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NetSuite for Outdoor Manufacturers: Pros, Cons and Customizations

NetSuite for Outdoor Manufacturers: Pros, Cons and Customizations

NetSuite for outdoor manufacturers: what works and where to customize

Outdoor manufacturers, from paddleboard and apparel makers to firearms and accessory brands, often run QuickBooks alongside separate inventory, shop floor, and warehouse tools. In this episode, Michael and Mitch from Anchor Group cover what NetSuite does well for these companies and where it needs a little help.

Replace five systems with one

The biggest advantage is moving to one core system instead of five. When inventory, manufacturing execution, and warehouse data live in separate tools, teams spend time chasing variances between them. NetSuite puts that data in the same place as your financial source of truth, so you can trust it in real time instead of as of the last monthly sync. A single login with role-based permissions also makes life easier for internal teams.

Track bills of materials, lots, and serials

For companies with volatile raw material costs, frequently changing bills of materials, or complex product life cycles, NetSuite's built-in BOM tracking helps. Lot and serial tracking goes down to the transaction level, so when a recall or compliance question comes up, you can find the transaction, the fulfillment date, and the tie back to the general ledger.

Keep up with changing compliance rules

Firearms manufacturers face fast-moving regulation. Mitch uses the ATF Form 4 as an example: after the tax stamp on suppressors dropped to $0, requirements began to vary by state. A buyer in Minnesota and one in Hudson, Wisconsin, only about 10 miles apart, may now face different rules. FFL compliance software can integrate with NetSuite, and a partner like Anchor Group can customize NetSuite quickly when that software can't keep up.

Plan inventory across channels and seasons

Many outdoor brands sell through B2B e-commerce, B2C e-commerce, and outside sales reps. With inventory in one system, every channel pulls from the same pool. NetSuite's material requirements planning (MRP) supports demand and supply planning with seasonality factored in, so you know you need more snowmobile parts on hand in October than in May. Dashboards built on historical data make those projections easier.

Plan for customization in complex manufacturing

NetSuite's most complex manufacturing option, WIP and routing, isn't the most intuitive and expects a fairly specific way of working. Companies can integrate a more user-friendly execution system that still feeds NetSuite in real time, or have Anchor Group build customizations to fill the gaps. Mitch says he hasn't yet seen a company that couldn't make manufacturing work in NetSuite.

Bottom line

NetSuite covers the core functions outdoor manufacturers need, from traceability and compliance to multi-channel inventory and seasonal planning. Like any ERP, it has weak points, so expect some augmentation depending on how you manufacture. Knowing that up front makes for a smoother migration.

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Podcast transcript:

Michael (00:00)
Hey everybody, thank you for tuning in to this edition of the Anchor Group Podcast. Today we have a returning guest, Mitch from the Anchor Group team, joining us to talk specifically about outdoor manufacturing companies, and how NetSuite works well, and sometimes doesn't work quite as well as intended, for some of those manufacturing companies. Once again, outdoor manufacturing companies are going to be our focus today. Here at Anchor Group, we've worked a lot with those sorts of companies, so we're happy to share some of that knowledge with all of you. So if you're an outdoor manufacturing company that's thinking about migrating to NetSuite, this podcast is going to be really helpful for you.

Michael (01:09)
Mitch, thank you for joining the podcast. Excited to have you on. I know the outdoor industry is something that's kind of a passion for both of us. We enjoy spending our free time on the weekends with our friends and families in the outdoors, and I know we always enjoy working with companies, specifically manufacturing companies in the outdoor industry, because we know it well personally, along with now professionally here at Anchor Group. So thank you for hopping on the call. Appreciate it, man.

Mitchell (01:35)
Happy to be here.

Michael (01:37)
Now, today we're going to get into the weeds on what manufacturing companies should be thinking about as they consider moving to NetSuite. But before we hop into that, Mitchell, could you give us a rundown of some of the types of companies Anchor Group has worked with in the past that are outdoor manufacturing related? We'll use those as a touch point or frame of reference for today's conversation.

Mitchell (02:00)
Absolutely. I think we've worked with a really wide swath of companies that operate in the outdoor space. More specifically, we've worked with companies manufacturing everything from outdoor equipment, your paddleboards, your outdoor gear and apparel, to your firearms and firearm accessories, with the FFL considerations that come into that conversation, and really everywhere in between. With our Midwest heart here, our very Minnesota and Wisconsin base, a lot of folks here at Anchor Group are really passionate about that outdoor stuff, so it's always a really good time to get to work with those types of companies.

