoft for its IoT Roundtable, and shared their own experiences innovating with Microsoft Azure IoT Suite, and the new business models they were seeing emerge in the ecosystem powered by their industrial automation products and services.

CEO’s Responsibility to Enable Innovation 

One of the lighter, and yet enlightening moments of the Summit was when a collective sigh of relief was let out when Christian Pedersen, GM of Microsoft Business Solutions –  answering a loaded question from a panel moderator – told CEOs they don’t need to become technical gurus. Christian then went on to stress their responsibility does include understanding how technology can enable new business models, trying not to stifle innovation, and pushing for out-of-the-box thinking.

Big Data Doesn’t Have to Mean Big Money 

I really do think manufacturing is getting its ‘Sexy Back’. However, if there’s one disappointment from the last few weeks of world travels, its that smaller manufacturers don’t seem to have grasped how the convergence of social, mobile, analytical, IoT and cloud (SMAIC) technologies has leveled the playing field like never before. Economies of scale don’t mean what they used to. Its a theme I’ve been exploring with The Manufacturer.

Its amazing what a ‘smart’ manufacturer can do in the era of Systems of Intelligence.

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Based in North Carolina, the Cataler North America Corporation develops and manufactures catalysts for automobiles and motorcycles, in addition to leisure vehicles and lawn mowers. The company also provides activated carbon and other chemical materials that help clean the environment by regulating engine emissions. When Toyota forecast increased product demand that would necessitate expanding production capacity by 40 percent, Cataler knew the time had arrived for a stronger and more agile ERP solution that would improve process efficiencies and scale easily into the future.

The company chose Microsoft Dynamics AX based on its rich out-of-the-box functionality that still allows the flexibility to tailor the systems to Cataler’s unique manufacturing requirements, for example, the ability to track order components that morph between wet and dry states. Cataler expects that the intuitive user interface and integration will facilitate an increase in ERP usage by employees.

“By deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX, we will find more efficient ways to execute functions within finance, the supply chain, production administration, and quality control. We can also analyze production capacity to a greater extent. This should lead to improved production scheduling that will help us handle the expected 40 percent production increase.” Al Alvarez, General Manager, Cataler North America Corporation

 Read the full story here: http://msft.it/CatalerNA

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A recent strategic initiative challenged packaging
manufacturer Ball Corporation to align more closely with key customers and
markets. To help manage customer accounts more effectively, Ball deployed
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to three divisions in North America and Europe
and is planning to make it available to its operations in Asia and South
America. Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps Ball's customer-facing employees and
activities aligned with customer and company goals. Making a single,
cloud-based solution available to different business divisions ensures that
employees benefit from global, collaborative account management across
organizational and geographical boundaries. 

"By using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, it's easy for
us to scale to the global reach of even our largest customers and find ways to
deliver the most valuable products in all their areas of engagement," says Bob
Tettero, Director of Corporate Strategy and Business Intelligence, Ball
Corporation

Read the full
story: http://bit.ly/KBloWG

The post Cloud-based CRM solution a great move for Global Manufacturing company appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Well I hope that you enjoyed the Convergence coverage from our team last week – certainly a lot going on in particular around Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. For those of us with a mnaufacturing focus however, the fun and games started a week before Convergence in Atlanta at the Hannover Messe where we previewed the manufacturing foundation in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. During the event I had the chance to catch-up with the man leading the Microsoft Dynamics AX charge in Germany, Philipp Ruediger as well as a number of partners all excited about the upcoming release. Here is a translated version of a blog post Philipp wrote prior to the start of the event. Philipp talks about the importance of Hannover Messe, the state of the manufacturing space and the role that ERP can play there as well as (not surprisingly) Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and some of thee capabilities the new release will offer.

The next generation of ERP by Philipp Ruediger

On April 4, Hannover Messe opens its doors, and it is with just as much eager anticipation that we are looking forward to the coming five days. Hannover will be the meeting point for the “Who’s Who” in the Manufacturing industry, and I am looking forward to interesting discussions with decision makers from medium-sized companies as well as large-scale enterprises.

