Many factories rely heavily on the experience of long time employees and the unique ingenuity they have developed on the shop floor over many years. However, when that valuable expertise exists only in the minds of individuals, the foundation of the organization becomes fragile. As senior workers retire, the skills they have accumulated over decades risk disappearing with them. It is an invisible threat quietly creeping into the operations.

In environments where only a few individuals understand the details of certain processes, even one absence can disrupt the entire production line. Managers struggle to understand what is happening on the shop floor, and this lack of visibility becomes a barrier to improvement. The real issue lies in this very structure that allows stagnation of information.

If we call the Bill of Materials the heart of manufacturing, then Routing represents the very lifeblood flowing through the shop floor. If the steps, resources, and timing required to complete a product are not clearly defined and this information is available only to a limited number of individuals, the sustainability of the organization is put at risk. SAP Business One and Beas Manufacturing provide the tools to break this pattern and turn individual expertise into shared organizational knowledge.
 
 

A new approach to Routing with Beas Manufacturing

 
Beas Manufacturing offers three features that make it easier to standardize your Routings. By converting shop-floor expertise into data and continuously refining it through ongoing improvement, you can create a cycle that transforms individual skills into a shared organizational asset.

1. From tacit to explicit knowledge: Break down the expertise of skilled workers into resources and operation catalogs. By creating a shared language that anyone can reference, the speed and accuracy of knowledge transfer improve dramatically.
2. From specialized to standardized operations: Convert your resources and operation catalogs into unified operational sequences, that is, Routings. By establishing a highly repeatable operational structure, you build organizational strength that no longer depends on the abilities of specific individuals.
3. From overwriting to keeping valuable records: Instead of simply overwriting data with the latest updates, preserve the history of adjustments through version control. (For more information on version control, see our article on Bill of Materials in Beas Manufacturing.) With a clear record of past changes to your Routings, you can take the next step forward based on solid evidence.

The example above shows two Routing versions in Beas Manufacturing. In Version 1, the entire process is grouped into a single operation. In Version 2, the same work is divided into four steps.
Once the steps are separated, it becomes clear that the drying stage alone takes 40 minutes. As the level of detail in your Routings increases, inefficiencies and delays become more visible, enabling you to plan improvements based on actual data.
 
 

Data that becomes the key to unlocking your future

 
When information bottlenecks are eliminated and a smooth flow of knowledge is restored to the shop floor, the organization is freed from the burdens that constrain its future, such as the fear of losing technical expertise and the lack of transparency in management. The skills of experienced workers are passed down through the system, allowing the entire organization to operate based on a shared language. As these efforts are recorded and accumulated, quality and speed stabilize, bringing significant change to everyday factory operations.

The data created through the above-mentioned three Beas features becomes a foundation for meeting delivery commitments and maintaining quality, even as market conditions change. It is not just a record of past work; it becomes a powerful asset that enhances your competitiveness and helps shape future strategy.

If you are interested in learning more about Routing or version control in Beas Manufacturing, please feel free to contact us.

 
The Bill of Materials (BoM) forms the foundation of the production process. Maintaining its accuracy in environments where production plans shift frequently, and procurement conditions fluctuate is challenging, to say the least. Many organizations have grown used to working with outdated practices and underestimating the risks that unreliable data can pose.

One of those practices is overwriting the previous BoM structure with a new one, making it impossible to trace the specific component that caused a defect in production. Another one is updating the BoM manually, increasing the risk of prototype parts being accidentally mixed into regular production. Situations like these are essentially ticking time bombs.

These problems do not come from lack of attention. They come from systems that were not built for the pace of modern manufacturing. Depending on constantly overwriting the same Bill of Materials is no longer enough. It is time to recognize the limits of past practices and move to a system capable of properly controlling and tracking information as it evolves.
 
 

Turning the Bill of Materials into a strategic asset

 
So how do you stop the problems that keep resurfacing and turn your Bill of Materials into something your organization can rely on? One viable solution is the next generation Bill of Materials provided by Beas Manufacturing, the manufacturing add-on for SAP Business One. (For reference, see the article on the Bill of Materials in SAP Business One here.)
Instead of just listing components, the system keeps track of how the product evolves over time, with built-in version control.

