Chemical manufacturers require software that can handle precise measurements, manage multiple units of measure such as potency and multiple packaging units, maintain customer specifications for products, track actual lot characteristics and match to customer specifications and keep up with complex industry standards. However, with so many generic ERP systems on the market serving a wide range of industries, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what option is best suited for your chemical business.
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A generic ERP that works for every industry may not have the specific functionality to support your chemical manufacturing operations, and therefore may require a substantial amount of customization, workarounds or external spreadsheets to fit your needs. It&#;s essential to ensure that your ERP system can manage your current and future processes and handle all aspects of production from automatically linking stages of production to measuring yield. Being able to measure yield and actual output versus scheduled output accurately is a must-have for chemical manufacturers.
Fortunately, solutions that are designed specifically for the chemical industry exist. ERP systems can help improve value by better managing inventory, controlling formulation, and improving integration and visibility of information between functions and across the enterprise.
The first step in the ERP selection process is understanding your company&#;s specific requirements. Determining your key success needs for your operational environment is critical and will help make the decision-making process much easier.
To help, we&#;ve outlined the critical functionality required and subsequent questions you need to ask your ERP vendors to make sure you choose the best system for your chemical manufacturing business.
An ERP system for your chemical company should handle multiple units of measure, such as weight and volume, for receiving, creating, storing and selling the same item. In many situations, a static conversion factor between weight and volume will be inaccurate when there are possible variations in the density between lots or batches. When you value or sell a liquid chemical based upon the dry weight percentage contained, that percentage may vary from one lot to the next.
You may be able to measure by weight with scales and load cells, but value and sell by volume, so an accurate conversion is critical to your success. In order to accurately manage and track these types of lots in a chemical company requires a formula-based conversion instead of a static conversion factor. With a formula-based conversion, you may measure the volume via a flow meter with a sample to measure specific gravity, and thus the actual weight can be calculated accurately. As you load tankers for shipments to customers, measuring the weight along with specific gravity results in the volume. Similar methods would be used for accurately measuring, valuing and selling products based upon a contained dry weight or potency value. An ERP system designed for chemical companies can easily calculate the percent dry weight and percent potency along with physical measurements such as weight.
Many chemical companies produce a bulk intermediate product that is packaged in multiple container types and sizes such as quarts, gallons, pails, drums and totes. This can vary from a handful of packages to many package types if you include either private label or country-specific packaging options. The generic ERP system typically requires a different part number to be created, managed and inventory tracked for each combination of bulk intermediate and package types. For a company making 100 different bulk intermediates that could be packaged in 50 different package types, there are results in 5,000 unique product masters that must be created and managed. Using a packaging unit of measure feature in this chemical company would result in only having to create and manage 100 product masters, record the package unite of measure and quantity during the packaging process.
Does the ERP system provide the capability to track and display inventory quantities in multiple units of measure simultaneously?
Does the ERP system provide the capability to buy/receive and sell/ship in any unit of measure with accurate conversions?
Are formula-based unit of measure conversions supported?
Are multiple packaging units of measure for each product/part code supported?
The ability to track actual costs and compare to standard or estimated costs can have an immediate value-adding impact on your business. Visibility into sustainability, inventory valuation along with the ability to forecast profitability based on production costs allows you to have a real impact on your bottom line.
Properly managing your production costs with the help of an ERP designed for the chemical industry will give you the ability to monitor against standards, eliminate input errors, and account for non-production costs and roll them into your product costs.
There should be options to value inventory by methods other than standard cost. While standard cost is commonly used with the objective being to track and manage the cost variances, having an ERP system that can report where the variances are and why they are occurring is critical. With many raw material commodities whose costs vary often, an ERP system should allow you to calculate new standards and revalue inventory at any frequency needed, not just annually. For those companies that want to use actual costing, options for either weighted average cost or actual cost by lot should be available, and that system should continue to measure, report and identify reasons for those costs.
If you are using formula conversions for calculating and tracking inventory quantities by potency or some other variable attribute by lot such as percent solids, an ERP system designed for chemical companies should be able to cost the inventory by the potent unit of measure.