Michael (02:47)
That's how it goes, right? It's fun to do business with companies that you're familiar with. It's always exciting when you start chatting with or working with a company and, on the weekends, you're literally using their products or ordering from their websites on Black Friday, getting gifts for family members and friends. It's one thing I enjoy for sure. So, Mitchell, as we work our way down the conversation and get to the nuts and bolts of NetSuite as it pertains to these types of manufacturing companies: what should a company be thinking about if they're on, say, QuickBooks, and maybe running a third-party manufacturing software, and considering going to NetSuite? What are some of the pros and some of the cons of migrating to NetSuite for that type of company?

Mitchell (03:42)
I think the biggest advantage, and this isn't only true for companies in the outdoor space, but I think it's very true for those companies, is really the ability to go to one core system instead of five. What I mean by that is, if you're using QuickBooks and a separate inventory tracking software and a separate shop floor or manufacturing execution software and a separate warehouse management software, it can be really tough on companies. You can have these silos of data that aren't always tying out to one another in real time, and you have to play with finding those variances and their causes. There's a real opportunity in NetSuite to move most, if not all, of that data into one software that's also where your financial source of truth is. That creates real efficiencies and the advantage of being able to trust that your data is accurate in real time, not accurate as of a month ago, the last time you synced the data over.

Michael (04:46)
And that is the power of NetSuite, right? Bringing everything under one roof.

Mitchell (04:50)
Absolutely. When I think of other pros of moving to NetSuite as one of these companies: if you're in an industry where the price of raw materials changes pretty significantly, or your bills of materials change very often, or you have some complex product life cycles, NetSuite's built-in bill of materials tracking can be really helpful. Plus, if you're operating in an industry with lot or serialization requirements, it can be really awesome to track your lots and serials to a transactional level, all in the same software. So when you have that recall, or you get asked about a government form that wasn't filled out right, you can actually find the transaction it was on and the date it was fulfilled, all tying straight back to your general ledger. I think that's been really positively impactful for a lot of companies in this space.

Michael (05:48)
One thing I do want to point out on tracking serial numbers and lot numbers. Back in the day, I used to work for a contract manufacturer, and around the beginning of summer, call it June or July, part of the contracts that would come in were for different products in the hunting industry to mask scent for hunters. I remember being on the line, this was a couple years back, doing that work and seeing that process come to fruition. Now I understand on the software side how NetSuite is able to capture all that necessary data. Because, if I'm being honest, at the manufacturer I worked for, there were a couple of times where we'd have to dig through a pallet and grab some bottles of this spray in order to right some wrongs on the order. So the fact that it can all live in one system, NetSuite, is huge. Mitchell, correct me if I'm wrong, but we've seen the internal team at those companies have a much easier time. Instead of bouncing between systems and managing a bunch of logins, you've got one login, and in NetSuite you can give permissions to each login so people can access exactly what they need based on their role.

Mitchell (07:11)
I think that conversation ties really nicely, Michael, into a thought I was having the other day. With all the news surrounding the changes in how the ATF Form 4 is going to work, specifically around suppressors and all of the litigation going on there right now, some of these more niche industries, and I say niche, but there are plenty of folks who are passionate about their firearms, can see a really rapid pace of change where your system's got to work for you, and it's got to work for you today, because you've got orders that need to go out the door. That's an area where there's a great partner network in the NetSuite space. There are lots of FFL compliance softwares that can integrate directly so your data comes straight back to NetSuite. And maybe the development of that compliance software can't keep up with the changing Form 4 requirements, but a good partner like Anchor Group, who you can tell, "I need it to do this, this, and this," can come in and customize NetSuite's very flexible software to do that very quickly. Having all that data in one place means you only have to do that customization in one place as well.

Michael (08:28)
That's a good point: being able to keep up with the changing landscape in the outdoor industry. As you mentioned, the Form 4 specifically pertains to the Second Amendment or firearm industry, and we know there are a lot of different companies it pertains to. Would you mind quickly bringing us up to speed on what the Form 4 is, why it's relevant today, and how it could potentially impact somebody's ability to use NetSuite?

Mitchell (08:55)
This is going to take us a little bit down the gun nerd rabbit hole here. The Form 4 is essentially a form required for a separate receipt and background check process for certain NFA-restricted firearms and firearm-like items. Suppressors have been the main topic of conversation lately because there was a finding in Silencer Shop versus the ATF, I believe, that essentially said all items that required a Form 4 but had their tax stamp reduced to $0 should no longer require the Form 4, because they shouldn't require a receipt for a $0 transaction. In practice, that means if you live in a state where you're not required by state law to fill out the Form 4 for these items, and Minnesota is an example of a state where you aren't required to at the state level, while Wisconsin is an example where you are, then all of a sudden, instead of a broad federal requirement that's the same everywhere, we have very different requirements when selling the same suppressor to Michael, who lives in Minnesota, and to one of my coworkers here, Peter, who lives in Hudson, Wisconsin. They're only about 10 miles apart. So you need to be able to move quickly to still sell to Peter the way you always have been, but now you also have Michael knocking down your door saying, "Hey, I don't have to fill that form out anymore, and I want to be able to buy this suppressor today, not wait 18 to 50 days like the waiting list has been."

