Printing Industry ERP

After I very complete review of ERPNext we have decided to use Frappe to develop our ERP vertical for the Printing Industry. After 6 months we have scrapped Odoo and it’s rigid, xml-driven view definitions with server-side onchange headaches and clumsy onchange injection. We fell in love with prototyping thats included with the standard Frappe development workflow. The Frappe framework has a very clean setup, transparent roles and has great inline documentation on the models in editing mode.

We would be interested in signing up for your Developer/Partner program but $5000 is just too step as it’s only me and one other developer right now. If you ever consider a lower rate for lower tier Partners (in the $1200-1500 range) let us know and we’ll sign-up immediately. Just wanted to mention our endeavours and we will be putting a job post up looking for a few additional developers to bring on-board in January.

Wanted to also ask if there was a way to duplicate a DocType (command line or using the backend)? If not, would you consider this for a feature request? Would be a huge time saver as we will be reworking several Core DocTypes (Items, Pricing, Quotes, Production Orders, etc.)

Congrats to everyone involved and all of your hard work! 2015 could be a very important year for ERPNext and V5. I dont have to tell you how big the SMB ERP market is and someone is going to own the market. I know where I’m putting my money :wink:

Billie
PrintX Inc.

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Hello Bille,

Wishes of new year to you too. Thanks for the so many kind words for ERPNext.

  1. Lets discuss developer support plan queries offline.
  2. Doctype can be copied, from File (on top bar).
  3. While copying Doctype, only Doctype record will be copied. Backend files for that Doctype should be copied manually.

@BillieM thanks for your kind words!

Developer training is at $1500 - which is much more affordable than anything out there!

Also why do you want to copy doctypes? much better to extend existing ones via hooks and custom fields

https://frappe.io/kb/app-development/how-to-add-customizations-to-app

I am extremely interested in proposing a custom solution for a prospective client - technically not printing, but manufacturing custom-made boxes for products, which includes processing of the raw cardboard material for the boxes, and the printing of the outers, to complete assembly of the finished product. They manufacture boxes for many well-known, high-profile customers which you will know when I say the names.

They already have an ERP system in place, but it lacks an RFID tracking system which I feel would be extremely advantageous for tracking stock throughout the production process (especially when you consider some of the jobs are just-on-time and I have had first hand experience of searching for two hours for something that wasn’t where it was supposed to be). Actually, I have now dealt with three large manufacturing enterprises that have no clue what RFID even is. Obviously it is in the interests of the technical support for the ERP’s that they use not to even mention RFID, if their products don’t have RFID support at present.

I approached a developer friend of mine to implement an RFID module into ERPNext, yet he seems intent on designing an ERP solution from the ground up using .NET - which to me, seems like trying to reinvent the wheel.

I hope I am in the right place to enquire whether there would be interest in developing an RFID module for ERPNext, with the ultimate aim of approaching these prospective clients to implement a complete ERPNext solution, with the newly developed RFID module.

I am not a developer - I just don’t have the patience. I have better than average technical skill, and I can poke my way through code if I really must. Which is why I am putting this idea out there so we can start the project and hopefully generate some seed capital through means of crowd-funding.

I will handle all the administrative tasks, and I can handle design and administration of a website to free up developers for developing, and not wasting their valuable time on menial tasks.

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@Flatspin You can also post your request here

https://frappe.io/community/jobs

I would also recommend trying odesk.com / elance.com

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Hi Flatspin,
I was just wondering how you see RFID integration differing from say barcode integration in an ERP? I’m interested as by coincidence I am putting together a basic RFID hardware prototype device for friend.
Best Regards,
Rick

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It would be interesting to compare how RFID tags are integrated in other ERP systems, such as Epicor or Dynamics NAV (both popular .NET-based proprietary ERP products).

Here are two possible options. I’m not sure what to call a serialized instance of a stock item, so I’ll call it a “serial number master” until someone can correct me. :wink:

Also, as I understand RFID technology as typically used in warehouses, it is an inherently statistical process, there is no guarantee that all the RFID tags present will be captured and reported, and there is also a limit to the number of tags that can be captured (and therefore, for example, a limit to the number of DVD players that can be in a pallet).

Option 1 - simple location tracking. Add “RFID tag number” and “last observed location” fields to the serial number master and import the current location of a stock item via the ERPNext API whenever the stock item is “seen” by an RFID scanner.

