Take Real-Time Control of Your Plant With a Discrete Manufacturing ERP.
Folio3 implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as a discrete manufacturing ERP, connecting production, inventory, and finance in one cloud platform. See every job, part, and cost as it happens, run the plant from a single source of truth, and protect your margins when costs and labor are tight.
Manufacturers and brands that run on Folio3 Dynamics
Disconnected Systems Are Quietly Costing Your Manufacturing Process.
Labor is short and input costs keep climbing, so there is no margin left for guesswork. When production, inventory, planning, and finance live in separate tools, you manage by reconciliation instead of by visibility, and four problems keep showing up.
Production status lives on whiteboards and in operators' heads. By the time a delay reaches the office, the schedule has already slipped and the customer call is overdue.
Planning happens in a workbook one person maintains. Stockouts halt the line, excess inventory ties up cash, and no one fully trusts the numbers.
Receiving, the plant floor, and shipping run on separate tools that do not talk to each other. Every report is a manual export, and the data is stale before it reaches the meeting.
Material, labor, and overhead are estimated after the fact. Margin becomes guesswork, and the next quote carries the same blind spots into the next job.
From the Materials You Receive to the Products You Ship.
A discrete manufacturing ERP implementation from Folio3 covers your full manufacturing operation on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, so every stage runs on the same live data instead of a patchwork of systems.
Inbound logistics
Procurement, material planning, and receiving, so the right materials arrive when the line needs them.
Manufacturing operations
Bills of materials, routings, scheduling, and shop floor control at the heart of the plant.
Distribution
Warehouse, fulfillment, and shipping, through to your distributors and intermediaries.
One platform, one data set. A shortage, a capacity gap, or a late shipment shows up the moment it happens, not after it has moved down the line.
Everything You Need to Run Discrete Manufacturing, in One System.
Standard functionality in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, configured by Folio3 for the way you build distinct, assembled products.
Production BOMs and routings
Multi-level bills of materials and operation routings model how your products are actually built across work and machine centers.
Capacity planning and scheduling
Plan load against real work center and machine center capacity, so the schedule reflects what the floor can deliver.
Material requirements planning
Supply suggestions generated from demand, lead times, and shop calendars, so material arrives on time.
Production orders and shop floor
Release, track, and consume against production orders. Output and consumption keep work in process current as jobs move.
Job and production costing
Standard, average, or FIFO costing captures material, labor, and overhead per order, so margin is measured, not guessed.
Inventory and warehouse
Real-time inventory across locations, bins, and transfers keeps material availability accurate from receiving to shipping.
Procurement and vendors
Manage suppliers, purchase orders, and inbound terms in the same system that plans demand and posts cost.
Serial and lot traceability
Track components and finished goods through production for recall readiness, warranty claims, and compliance.
Visibility with Power BI
Native Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Power Platform turn live data into dashboards and alerts for the plant and the boardroom.
Eliminate Guesswork and Run Every Job on a Single Source of Truth
We Cover the Whole Manufacturing Chain, Not Just the Back Office.
Folio3 Dynamics is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner built around manufacturing. We implement Business Central across your entire operation, from the materials coming in, through production, to the product going out to your distributors. That full span is the part many partners treat as an afterthought, and the part we are built for.
End-to-end implementation
We implement Business Central across the full chain: inbound logistics and purchasing, production and the shop floor, and distribution out to your intermediaries. Most partners stop at finance. We run the whole operation.
Manufacturing customization
We tailor Business Central to how your plant actually builds: production bills of materials, routings, work centers, costing, and the day-to-day workflows your team relies on.
Rescue for stalled projects
Over budget, behind schedule, or stuck with a deployment that does not fit the floor? We step into troubled implementations, stabilize the build, and get you to a clean go-live.
Migration off legacy
We move you off legacy or on-premise ERP to Business Central with clean data, supported extensions, and a cutover planned around your production calendar.
Built for Your Industry
Folio3 configures Business Central to the specific way each discrete manufacturing vertical builds, costs, and ships.
Industrial Equipment and Machinery
ERP for machinery manufacturers, equipment builders, and heavy fabricators with multi-level builds and configure-to-order demand.
The benefits you can expect
Accurate Job Costing
Material, labor, and overhead post as the job runs. At close you have the actual cost, not a variance you find out about at month‑end.
Configure‑to‑Order Control
Customer‑specific builds managed with version‑controlled engineering changes. The floor always works from the approved configuration for that job.
Realistic Capacity Scheduling
Production planned against real work center hours, maintenance windows, and subcontracting. The schedule reflects what the floor can deliver.
Component‑Level Traceability
Every sub‑assembly and bought‑in part tracked by serial or lot. A warranty claim or field failure resolves from the system, not from paper records.
Automotive and Mobility
ERP for OEM suppliers, tier manufacturers, and mobility component producers running high‑volume lines against supplier‑driven schedules.
The benefits you can expect
Supplier Schedule Visibility
Blanket orders, release schedules, and delivery performance in the same system as production planning. A late shipment is an alert, not an empty bin on the floor.
High Volume Production Efficiency
Backflushing consumes material and labor automatically as output is reported. The line keeps moving without manual transactions at every step.
Warranty Traceability
Components tracked by serial and lot through every production step. A warranty claim traces to the specific supplier lot and production date in seconds.
Audit‑Ready Quality Records
Inspection results, non‑conformances, and corrective actions recorded against production orders as they happen, not reconstructed before a customer audit.
Fabricated Metals and Components
ERP for job shops, contract fabricators, and precision component manufacturers pricing and running made‑to‑order work.
The benefits you can expect
Job‑Level Margin Visibility
Each job costed independently. Actual versus estimated variance visible at close so you know which jobs made money before the next one is quoted.