Additionally, the ability to forecast and manage future costs is key when you are dealing with commodity or market fluctuations in raw material costs. Being able to simulate future costs and perform what-if cost scenarios easily and compare prevents you from being surprised at month end and to get ahead of the market in pricing your products.
Closely tied to market price fluctuations and contract manufacturing or toll processing is the ability to base selling prices on agreed to Market Costs plus Margins without having to create complex manual spreadsheets that could easily miss increased costs.
Can actual costs be tracked and compared to standard or estimated cost?
Do you have options for standard cost, weighted average cost or actual cost by lot?
How are costs for co-products and by-products handled?
Can the estimated cost of a process specification be compared with the actual lot cost?
Can future costs be used to provide what-if comparisons of total cost?
Can costs be date driven?
In a generic ERP system designed to support traditional discrete manufacturing, the quality tests and results are typically a Yes/No or Pass/Fail. Either the finished product works (pass) or it doesn&#;t (fail), resulting in either re-work or scrap.
In a chemical company, there are product specifications that typically have acceptable ranges with a minimum and maximum acceptable value. These specifications can either be industry based or set by the chemical company for their specific products.
However, a customer&#;s specific need for a product, or possibly the customer&#;s environment or actual equipment that it is used on may result in a range that works best for the customer. A generic ERP system that uses a Pass/Fail acceptable criteria cannot manage unique customer specification. You need an ERP system designed for chemical companies that can support both industry and customer specifications with the capability to manage production and set quality control test limits based on customer specifications. The ERP solution should be able to track the variable attributes of each batch or lot and then match lots in inventory to the customer&#;s specifications, as well as provide certificates of analysis or completion to the customer specification. This is a fairly unique, yet critical component specific to the chemical industry.
A chemical-specific ERP application should be able to employ formula specifications to manage the variations of customer processing and packaging specifications. This allows manufacturers to optimize their formulas so they can create the very best quality product while reducing scrap, waste and minimizing set-up time.
Does the system provide the capability to track unlimited variable attributes by batch/lot?
Does the system provide the ability to specify quality control tests with specific minimum/maximum acceptable values instead of pass/fail test results?
Does the system provide the ability to specify either industry or customer specifications for acceptable attribute ranges?
Does the system provide the ability to source inventory lots based on customer specifications and actual lot attributes?
Looking for a system designed and developed for the chemical industry that can manage your unique measurement requirements, handle your current operational and costing processes, and help you meet regulatory standards will ultimately make the ERP decision-making process easier and more effective.
For a more in-depth look at the key functionality and questions, you should be asking your ERP vendors, download our ERP Checklist for the Chemical Industry.
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1. I do not have an account with Oakwood Products, Inc. Can I still place an online order?
No. If you do not have an account, you must contact a Sales Representative to assist you to create an account. A customer service representative will verify your business information and will contact you regarding your intended use of our products. Once we receive your information, your account will become active and you will be able to place an order.
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2. How do I register?
For first time users, if you have an account with us contact us via at and we will set up your account for you. Once you receive your login information from us, you will be able to view real-time product prices and product availability data. Additionally, you will be able to place orders and your user profile will be automatically recalled each time you place an order or use an online form to request information or send an inquiry.
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3. Are orders placed online secure?
Yes. Data submitted to and from our web server is encrypted using the Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. This protects the data while it travels over the Internet and is unencrypted for display by your computer.All data submitted to Oakwood Products, Inc. is kept confidential and will not be sold to any third party under any circumstances.
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4. Can I place an order from anywhere in the world?
The Oakwood Products, Inc. web site will accept orders from customers in North and South America, most of Asia and parts of Africa and the Middle East. European customers should place their order through Fluorochem. If you are unsure of where to place your order, you can submit it on this site and we will inform you if you need to order through our European office.
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5. What payment methods are accepted?
Oakwood Products, Inc. accepts Credit/Procurement Cards or Purchase Orders for payment of online orders. Oakwood Products, Inc. accepts the following corporate credit or procurement cards: Mastercard, Visa and American Express. Oakwood Products, Inc. does not accept personal credit cards.
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6. I can't find an item on your web site but I believe you do carry it. Can I still order it?