E.g. Scan a pallet of DVD players on the shipping dock, take the list of RFID tag serial numbers that are returned from the scanner, look up the stock item serial number for each RFID tag number, then import the location (I.e. “shipping dock”) to the serial number master.

Option 2 - location-based transactions. Use the location of an item to make appropriate transactions. I haven’t thought this through, and am even thinking it’s less viable as I write, but as an example, scan a pallet of DVD players that were just manufactured as they are being moved by forklift to the finished goods warehouse. All the serial number masters could be transacted from the WIP warehouse to the finished goods warehouse, based on their physical location now being the finished goods warehouse.

I think this is most viable for medium-value items, where the added unit cost for RFID tracking is not significant, and the statistical accuracy of the RFID system (99%? 99.9%? 99.99%?) can be accepted. I’m not sure if this applies to sheets of punched cardboard for example (very high-volume and low-cost), but perhaps it could be practically applied to pallets or lots of finished cardboard boxes. Tagging high-value items may be useful for other reasons, such as stock control where the inventory counts are assisted by RFID tags.

By the way, can anyone offer typical costs for RFID tags and scanners?

Dale

P.S. Fwiw, I met someone using a customized Epicor system to manage servicing the air-conditioning systems they sell and install in big trucks. The air-conditioning systems monitor actual hours of operation and also air pressure on each side of air filters, and electronically report the data back to the Epicor system when a cell-phone data connection is available. Leads are automatically created for the sales team based on the data from the field units. I don’t see why this sort of customization wouldn’t be equally possible using ERPNext, and without the user and feature-based pricing of a proprietary ERP.

RFID and Barcode are similar, but you can think for RFID as a better or stronger barcode system. You can read RFID tags from a good distance (5 meters or more), and they don’e have to be in the direct line of sight of the reader.

The air-conditioning usage is pretty impressive.
My friends requirements for an RFID read only device is based around a few fairly simple protocols and bluetooth connectivity to a Tablet or Ultrabook (or whatever they call a thin laptop with a touchscreen these days). The location-based transactions would be fairly simple when using an html5 derived Android/iOS “native” app. This would handle all the location based complexity. As ERPnext is effectively an html5 responsive app, It should lend it self well to this type of mobile tracking use. I have found prices for readers and tags to vary hugely. My need is pretty basic and limited so havent really looked into the many available options.

I agree from the high-level perspective of the ERP system. There are a large variety of tag technologies, each with its own advantages, disadvantages, and typical use cases [1]. In my comment I was thinking of an UHF-type active tag, broadcasting a spread spectrum signal from within a pallet of items (e.g. ~100 DVD players in boxes on a pallet), after being energized by RF energy from the scanner. The statistical nature I described (for how sure you are that you got all the DVD players on the pallet, and are sure you never miss even one every once in a while) doesn’t necessarily apply to other tag technologies.

[1] Radio-frequency identification - Wikipedia

Dale

I think using location technologies to automatically update the ERP is an awesome area to work on. We were thiking of adding geo tags (lat / longs) on all physical goods (serial no, warehouse, user) in the data model, so that if a object “checks in” at a particular location, then it could trigger a series of operations.

This is closer than we think because everyone uses a smart phone. So if I am moving an object to a warehouse, I can just check-in with the object and the appropriate entry can be made.

Would love to work in this direction, but need someone willing to collaborate and test it out in the real world.

But this is a very exciting direction.

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Dear rmehta, I can perhaps help in testing this in our stores. I have experience with RFID for assets and personnel tracking, but without ERP integration.

Geo Tags (lat/longs) sounds like an excellent feature. On top of all the other excellent uses mentioned above it could be used to help a service provider or delivery driver find the customers location. The wikipedia link is really interesting, I had no idea about the theremin tie in.

Hello. I was going through a demo of proprietary asset management software. Looking at it I felt ERPNext would do a better job using Asset doctype. Crux of the issue is how to get RFID tags (Active and Passive) information into it. And later using a handheld scanner to locate the items in a very large warehouse.

If anyone has been successful in this field kindly let me know or share the repository. Appreciate your time and efforts.

I have solved this issue

@Muzzammil_Hussain Would you please share how you managed to do this? We are in similar need as @Muzzy