Home > Manufacturing Software > QAD ERP > QAD ERP vs Fishbowl Manufacturing

QAD ERP vs Fishbowl Manufacturing

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Our analysts compared QAD ERP vs Fishbowl Manufacturing based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Manufacturing Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Overview Pricing Benefits & Features User Ratings Analyst Summary Screenshots
QAD ERP Software Tool
Fishbowl Manufacturing Software Tool
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Product Basics

QAD ERP is a comprehensive manufacturing software solution designed to streamline and integrate core business processes across manufacturing organizations. It's particularly well-suited for mid-sized to large manufacturers in industries such as automotive, consumer products, food and beverage, life sciences, and industrial equipment. Key benefits include improved visibility and control over operations, enhanced collaboration, and boosted productivity. Popular features encompass financial management, supply chain management, production planning, inventory management, quality management, and customer relationship management. According to user experiences, QAD ERP stands out for its deep industry-specific capabilities, user-friendly interface, and strong customer support. Pricing is typically based on a per-user, per-month subscription model, with costs varying depending on the number of users, modules, and deployment options.

Pros
  • Industry-specific features
  • User-friendly interface
  • Strong customer support
  • Improved visibility and control
  • Enhanced collaboration
 Cons
  • Complex implementation
  • High customization costs
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Limited reporting capabilities
  • Potential integration challenges
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Fishbowl Manufacturing is an ERP that keeps users one step ahead of their competitors by automating intricate tasks and time tracking. It monitors inventory and streamlines production to ensure products are delivered to patrons in a timely manner.

Work orders, bill of materials (BOM), shipping, inventory management and barcode scanning are a few of its quintessential features.
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$5,000/User, Monthly
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$329 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Email
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Improve Communication: Communicate with suppliers by providing them access to the QAD Supplier Portal. Additionally, QAD Cloud EDI provides translation and communication services that work with QAD Cloud eCommerce. The result is end-to-end communication with trade partners. 
  • Increase Throughput: The system uses “Drum-Buffer-Rope” techniques to optimize the supply chain. Employees can receive automatic notifications when there are backorders or shortages that will affect the manufacturing process. 
  • Better Visibility: Better visibility allows you to be aware of demand changes and work quickly to accommodate them. The analytics dashboard provides the user with unified data from multiple sources and the product genealogy feature tracks products. Other features that provide better visibility include the CRM feature, which supplies customer service technicians with all customer information they could need. The financial management module allows the user to view key financial information. 
  • Maximize Productivity: QAD Warehousing reduces the need for additional labor and makes current warehouse employees more productive. The system uses consolidated picking to reduce traffic and enable multiple tasks within each trip in the warehouse. 
  • Make Strategic Business Decisions:  From analytics to budgeting, the system supplies users with the tools to make well-informed and data-driven business decisions. The user has instant access to this information from any mobile device, so you’re able to make business decisions anytime, anywhere.  
  • Governance, Risk and Compliance:  Ensure you are staying compliant with your financial reports concerning regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) or J-SOX. 
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  • Track Jobs: Track employee hours, overtime, payroll, vacation time and other information with the labor and job tracking module. Users may also implement GPS tracking to verify where employees clock in and out and permit employees to clock in and out from any mobile device. 
  • In-Depth BOMs: Add subassemblies, several finished goods and intricate units of measure via the bill of materials accessory. Users can produce and complete numerous BOMs at once in addition to writing thorough instructions and attaching pictures for each step of a BOM. 
  • Manage Serial & Lot Numbers: Rapidly track parts with serial and lot numbers with the serial and lot number feature. Users may also review expiration dates, batch numbers and revision levels along with lot history and part audit trails. 
  • Work with Multiple Locations: Upkeep inventory throughout several worksites and warehouses, enabling users to get as detailed or extensive as necessary to find the right parts or workpieces. This attribute enables users to automatically restock inventory levels by moving products from one site to another. 
  • Integrate with Other Software: Link CRM software, such as Salesforce and Zoho CRM and other programs, to Fishbowl Manufacturing to check the availability of product amounts, prices and other product intel. 
  • BI Capabilities: Find out manufacturing costs and receive the most accurate costs of raw goods and materials with the BI suite. Users may also produce detailed reports on several business operations and utilize inventory data to formulate smarter business decisions.  
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  • Manufacturing: Track products throughout the production process, print labels, gain visibility into plans, schedules and supporting data. Lean manufacturing improves quality and eliminates waste. The Master Scheduling Workbench allows you to simulate changes to the schedule before you confirm changes to it.  
  • Supply Chain Management: You can plan, track and manage costs through the Distribution Requirements Planning feature. The QAD Supplier Portal allows you to share information about inventory, scheduling, purchase orders, shipments and more with your suppliers. QAD Warehousing handles complex warehouses and high volume picking. You can access pending acquisitions from your mobile device.  
  • Customer Management: The CRM feature provides a 360-degree view of your customer interactions and processes sales orders and invoices. The Customer Self Service feature provides the user with a web store-front that you can match to your own website’s branding. The configurator allows for mass production of customized products that may be delivered from any facility, no matter where the user initially did the configuration. Customer service and support run the entire services lifecycle, from managing service orders to providing all customer information that servicing personnel could need to perform their job. 
  • Financial Management: A general ledger, accounts receivable and payable are made available to you through the financial management feature. Other capabilities include multi-currency, cost management, credit management, budgeting and financial analysis. The system generates periodic or ad-hoc corporate and governmental reports, consolidates financial records and manages and tracks freight costs.  
  • Analytics: QAD BI displays your data at a single source, and users can access this information from any mobile device. You can create and run reports while managing your business processes with this feature.  
  • Integration: The software comes with robust ERP system integration solutions. QAD Cloud EDI streamlines communication between customers and suppliers, while QAD EDI eCommerce provides tighter integration with your trading partners. QAD Boomi AtomSphere can connect cloud applications to on-premise applications without requiring any additional hardware. QAD Q-Xtend automates data synchronization and eliminates both manual data entry and custom interfaces maintenance.  
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  • Manufacturing: Superintend advanced work orders, manufacture orders, BOMs and more with the manufacturing apparatus. Users may also execute automatic custom, batch or repair work orders. 
  • Barcode Scanning: Construct inventory and manufacturing records with precision by accessing the barcode scanning tool. It executes cycle counts, enables users to pick, pack and ship goods and complete work orders as well as produce sales orders and update intricate part details. 
  • Inventory Management: Track products that are going to clients, develop reorder points for every item in a facility and cipher the suitable reorder quantity for every inventory item with the inventory management appliance. 
  • Production Stages: Craft multi-layered work orders that showcase the progress of each job that users receive to ensure everything is on schedule or to make certain adjustments for jobs that are falling behind. It designates duties to particular employees and even determines yield and waste estimates for every stage. 
  • Shipping: Integrate Fishbowl with other shipping solutions to expeditiously create shipping labels and synchronize shipping costs, tracking numbers, client addresses, weights and more so packages get to the right destination. 
  • Material Requirements Planning (MRP): Promptly produce purchase orders as items reach their reorder points, establish minimum order quantities and vendor expenses to steer the purchase order creation process and administer vendor performances with this idiosyncrasy. 
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Product Ranking