In the screenshot shown above is an example of a Bill of Materials in Beas Manufacturing. Within a single product, in this case, a shelf, multiple specifications can coexist, with Version 1 representing the red shelf and Version 2 representing the blue shelf. Since the product structure is visualized in a hierarchical format, even highly complex, multilevel products can be understood at a glance.
 
 

3 control mechanisms to prevent errors on the shop floor

 
How does BoM version control capability affect operations on the shop floor? We want to introduce 3 control mechanisms that can significantly improve your data accuracy and provide strong operational support.

1. Multi-version control: Multiple versions of a single product can be maintained in parallel. This reduces the need to search for historical data and enables an effective response to defect analysis and repeat orders, thereby improving overall quality assurance.
2. Validity period control: The system automatically switches to the appropriate version based on its defined effective dates. This removes the need for manual updates at changeover times and prevents input errors associated with manual processing, enabling a fully calendar-driven operation.
3. Status control: Usable versions for sales orders, purchase orders and other documents are restricted according to each version’s status. This prevents inconsistencies such as issuing orders for incomplete or invalid versions of products and establishes a shop floor environment in which errors are eliminated through systematic controls.

Reliable information drives quality manufacturing

 
When this kind of system becomes the standard across an organization, it can bring clarity and order to the shop floor. Departments no longer need to rush around trying to handle each change. Employees are freed from the frustration of searching for missing information or worrying about mistakes, reclaiming the time needed to pursue high quality manufacturing. Reliable information becomes a source of confidence, and smooth collaboration across departments takes shape naturally.

Beas Manufacturing delivers value that goes far beyond simply providing a software solution. It circulates vital information throughout the factory in real-time, enabling all departments to work with greater ease. Dependable data becomes the basis that supports the company’s ability to grow.
 
If you are interested in learning more about how Bill of Materials and its version management work in Beas Manufacturing, please feel free to contact us.

 
In this article, we take a look at the Bill of Materials functionality within SAP Business One.
The information that describes the relationship between a finished product and its components (or items) goes by different names depending on the industry. Even within manufacturing, you will encounter terms such as Bill of Materials, BoM, batch record (or batch sheet), recipe, and formula, among others. For the purposes of this article, and to keep things consistent with SAP Business One’s own terminology, we will refer to all of these simply as “Bill of Materials”.
 
 

Key Features of the Bill of Materials

 
Let us take a look at the Bill of Materials screen in SAP Business One.

To give a practical example of what can be defined within this screen, consider the following:

• 1 finished product (“Product”) has 3 associated processes/route stages (“Routing”).
• “Routing 1” requires “Semi-Finished Goods” and “Resource 1”.
• “Routing 2” requires common items/raw materials (“Common RM”), raw materials (“RM A”) only used for this product, and “Resource 2”.
• “Routing 3” requires “Resource 3”.
• The planned cost of the finished product is 145,600 JPY.
• The selling price of the finished product is 200,000 JPY.

Beyond this, the “Attachments” tab allows you to manage relevant documents related to the Bill of Materials, making it straightforward to centralize all related information in one place.
There are also a number of additional options available through configuration changes, such as the handling of by-products and adjusting the number of decimal places used for quantities. This flexibility means that Bills of Materials can be structured in a variety of ways to suit different operational needs.
 
If the standard fields available out of the box do not quite align with the information your business needs to capture, this is where one of SAP Business One’s most notable strengths comes into play, namely how straightforward it is to customize, to the extent that it can be handled entirely in-house. System administrators are free to add whichever fields are required, allowing the system to be tailored to your processes and the overall quality of your data to be continuously improved.
 
 

Integration with Other Features

 
The data defined within the Bill of Materials feeds directly into other areas of the system. It is used in Production Orders, which serve as the formal instruction to manufacture, as well as in MRP runs carried out for production planning purposes.
If you need to make changes to an existing Bill of Materials, the Bill of Materials Management function provides a convenient way to do so in bulk, whether that means updating rows that meet a specific set of criteria or adding entirely new ones.

Planned Enhancements to the Bill of Materials Functionality

 
This article has provided a broad overview of the Bill of Materials functionality available in SAP Business One.
The system is already well equipped to support a wide range of manufacturing industries, and further improvements are planned for upcoming versions, including enhancements to features such as version control, which are commonly required in production management environments.
 