Michael (10:43)
And that's so important, because as laws change, and this applies not only to the outdoor industry but really any industry with a decent amount of governance, your business processes need to change, and the software you're using legitimately needs to change too. You cannot be handing these things out, per se. There are laws and regulations for a reason, and here at Anchor Group, we work with our clients to make sure there's a business process in place so they're abiding by the procedures they need to follow to be compliant with the law, the Form 4 being one example of that.

Mitchell (11:26)
Just to transition to some other real advantages of NetSuite for these manufacturing companies, especially in the outdoor space: modern businesses are very multi-channel. Having all of your inventory data in one system allows you to do those multi-channel sales without siloing the tracking of inventory across your channels. I can have my B2B e-commerce, my B2C e-commerce, and my back-end sales with outside sales reps going to visit folks, all pulling from the same group of inventory, so I can plan what inventory I need around that. That really takes us into what I would say is the final major pro. Obviously, the outdoor industry can be very seasonal, especially depending on what part of the world you're in. Here in the Midwest, you can do very different outdoor activities in the summer than you can in the winter.

Michael (12:26)
In the upper Midwest, I should point out, like Minnesota and Wisconsin, it's about as seasonal as it gets, right? It seems like there are more months of the year where the lakes are frozen than when they're open. It's four seasons a year through and through, so we get the seasonality of it for sure.

Mitchell (12:46)
Absolutely. The really nice thing about NetSuite is that its MRP, material requirements planning, supports your demand and supply planning really well within the same system your transactions and inventory live in, and it can help factor that seasonality in. So for industries with big waves in sales trends based on seasonality, you can factor that in and know that, in October, you need more snowmobile parts on hand than you do in May, and make sure you actually have that inventory on hand and don't run into stockout scenarios.

Michael (13:23)
Another great thing on that specifically is that NetSuite has the ability to build out great reporting around that. We're not just talking Excel spreadsheet-type format. We're talking actual dashboards, so when you're planning the seasonality of your business, you understand exactly what last year, or whatever historical data you decide to pull in during an implementation, looks like for your business, laid out clear as day, and then you can make projections for what it could look like moving forward. So, Mitchell, what I'm kind of hearing is that NetSuite is capable of all the core functions outdoor manufacturing companies absolutely need in an ERP, right? If we're shooting straight, what are some areas in NetSuite that might need more customization or tweaking for it to work very well for an outdoor manufacturing company?

Mitchell (14:23)
Probably the most glaring example I would look at is that there's something left to be desired in NetSuite's most complex version of manufacturing, NetSuite manufacturing with WIP and routing. It isn't the most intuitive, and it expects that you're going to behave in a relatively particular way. But luckily, it's the 21st century. We have the ability to integrate with other systems while still feeding that data back to NetSuite in real time if you need your execution system to have a little nicer UI or be a little more user-friendly. And we at Anchor Group have the development resources to build out customizations to supplement those areas where it might fall short. So far, I haven't run into a company that couldn't make manufacturing work on NetSuite. Sometimes there's just a little augmentation needed to help support the end goals of the business.

Michael (15:27)
That's a good point. NetSuite has good bones, but to your point, depending on the type or style of manufacturing, augmentation, customization, whatever you want to call it, is going to be needed. I think that should be expected. I don't think that's atypical of any ERP system a company would go with. Every ERP system is going to have its weak points; any software does, honestly. So it's not something to be scared of if you're thinking about going to NetSuite as an outdoor manufacturing company, but it is something to be aware of. And as we close things up on this episode, that's where Anchor Group can come in. We've worked with many manufacturing companies that serve the outdoor space, whether that's hunting, fishing, or other products. We've seen it before. We'd be happy to have a conversation with you if you're thinking about migrating to NetSuite, or if you're already on NetSuite and running into some problems. Just know that whatever you're running into, there's most likely a really good solution out there, and we're happy to help you identify that solution and solve the problem. So, Mitchell, thank you for joining this episode of the Anchor Group Podcast. Good to have you on. And for those of you listening, thank you for tuning in. We really do appreciate it.

Michael (16:57)
Real quick before we close things down: we recently launched Sonar AI, which essentially brings the power of Claude AI directly into your NetSuite environment. If you haven't seen it yet, check out our website. Some manufacturing companies are finding it very powerful, even for creating dashboards and understanding where their company is doing great in NetSuite, optimizing what they have, and where they need some help improving their NetSuite as well. So feel free to check that out. But honestly, thank you for tuning in to this edition. We appreciate it. If you want to get in contact, feel free to reach out. Otherwise, keep on chasing greatness, everybody, and we'll see you in the next episode.

 

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