If you can't find an item, feel free to chat with an online representative to help you locate that item.
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7. What if I have a question about my order?
To inquire about a particular order, you can use the Track your Order system, or send us an (important: please include your name and account information) or Contact us via our online chat system.
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8. What confirmation will I receive?
Shortly after you submit your order, you will receive an confirming our receipt of your order and containing your order number. At any time, you may check the status of your order using the Oakwood Products, Inc. Track your Order system. If Oakwood Products, Inc. requires clarification, we may contact you via with questions about your order.
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9. I forgot my password. What do I do?
If you forget your password, on the login page, enter your address and follow the directions for requesting a new password.
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10. Is there anything I can't order online?
Generally you can order anything online that we offer in our catalog. Some items may be subject to regulatory review by Oakwood Products, Inc.'s Health and Safety Department or may be restricted in certain geographical areas. If there is such a circumstance with your order, we will inform you if it might cause a delay in shipment.
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11. How much will I be billed for shipping?
Because shipping costs can vary based on shipping method, product hazard status, product quantity, package weight and destination, your shipping sum cannot be determined in real-time as you place the order. We will send you an order confirmation upon shipment to confirm actual delivered cost. If you require an exact amount prior to our releasing the shipment, please be sure to enter a note to that effect on your order.
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12. Can I have a Quote or Pro forma Invoice prepared?
You can use the Contact us to request a quote. Simply type "PRO FORMA" or "QUOTE REQUEST" in the request. An Oakwood Products, Inc. sales representative will contact you with a price quote or to obtain any additional information required to provide a quote.
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13. What if an item is not currently in stock when I order it?
If an item is not shown as in stock, you can still place it in your shopping basket and order the item. When Oakwood Products, Inc. receives your order, a representative will notify you of the back order lead-time for that item.
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14. What if I cannot find an MSDS?
In some cases an MSDS may not be available online. If this is the case, you can send us a request for the MSDS you seek. Since information is not available on all the possible hazards of many compounds, the absence of a warning must not be interpreted as an indication of a product's safety.
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15. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small piece of information that a web site can store in a designated file on your computer. Many web sites utilize cookies. If you set up your computer to accept cookies, it can be used to identify you when you login to a web site. When you visit a site, that site can only access the information in the cookie that is placed on your system, not information in any other cookie placed by any other site, nor any other information on your system.
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16. When would I update my profile?
You may update your profile to change an address, number or other information. Selecting the option to "Your Account" will display the same screen used in registering on the system. You can type over any data in the personal information section (address, number, address, etc.)
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17. How do I use Product Search?
The Product Search allows you to search the entire Oakwood Products, Inc. catalog database using a number of criteria.
ALL The search engine defaults to search all of the key fields of the entire database.
Catalog Number If you know the item number of the Oakwood Products, Inc. product you seek, simply enter the six digit number. Do not enter size code extensions or hyphens.
Name Enter the key words in the description of the product you are seeking. The system will search on word fragments. For instance, a search on "Ethyl aceto" will show all results with both words.
CAS (Chemical Abstract Service) Number The CAS number search allows you to enter the three-part Chemical Abstract Service number of the item you seek.
NOTE: CAS numbers vary in how specifically they define the material. Oakwood Products, Inc. makes every effort to provide the most specific CAS number that applies. Where a CAS number is provided for a mixture or solution, it is generally the CAS number of the solute or component referred to in the main label name.
MDL Number The MDL number search allows you to enter the assigned MDL number of the item you seek from the ACD with the prefix MFCD.
Molecular Formula The Molecular Formula search allows you to enter the molecular formula for the item you seek.
Structure Search Structure searching is also available. Here you can search for an exact structure or a substructure.
How to search:
To begin searching the catalog, simply enter the information to be searched into the text field.
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18. Can I obtain a Certificate of Analysis online?
Yes. Search for the catalog number, once on the correct page for that item, enter the lot number in question in the CofA tab.
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19. What are Oakwood Products, Inc.'s Terms and Conditions of Sale?
Terms and Conditions of Sale
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Contact us to discuss your requirements of Chemical Wholesaler. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.