Better Job Costing with Genius ERP

For manufacturers, especially custom manufacturers, job costing presents a significant challenge. Accurately estimating costs and managing resources is crucial to maintaining profitability and efficiency. However, many manufacturers still rely on outdated or manual processes that lead to inaccurate job costing, making it difficult to make informed decisions and stay competitive.

Job costing is especially difficult for custom manufacturers as each project is unique, requiring a detailed understanding of the specific resources and expenses involved. Unlike standard manufacturing, where costs can be averaged over time, custom manufacturing demands precise tracking and management of the specific resources and expenses tied to each job. This level of precision is essential for setting the right prices and ensuring profitability. But, because of the complex and unique nature of custom jobs, accurately estimating and managing these costs can be challenging, resulting in inefficiencies and financial losses.

How Genius ERP Improves Job Costing for Custom Manufacturers

Genius ERP enhances job costing by providing a comprehensive view of all costs associated with a job, including labor, materials, and overhead expenses. Our system enables custom manufacturers to track costs in real time, allowing them to quickly identify discrepancies and resolve issues before they escalate. Genius ERP provides clear insights into cost distribution and resource use, helping manufacturers optimize operations and make smarter decisions.

Genius ERP doesn’t just simplify job costing—it makes it more accurate. By integrating all aspects of production, from materials to labor to overhead, into one system, Genius ERP offers a complete and up-to-date picture of each job’s costs. This level of precision helps manufacturers avoid costly mistakes, optimize their operations, and focus on the most profitable projects.

Additionally, Genius ERP allows manufacturers to compare estimated costs with actual costs as projects progress. This capability helps custom manufacturers adjust their pricing strategies and resource allocation in real time, ensuring they stay on budget and maximize profitability. With accurate and up-to-date information, manufacturers can avoid costly overruns and optimize their processes for greater efficiency.

Genius ERP’s integration with other business processes, such as inventory management and financial accounting, ensures that job costing is seamlessly connected to your entire operation. This integration not only enhances data accuracy but also provides comprehensive reporting that supports strategic planning and performance analysis. By leveraging these capabilities, custom manufacturers can improve their pricing accuracy, boost profitability, and achieve sustained business growth.

Real-life Examples of How Genius ERP Has Improved Job Costing for Custom Manufacturers

Jennison: Accurate Job Costing = Accurate Quoting

Jennison experienced significant improvements in both job costing and quoting after implementing Genius ERP. The diverse nature of their business made it difficult for Jennison to create accurate quotes, as they lacked a clear understanding of their actual job costs and had to rely on a flat shop rate. Before Genius, “we used to have just 75 dollars an hour — ok, that’s our shop rate — when it really wasn’t. You know, it could have been 35, or it could have been 105. We didn’t know it.” says Karl Amendola of Jennison Manufacturing Group.

With better visibility into their financials, Jennison can now create accurate quotes that reflect actual costs: “We have seriously increased our rate of outgoing quotes with pricing that we’re confident in. We no longer have to stick with this antiquated hourly rate,” says Hayden Jennison.

Genius ERP provides Jennison with real-time data on employee time entries, tooling costs, and machine times, allowing them to understand their true costs and produce accurate quotes with confidence. This has helped Jennison to identify and adjust relationships with net-negative customers, significantly boosting profitability.

Marathon: Streamlined Job Costing with Genius ERP

Before using Genius ERP, Marathon faced challenges with creating accurate job costs. Their job costing process was manual, and they had little confidence in the calculations: “Our job costs were a very rough estimate that was purely based off of on-paper math, and those costs are always changing. It relied on people communicating, which is hard during the day when you’re busy,” explains Phillip Rousseau, Project Manager at Marathon.

After implementing Genius ERP, Marathon now has up-to-date job costs. With Genius “I have a job cost, which is as up-to-date as it could possibly be on each bill material to give me today’s cost of goods sold on that product,” says Rousseau.

In addition to improving job costing, Genius ERP helped Marathon streamline their business by allowing them to focus on their most profitable products. By analyzing their product catalog, they could eliminate less profitable items and concentrate on the products that made the most financial sense.

QTG: Better Job Costing with Genius ERP

At QTG, the complexity of client orders made job costing a time-consuming and challenging task. The team often spent an entire day processing data to create accurate job cost reports. “When we did job costing before Genius, it was arduous because we didn’t have a system in place to do this work,” says Hervé Poupard, the Finance Director at QTG.

Genius ERP transformed this process, reducing the time required to complete job costing from a full day to just one hour. The system’s accuracy and precision have made it easier for QTG to analyze jobs and understand their costs, leading to significant improvements in productivity.

“Genius brings us a lot of gains. We can understand our costs much more precisely, by activity and by order. What this brings us in terms of improving our productivity is huge,” says Poupard.

Elemoose: Enhanced Job Costing and Inventory Management with Genius ERP

For Elemoose, job costing and inventory management were major challenges before implementing Genius ERP. As a custom business that rarely produces the same product twice, getting precise and reliable numbers was a significant challenge. “Since we’ve implemented Genius ERP software here at Elemoose, it’s done a lot of good positive things for us as far as job costing and inventory tracking—which were two things we had major trouble with before,” says Trent Auvil, the engineering supervisor at Elemoose.

With Genius ERP, Elemoose can manage all job costing and inventory data within a single system, providing real-time insights that improve decision-making. The ability to track costs and inventory accurately has allowed Elemoose to focus on more profitable projects and make on-the-fly adjustments with confidence.

“The biggest improvement for our company since we implemented Genius is the ability to see live job costing as the jobs are in progress. And then immediately upon completion, we have a full costing report,” says Mindy Teeter, controller at Elemoose. “We had to do a lot of manual work for costing and inventory prior to Genius—so it’s working great for us.”

Conclusion

Genius ERP provides manufacturers with the tools to improve job costing and overall efficiency. By offering real-time data, comprehensive insights, and automated processes—and addressing the unique challenges of custom manufacturing—Genius ERP empowers businesses to improve accuracy, efficiency, and profitability.

To learn more about how Genius ERP can help your business grow and thrive, check out our case studies to see how real manufacturers have benefited from using our system.