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A city where the border is part of daily trade
Windsor sits directly across the Detroit River, so for many local firms Canada is not an export market, it is the next town over. Parts, tooling and finished goods cross back and forth several times before a vehicle is complete. Each crossing brings a commercial invoice, a broker fee and sometimes duty, and each of those costs belongs somewhere specific in your books.
Business Central keeps Canadian customers and vendors in Canadian dollars while your ledger stays in US dollars. Exchange rates can be updated from a rate service, and realized and unrealized gains post to accounts you choose. Broker fees, freight and duty are added to receipts as item charges, so the cost of a part landed in Detroit reflects what you really paid. That matters when a customer asks you to justify a price increase line by line.
Some Detroit groups also own a Canadian company. In that case we usually keep it as a separate company in its own Canadian environment, with intercompany postings and a consolidation for the group view. It is cleaner than forcing both legal entities into one set of books.
Detroit sectors and what each needs from the ledger
Tooling and machining shops
Job shops quoting dies, fixtures and machined parts need routings, capacity and a real cost per job, not an average buried in overhead.
Mobility and EV startups
Young companies building batteries, charging hardware or vehicle software need a proper close, grant and investor reporting, and room to add production later.
Cross-border distributors
Wholesalers moving goods through the bridge and tunnel carry stock in two currencies and need duty and brokerage inside item cost.
Health and university suppliers
Vendors serving the region's large hospital systems and universities juggle purchase orders, contract pricing and strict invoice matching.
Logistics near DTW
Freight firms using Detroit Metro Airport and the I-94 and I-75 corridors bill by shipment and need costs attached to each job.
Construction and renovation
Contractors working on downtown and neighborhood redevelopment track retainage, change orders and job budgets against actuals.
Food and specialty makers
Bakeries, coffee roasters and packaged food brands track lots from ingredient to shelf and sell through several channels.
Professional services
Engineering, design and staffing firms feeding the auto sector bill time and expenses by project and client.
Plant-floor questions we settle before configuration
How a Detroit engagement runs
- 1
Walk one part end to end
On a video call we follow a single part number from the customer release through purchasing, production, shipping and invoice.
- 2
Agree the scope in writing
Modules, the Canadian entity question, EDI partners and data to migrate go into a written scope you approve first.
- 3
Configure and load test data
We build in a sandbox and load your real items, routings and open orders so testing feels like a normal week.
- 4
Rehearse the cutover
A trial migration checks balances, open receivables in both currencies and inventory quantities before the real weekend.
- 5
Stay through the first close
We work alongside your controller at the first month-end and fix what the close exposes.
Working with a Phoenix team from Detroit
Our office is in Phoenix, and nearly all of the design and build happens on video calls scheduled inside the Detroit workday. When a floor walk or a training session in a Dearborn or Troy conference room will save time, we plan a visit for it and write it into the scope so there are no surprises.
Detroit buyers ask us
Can Business Central handle customers in Windsor and suppliers in Ohio at the same time?
Yes, that is a normal multi-currency setup. Each customer and vendor carries its own currency code, and documents print in that currency. Your ledger stays in US dollars and exchange differences post automatically. We test it with real Canadian invoices before go-live.
Do we need EDI to supply the automakers?
Almost certainly, if you ship to an OEM or a large tier one. Business Central does not include an EDI translator, so it is paired with an EDI provider or an AppSource connector. The work is deciding how releases become orders and when ship notices are sent. We cover this in the scope before any build starts.
Is Business Central too small for a Detroit supplier with several plants?
Not for most mid-sized suppliers. It handles multiple locations, several companies and production across plants. Very large groups with complex global supply chains sometimes fit Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management better. We will tell you which side of that line you are on.
We still run Dynamics NAV on a server in the plant. What happens to our customizations?
Most get replaced by standard features or rebuilt as extensions. Business Central is the successor to NAV, so the data model is familiar and history can move across. We review each customization and drop the ones the standard product now covers. The rest become extensions that survive updates.
What does a first conversation cover?
It covers how orders, production and cross-border shipments flow today and where the numbers break. Bring your controller and someone from the plant. Afterward we send a written scope, and nothing is built until you agree to it.
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.