Back in the 1960's, computers were expensive. Companies that were fortunate enough to be able to access a computer used the system for inventory management: to track inventory items, calculate on-hand values, and maintain unit costs. As computing resources became less expensive, demand grew for modular software that could do more than just manage inventory. During the 1970's, manufacturing companies felt the economic pressure to operate more efficiently. They needed a solution that would enable them to lower inventory carrying costs and identify material shortages before their production lines shutdown. The manufacturing industry defined this solution as Material Requirement Planning, or MRP.

MRP is a technique that uses bills of materials, inventory data, and a production schedule to calculate requirements for materials. It makes recommendations that specify when to release purchase orders for raw materials. Since it is time phased, MRP also makes recommendations to reschedule open orders when due dates and need dates are not in phase. Time-phased MRP begins with the items listed on the production schedule and determines (1) the quantity of all components and materials required to fabricate those items and (2) the date that the components and material are required. Time-phased MRP is accomplished by exploding the bill of materials, adjusting for inventory quantities on hand or on order, and offsetting the net requirements by the appropriate lead times.

The benefits of MRP helped many manufacturing companies survive the inflationary periods of the 1970's. But the larger, more sophisticated manufacturers were still having problems and they needed to be more competitive. MRP was great for managing materials, but what delivering their orders on time? MRP needed some improvements, so a second definition of MRP emerged. Manufacturing Resource Planning, or MRPII, became the driving force of the 1980's. MRPII enables manufacturers to not only manage materials using MRP; it also provides a means for tracking production resources. By defining work center capacities and documenting manufacturing cycle times, manufacturers can manage their production resources and calculate accurate completion dates.

Information technology research continued to push the envelope on resource optimization. GartnerGroup, a technology research firm located in Stamford, CT, first used the term Enterprise Resource Planning in a research paper in 1988. ERP is built on the foundation that all business processes should rely on a single, integrated platform. Benefits to ERP include business process improvement, lower operating costs, and instant access to information. These benefits translate into an event-driven, real-time solution that extends the reach of resource optimization to an entire company, not just the production floor of a manufacturing company. ERP includes the standard financial accounting modules, as well as, manufacturing and customer service applications. It is deployed using integrated databases where key information is entered once and then made available to the supporting business functions.

Enter SBT and Lahey. With over 500,000 business users worldwide, SBT is the world's leading developer of modifiable database accounting systems. Leveraging over a decade of experience with successful SBT implementations, Lahey was the first developer to ship a seamlessly integrated, commercial-grade application for SBT Pro Series in 1993. Today Lahey offers five modules that work together with SBT's modules to deliver a complete solution for the middle-market, including Production Entry and Work Orders for MRP, Shop Control for MRPII, and Customer Service for ERP. SBT and Lahey modules adhere to the same interface standards, run on the same integrated platform, are reasonably priced, easy to implement, and have a nationwide network of local consultants to ensure a successful installation.

Most companies are in the process of solving their Y2K problem. But Y2K is not the end of their information technology investment. Just like manufacturing companies needed to re-think their technology to be more competitive in the 1980's, all companies need to re-think their technology again to be competitive in the new millennium. ERP is clearly the key to this re-thinking process. ERP solutions provide the foundation for real growth and the ideal technology to help organizations run more efficiently and service their customers effectively.

Also - Inc. Magazine and Cisco Systems recognize SBT Accounting Systems as "Growing with Technology" Awards winner

Inc. Magazine and Cisco Systems recently announced the winners of their Growing with Technology Awards. According to Jennifer Mayer with the Inc./Cisco Growing with Technology Awards, SBT Accounting Systems "was chosen from an extremely impressive pool of over 700 applications; the competition was stiff and the judging process was difficult." SBT was selected based on its creative use of networking and Internet technologies as a springboard for increasing profits and maintaining a competitive industry edge.