If you would like to find out more about what the functionality can do, get a clearer picture of how your own bill of materials structure might translate into the system, or learn how other businesses already using it have approached their setup, please feel free to get in touch with us.

 
The Web Client is a feature that allows users to access SAP Business One directly through a web browser. Provided as an integral part of the SAP Business One ecosystem, it enables access not only from desktop PCs but also from tablets and other devices via browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

It is built on SAP Fiori’s UX design concept, which delivers a clean and intuitive interface that makes day-to-day navigation straightforward for all users. It also offers robust data visualization and analytical capabilities through charts and dashboards, giving businesses a clear, at-a-glance view of their operations.
 
 

A Clean Design Built for Everyday Use

 
SAP Fiori was designed with a single guiding principle: that anyone should be able to use it without confusion.
The home screen organizes key functions and information into a tile-based layout, allowing users to access what they need quickly and without navigating through complex menus. This streamlined approach keeps daily workflows running smoothly.
The home screen can also be personalized on a per-user basis. Tiles can be configured to reflect each user’s role and responsibilities, whether that’s a member of the sales team, the finance department, or any other part of the business, ensuring everyone sees the information most relevant to them.

Home Screen

Home screen with tasks organized in tile format
 
 

Making Data Visible

 
One of the Web Client’s standout strengths is its data visualization. It readily turns data into something you can actually see and act upon.
For example, document lists can be easily converted into charts.

1. Select Sales Orders from the home screen tile

2. Navigate to the document list view, and choose your preferred display format using the button in the top-right corner

3. Specify the criteria to be implemented in the chart such as sales order per sales representative, and generate the chart instantly

 
Beyond this, a wide variety of charts and dashboards are available to support visual analysis. In addition to the standard reports provided out of the box, user-defined data can also be displayed graphically, meaning businesses can tailor their view to the metrics that matter most to them.

Extensibility Within SAP Business One

 
The Web Client is not a standalone cloud ERP product, it is part of SAP Business One, a system with a long and well-established track record as an on-premises ERP solution.
As such, it retains the high degree of customizability that has always been one of SAP Business One’s key strengths, giving it an advantage over purely cloud-based ERP platforms in this regard.

Therefore, users can fully leverage SAP Business One’s native extensibility through the Web Client.
 
 

Web Client and Desktop: Better Together

 
The Web Client is not intended as a replacement for the desktop version, it serves as an extension of it.
While the rollout of desktop features to the Web Client is ongoing, the majority of key documents and master data are already accessible.

Crucially, both versions draw on the same company data, and no additional licenses are required.

A likely scenario going forward is that office-based users handling day-to-day transactional work continue to use the desktop version, whilst those who need real-time visibility on the go, or who require a consolidated, visual overview of business data, turn to the Web Client. This kind of complementary usage may well become the standard approach for SAP Business One going forward.

If you would like a demonstration of the Web Client, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Lately, I have been seeing the term AI agents a lot at events hosted by SAP and other companies.
Despite the growing popularity of the term, many people may still wonder how AI can actually be used in their daily work. I certainly did. That is why, starting in the latter half of last year, I attended several AI seminars and events, and I am finally beginning to form a clearer picture of how it might be applied.

Let’s take common, everyday tasks in the wholesale business as an example:

1. Receiving an order e-mail from a customer.
2. Checking the inventory of the requested products.
3. In case of insufficient inventory, confirming the delivery date with the supplier.
4. Based on the delivery date provided by the supplier, confirming the shipping date with the customer.
5. Receiving the customer’s approval and creating the sales order.
6. Placing a purchase order for the supplier.

In the seminar I recently attended that showcased AI in action, steps 5 and 6 were handled by AI, requiring human approval only for final decisions, while all other steps were fully automated by AI, including decision making.

Naturally, enabling AI to perform these types of tasks requires a significant amount of configuration, and it is still difficult to say how much capital investment in IT would be needed to be able to automate processes to this extent. Nonetheless, the demo offered a very clear and relatable example of how AI could be integrated into everyday business processes.

This example illustrates automation using AI envisioned in Industry 4.0, initiated by the German government over a decade ago. While Industry 4.0 focused mainly on the manufacturing sector, Society 5.0, proposed by the Japanese government, expanded this concept to encompass the whole society.
I also believe that the use of AI will have a wide range of applications across society, surpassing the example mentioned above.