Scrap Tracking by Operation
Scrap recorded at each operation and carried into job cost. Patterns by material and work center make the root cause identifiable over time.
Made to Order Flexibility
Every job runs with its own BOM, routing, and delivery date. Margin is measured job by job, not averaged in a way that hides the unprofitable ones.
Material Traceability
Finished components traced to the raw material heat or lot they were cut from. A customer quality claim is answered with a full record from the system.
Electronics and Electrical
ERP for PCB assemblers, contract manufacturers, and electrical equipment producers managing component‑level traceability across thousands of part numbers.
The benefits you can expect
Component‑Level Traceability
Every component tracked by serial number or lot through assembly. A field failure or warranty return traces to the exact part and supplier lot without a manual investigation.
Accurate Inventory Availability
Inventory managed across locations and bins in real time. Availability reflects what is actually unallocated on the shelf, not an estimate from last week.
Automated Material Planning
Supply suggestions generated from demand, lead times, and supplier calendars automatically. Shortfalls surface as exceptions before the line runs short.
Engineering Change Control
BOM changes controlled with version history and effectivity dates. Every build is traceable to the revision it was made against.
Consumer Products and Durables
ERP for assembly manufacturers, durables producers, and branded goods companies managing demand‑driven production and distribution.
The benefits you can expect
Demand‑Driven Production Planning
Production planned from live sales orders, forecasts, and replenishment rules. The schedule responds to real demand, not a monthly planning cycle in a spreadsheet.
Assembly and Kitting Management
Standard assembly and light kitting for promotional packs in the same system. Inventory consumed at the correct level whether kitted to order or held as a finished unit.
Real‑Time Distribution Visibility
Finished goods tracked from production through the warehouse to distribution in real time. A stock discrepancy is visible before it becomes a missed shipment.
Seasonal Demand Planning
Production orders tied to seasonal forecast so the build‑up is controlled. Promotional configurations managed without a new item number for every variation.
The Proof Is in Our Customers' Numbers.
Two recent Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central rollouts by Folio3, and the time and money they handed back to the business.
Saved on implementation versus a heavy enterprise system
brought implementation in around $50,000 against an estimated $250,000 or more for a heavy enterprise system. Folio3 deployed Business Central with Power BI reporting, helped the team avoid one to two finance hires, and eliminated a full week of seasonal invoicing work.
A U.S. seed and agribusiness company
Less manual financial reporting effort
Multi-entity consolidation, down from weeks
consolidated eight legal entities onto one platform with Folio3 and automated intercompany transactions. Consolidation that used to take weeks now runs in about 90 minutes, and leadership's confidence in the numbers rose far enough that they run the business on a single, trusted source of truth.
A multi-entity U.S. farming group
New monthly close, not possible on the old tools
OUR WORK
Trusted by Manufacturers Worldwide
Gold Microsoft Dynamics partner with manufacturing customers across discrete, process, food, and industrial sectors.
Get the Visibility and Control Your Operation Demands With a Discrete Manufacturing ERP.
Schedule a call with our manufacturing ERP experts and discover how Business Central can help you run a more connected and efficient operation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a discrete manufacturing ERP?
A discrete manufacturing ERP is enterprise software that manages the production of distinct, countable, assembled products, such as machinery, electronics, equipment, and engineered goods, by connecting bills of materials, routings, capacity planning, production orders, inventory, and costing in one system. Folio3 delivers this on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and runs it across the full operation, not just the production line.
Can standard Business Central really handle discrete manufacturing, or do we need an add‑on?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central includes core discrete manufacturing functionality in the standard product: production bills of materials, routings, work and machine centers, capacity and material planning, production orders, subcontracting, and costing. Where your process needs something the standard product does not cover, Folio3 customizes Business Central with custom code built to fit your operation, so the system works the way you actually run.
Do you implement only the production side, or the full operation?
The full operation. Folio3 implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central across inbound logistics and purchasing, production and shop floor, and distribution including the handoff to distributors or intermediaries. You can phase the rollout, but the platform is built to run all of it on one data set, which is where the real visibility comes from.
We run an older or on‑premise ERP. What does moving to Business Central involve?
Folio3 maps your existing chart of accounts, items, bills of materials, and open transactions, migrates clean data, rebuilds customizations as supported extensions, and runs a parallel period before cutover, so production is never exposed to an untested system.
How long does a discrete manufacturing implementation take?
Timeline depends on the number of sites, the complexity of your bills of materials and routings, and the integrations involved. A focused, single‑site Business Central implementation for manufacturers is typically measured in a few months, not years. Folio3 fixes the scope, timeline, and cost in discovery, so you know what you are committing to before the work starts.
Will we have to stop production during the switch?
No. Migration and configuration happen in a separate environment while your current system keeps running. Cutover is scheduled around your production calendar, often over a weekend or a planned downtime window, with a rollback plan in place so the line is protected.
Can Business Central connect to our shop floor machines, CAD, or e‑commerce?
Yes. Folio3 integrates Business Central with shop floor data collection, CAD and PLM systems, e‑commerce, and EDI. Business Central also exposes standard APIs, so live production and inventory data flows both ways instead of sitting in disconnected tools.
How is this priced, and is it predictable?
Business Central is licensed per user on a subscription basis through Microsoft. Folio3 implementation is scoped and quoted up front based on your requirements, so there are no open‑ended hourly surprises. You see the full picture, license plus implementation, before you commit.
We are a smaller manufacturer. Is Business Central too much system for us?
No. Business Central is built for small and mid‑sized manufacturers, and you only turn on what you need. You can start with core production and finance, then add capability such as warehouse management, advanced planning, or a second site as you grow, without re‑platforming.
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