The crisis is over – an effect also showing in the numbers of visitors. Right now, Germany is facing the largest economic growth since the reunification. Especially the Manufacturing industry is experiencing an encouraging upturn. This atmosphere does not only characterize the trade fair, but is also something I experience in discussions with customers, partners and analysts. Particularly in times of upswing, ERP becomes an increasingly important competitive factor. Companies have to adapt to ever changing market conditions and face the pressure of competition. In many cases, the most successful company it is not the one with the best cost structures, but the one with the higher agility. This dynamics influences both the processes and the business models in organisations: In order to react appropriately, e. g. with regard to requirements from business partners in the supply chain, they must execute process changes quickly and in a flexible manner. What’s more, companies must be able to enhance existing business models or create new ones. An example is the adoption of discrete manufacturing processes in addition to an existing process manufacturing environment as a consequence of the business decision to insource refinement/finishing processes.

With respect to traditional ERP systems in the market it can be stated that most of them originate from the 1980s. Many are using transaction based processing and reflect a backward perspective of the reality – without providing support for departmental or business critical decisions. Also BI plays a role here as it enables only time-shifted analytics, but does not provide decision support out of the procedural context. Although these components provide a proper documentation of the business transactions, they do not support an optimisation of the business itself. Also in terms of technology the traditional systems are outdated: Spaghetti of intertwined, complex code and parameters hamper modifications to the system, whereas the reality in the market space and the changing customer requirements are always at least two steps ahead. All those factors slow down the above mentioned agility – and the problem continues in other areas: inflexible processes and the time lag between new requirements in the reality and their reflection in the systems are the reasons why businesses are not able to proactively manage market and customer requirements. They act more slowly as they could and even possibly lose market share when competitors are more agile. And this also has effects on liquidity and capital.

At Hannover Messe you have the possibility to be among the first who gain insight into the new generation in ERP – one week before the worldwide launch event of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. With the new version, we present one of the most modern ERP systems in the market. With so called Unified Natural Models, the system allows flexible changes to your structure and process organisation, e. g. for a matrix organisation with legal entities on one side and flexible organisational elements (divisions, product lines, etc.) on the other. Companies who want to expand or even renew their business models benefit from the rich pre-built Microsoft Dynamics AX industry functionality, with proven functionality “out of the box” for Manufacturing (process and discrete), Service Industries and Retail. It is also possible to combine these industry requirements, e. g. in case of Mixed-mode manufacturing. The software supports long-term growth in the evolutionary context of our customers‘ businesses, without restricting them in a siloed architecture. Furthermore you can take advantage of rapid process changes – with the object-oriented development environment or graphical workflows.

With native support for 38 country and 42 language versions, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 supports your growth strategies. The software also supports different character sets like Arabic, Asiatic, Latin, and Cyrillic characters. Moreover the system provides a growth perspective in terms of scalability and the option to support up to several thousand users. Evidence how businesses use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as a platform for growth can be found in the numerous case studies from upper midmarket and corporate customers. Last week I had the opportunity to talk to Hubert Meisterjahn, CIO at Alois F. Dornbracht GmbH. Dornbracht has evolved from a family firm into the market leader for high-quality bathroom fittings and accessories with 15 international locations. The company has adapted the Fractal Factory concept in order to secure the highest flexibility in using the own capacities. Each building on the company premises is designed as a module and can be used temporarily for a specific purpose. Office building, assembly hall or development unit – each of the modules can be defined for the required purpose in order to support their role as a nucleus for new product innovations. The ERP system has to reflect this flexible model: „We have made a conscious decision in favour of Microsoft Dynamics AX because we were looking for a system that supports our versatility through the company, IT or market,” says Hubertus Meisterjahn, „We were not willing to accept the corset of an inflexible system“. 

This is only one of many examples showing that ERP becomes an increasingly important strategic competitive factor. Properly implemented and used, ERP lays the foundations for further growth. The prerequisite: next generation ERP. Dornbracht is the first customer in Germany who uses Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The video interview with Hubertus Meisterjahn will be published next week, and we will keep you updated (Luke Shave: not quite next week but watch out for the video coming soon on our WW Dynamics ERP YouTube channel!!)

Best Regards

Luke Shave
Sr. Industry Marketing Manager

Follow us on Twitter and befriend us on Facebook. Also check out our new YouTube channel

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