Lastly, whenever I see an AI demo where a user and an AI are having a conversation, it reminds me of a particular movie scene.
In an 1980s “Star Trek” movie Chief Engineer Scotty has traveled through time, from the future to what was then the “present day” of the 1980s. He tries to use a Macintosh computer by speaking to it, saying, “Computer?” After an awkward silence, an engineer from that time hands him a mouse and a keyboard. Scotty then lifts the keyboard and tries to speak into it like it is a microphone.
It is a wonderfully heartwarming moment.

Back then, voice input was seen as a technology of the future. Nearly forty years have passed since then, and voice input has become commonplace. Yet, whenever I see voice input in action, I can’t help but remember that movie scene I watched all those years ago, and it still brings a smile to my face.

 
The B1UP AI Assistant has been released as a new optional feature within the B1 Usability Package, the SAP Business One add-on developed by Boyum IT Solutions.

With the B1UP AI Assistant, users can carry out the following tasks in English, Japanese, and other languages:

• Query Building: Create queries more easily than with the standard Query Wizard or Query Generator built into SAP Business One.
• Information Search: Search for and retrieve information about SAP Business One and various Boyum IT products, based on a defined set of data sources.
• Conversation: Engage in follow-up conversations based on the results of query generation or information searches.

Unlike general-purpose AI tools, the B1UP AI Assistant is purpose-built for SAP Business One workflows. This focus means you get straight to the answers you actually need, without sifting through irrelevant information.
 
 

Access information and create queries using natural language

 
When it comes to query generation, B1UP AI Assistant goes well beyond simply producing a query. Results can be displayed in tabular format, with support for sorting, filtering, and data export.

There is also a key advantage over standard AI tools: whilst most AI assistants can only reference fields that SAP has made publicly available, B1UP AI Assistant can query database fields directly, meaning it can return results that include any user-defined fields that have been added to your SAP Business One.

Your SAP Business One data is secure

 
Security has been a core consideration throughout the development of the B1UP AI Assistant. The information shared with the AI is kept to an absolute minimum, and all communications are fully encrypted.
The following data is transmitted to the AI service over the internet:

• The content of your question
• Your conversation history
• Table names and column names
• Table access permissions

The following data is never transmitted, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected at all times:

• Data stored within tables
• Query results

In addition, a full audit log is recorded in the database, capturing when a query was made, by whom, from which device, and what was asked.

The queries generated by the assistant are also subject to the following automatic restrictions, giving users complete peace of mind:

• Only read-only statements are generated
• Statements that add, delete, or modify data are never produced
• Statements that could unintentionally expose data are blocked (injection prevention is built in)
• Only tables allowed by the user’s access permissions are referenced

Boost your operational efficiency

 
The B1UP AI Assistant transforms SAP Business One from an ERP system you operate into an ERP system you can have a conversation with. As a dedicated assistant for your day-to-day work, it is set to make a genuine difference to operational efficiency.
If this sounds like something your business could benefit from, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

 
It goes without saying that in the manufacturing industry, the last thing you would want to happen is failing to meet a promised delivery date. However, daily operations are full of unexpected problems, such as inventory shortages, machine breakdowns, or labor capacity constraints.
 
When such problems occur, the planning department must stop their current operations to rework the production schedule, the production department is required to put in overtime, and the sales department needs to notify the customers as soon as possible and apologize for the delay. All of this comes at the expense of the company’s time and credibility.
 
On the surface, it seems that issues like these can be resolved with increased effort on the shop floor. Overloading resources and relying on employees to work harder is just masking the real causes of obstacles in the production process, such as a flawed production plan or lack of visibility.
 
This is where data-driven systems like SAP Business One and Beas Manufacturing come into place, to eliminate the invisible burden in your company.
 
 

MRP plans for materials

 
MRP (Material Requirements Planning) is essential for production planning. (Click here to read about MRP in SAP Business One.) With MRP, planning tasks that previously required hours of manual effort to complete can be done with the push of a button. It also makes it possible to maintain adequate inventory levels and prevent critical stockouts.
 
