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Four Michigan economies, four different system needs
Automotive suppliers
Stamping, machining, plastics and assembly shops that receive planning and ship schedules from OEMs and larger tiers, send advance ship notices and live or die by on-time delivery.
West Michigan manufacturing
Office furniture, fixtures and components makers with configurable products, long bills of material and a mix of make-to-stock and make-to-order.
Agriculture and food
Cherries, blueberries, apples and dairy mean seasonal volume, lot tracking from grower to customer and cold storage that needs accurate stock counts.
Wholesale and industrial distribution
Parts, tooling and MRO distributors serving the plants, often with several branches and a counter sales operation.
What a supplier ERP has to do that a bookkeeping system cannot
An automotive supplier's week starts with electronic releases: a forecast that runs weeks ahead and firm ship schedules for the next few days. Those documents change constantly. If they land in someone's inbox and get retyped into a spreadsheet, the plant is always planning against yesterday's numbers.
Business Central does not read EDI on its own, but it pairs well with EDI translators and AppSource connectors from several vendors. The design question is where releases become sales orders or blanket orders, how cumulative quantities are tracked, and when the advance ship notice is generated from the posted shipment. Get that right and planning, production and shipping all work from the same demand picture.
Costing is the second big decision. Many Michigan shops quote on standard cost and want variances reported by work center. Others carry average cost because material prices move too fast for standards to hold. Business Central supports both, and the choice affects every item, so we make it early and document why.
Michigan tax and time zone details we plan around
- ✓Michigan sales and use tax is administered by the Michigan Department of Treasury, with no separate local sales tax layers to map
- ✓Industrial processing exemptions recorded on the items and customers they apply to, confirmed by your tax advisor
- ✓Use tax accrual for materials bought from out-of-state vendors without tax charged
- ✓Cross-border suppliers with Ontario operations handled as separate companies or currencies where needed
- ✓A few Upper Peninsula counties along the Wisconsin line run on Central Time, which we note when scheduling
- ✓City income tax withholding left with your payroll provider, with journals imported into Business Central
The route from old system to live plant
- 1
Walk the demand path
We trace one customer release from arrival to shipment and invoice, which exposes every manual step worth removing.
- 2
Decide costing and routings
Standard or average cost, work centers or machine centers, and how scrap is reported are written into the design.
- 3
Connect EDI and test with partners
Trading partner testing runs before go-live, not during the first week of production.
- 4
Convert and reconcile
Items, bills of material, routings, open orders and balances move across and are tied back to the old system.
- 5
Go live between schedule peaks
Cutover is timed away from model changeovers and quarter-end, with a consultant on call through the first close.
Common Michigan questions
Can Business Central handle automotive EDI releases?
Yes, with an EDI translator or connector alongside it. Business Central holds the customers, items, blanket orders and shipments, while the EDI layer turns incoming schedules into documents and sends ship notices and invoices back. We help you choose the connector, map each trading partner and test with them before cutover. Suppliers with many OEM partners should budget time for partner testing.
Is Business Central enough for a Michigan job shop, or do we need a bigger ERP?
For most small and mid-sized shops Business Central is enough. It covers production orders, routings, capacity, subcontracting and costing in the standard product. Very large plants with complex mixed-mode processes sometimes fit Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management better. We tell you honestly which one fits after discovery, even when the answer is the smaller system.
Do you have consultants in Detroit or Grand Rapids?
No, our only office is in Phoenix, and Michigan projects are delivered remotely. Workshops, configuration walkthroughs and training run over video during Eastern business hours. When a plant walk or floor training helps, we plan a visit as a scheduled part of the scope. Many Michigan clients find remote delivery keeps the work moving between visits.
We run an old version of Dynamics NAV. Where do we start?
Start by listing your customizations and deciding which ones still matter. Many NAV modifications written years ago are now standard Business Central features, so they simply go away. The rest become extensions. Our NAV migration page walks through the steps and the Detroit page covers what projects look like in the metro area.
Talk to us about your project.
Tell us what you run today and what has to change. A senior consultant replies with a written next step.