Results of a MRP calculation identify which products or components are at risk of being delayed. It helps the person in charge make informed decisions about schedule adjustments, request shorter supplier delivery times, and negotiate with customers.
 
 

MRP2 plans for capacity

 
Besides materials, it is essential to manage labor and machine availability for successful production. This can be done by using MRP2 (Manufacturing Resource Planning). While MRP ensures that the right materials are available, MRP2 ensures that the factory has the capacity to produce them, keeping the production schedules realistic.

In the screenshot above, we see a MRP2 calculation result in Beas Manufacturing. As shown in this example, the total demand for the automatic assembly machine will exceed its configured capacity by 7 hours within the specified 6-day period.
 
By visualizing future workload for both personnel and machines, measures can be taken to eliminate chronic overtime and holiday work. This also represents a paradigm shift from operational planning that is dependent on the knowledge and experience of specific, key individuals, to data-driven planning.
 
 

Accurate production management will dramatically transform your shop floor

 
Improving the accuracy of production management extends far beyond simple metrics, like machine utilization. It opens up the possibility of transforming a shop floor that operates under constant pressure to prepare for and manage unexpected problems, into a more refined one that is based on reliable data. After implementing Beas Manufacturing, three significant changes will occur in your factory.

1. Increased productivity: Planning time is reduced. Chronic overtime, waiting for materials, and waiting for instructions on the shop floor are eliminated, resulting in increased productivity across the company.
2. Key person risk mitigation: The transformation of individual know-how from experienced personnel into a shared organizational asset. This eliminates the pressure put on specific individuals and allows the entire team to work according to an optimized plan, increasing organizational stability.
3. Building trust: An increased rate of on-time delivery will help build customer satisfaction, which in turn creates stronger brand trust and loyalty. It will make people say, “you can rely on this company, since they will get the job done, no matter what”.

Maintaining minimum inventory and ease of operation on the shop floor is directly linked to the company’s strength and stability, while optimization of production capacity builds on that, creating a reliable foundation that enables focus on the work that really matters.
 
If you are interested in learning more about Beas Manufacturing MRP and MRP2, please feel free to contact us for more information.

 
MRP is a term that inevitably comes up in any conversation about manufacturing systems. It is also included in SAP Business One as a standard feature. Even though it is regarded as an essential tool in manufacturing, the general impression of MRP is somewhat mixed.

Examples of comments that we get about MRP are:

•  We don’t understand the calculation.
•  The result of the calculation was different from what we had expected.
•  We understand the calculation, but it is difficult to manage on a daily basis.

First of all, what is MRP?

 
The system was devised in the 1960s, with the purpose of eliminating inventory excess and shortages.

From that time until now, the key problems in inventory control can be summed up as follows:

• As the number of handled items increases, the time required to keep track of inventory movement also increases.
• Particularly in the manufacturing industry, the complexity of relationships between parts, subassemblies and assemblies needed to produce a finished product makes it nearly impossible to understand all of the inventory relationships.
• Multiple lead time dependencies, meaning aligning the schedules of purchasing raw materials, manufacturing parts and delivering products, is a complex and time-consuming process.

Behind all of these lies the simple fact that it is far too time-consuming to calculate everything manually. MRP is a system that can eliminate that. In other words, it would not be wrong to describe MRP as a high‑performance calculator. In fact, in Japan some people refer to MRP not as “Material Requirements Planning” but as “Material Requirements Calculation”, a phrasing that emphasizes the system’s role in performing complex calculations.

MRP in SAP Business One

 
Let’s have a look at what MRP actually looks like in SAP Business One. Below is an example of the result of a MRP calculation.

This result indicates that 10 units of the finished product are needed by February 18th, and according to the bill of materials, 10 units of raw material B, required for producing the finished product, should be ordered by February 12th.

If we compare the MRP in SAP Business One with the ones in software packages dedicated to production management, it certainly appears simpler and less likely to leave users confused while they try to resolve the above-mentioned inventory issues. Since it is easy to use, even for those with no prior experience with MRP, this makes it a perfect choice for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited human resources.

Although running a MRP calculation in SAP Business One is relatively easy compared to managing spreadsheets or complex production management software, it is important to know how to prepare master data, configure system parameters, and interpret results.

If you are interested in learning more about SAP Business One and MRP, please feel free to contact us for more information.