#18

among all
Manufacturing Software

#6

among all
Manufacturing Software

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 54 reviews
Great User Sentiment 707 reviews
74%
of users recommend this product

QAD ERP has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 74% when considering 54 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

Fishbowl Manufacturing has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 707 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

n/a
4.6 (14)
3.4 (12)
3.3 (62)
n/a
4.2 (629)
3.9 (14)
n/a
3.7 (28)
4.0 (2)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Enhanced Visibility and Control: Gain real-time insights into production, inventory, and finances to make informed decisions and proactively address issues.
Streamlined Operations: Automate manual tasks, reduce errors, and improve process efficiency across various manufacturing functions.
Improved Collaboration: Facilitate better communication and data sharing between departments, breaking down silos and enhancing teamwork.
Scalability and Flexibility: Adapt to changing business needs and growth, accommodating new users, locations, and processes seamlessly.
Industry-Specific Features: Benefit from pre-built functionality and best practices tailored to specific manufacturing industries, such as automotive, food and beverage, and life sciences.
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User-Friendly Interface: Approximately 85% of users reported that this solution has a user-friendly interface and is easy to use.
Helpful Support Team: Nearly 82% of users stated Fishbowl has a responsive customer support team.
Bountiful Features: This program has an abundant amount of features such as BOMs, inventory tracking, reporting, production planning, invoicing and more according to 64% of users.
Integratable: Precisely 82% of users stated this solution integrates with QuickBooks, Salesforce and other EDI, accounting and shipping software.
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Complex Implementation: Requires significant upfront investment and technical expertise for setup and configuration.
High Customization Costs: Extensive customization can be expensive and time-consuming.
Steeper Learning Curve: User interface can be complex and require training for efficient use.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Out-of-the-box reporting may not meet all needs, requiring additional development.
Potential Integration Challenges: Integrating with existing systems can be complex and require specialized skills.
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Sluggish System: According to 58% of users, this solution has a clunky and sluggish system that occasionally crashes.
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User reviews of QAD ERP reveal a love-hate relationship. Fans tout its industry-specific muscle and enhanced control, with one user gushing, "It's like SAP on steroids for automakers; we finally have real-time visibility into production flows." However, its complexity can be daunting. "Compared to Acumatica," admits another, "QAD has a steeper learning curve, but its customization blows it out of the water, especially for our intricate assembly lines." The customization aspect is a double-edged sword. "Implementing QAD was an Everest-sized task," laments one reviewer, "and ongoing tweaks can be pricey compared to something like NetSuite." In the end, user experiences suggest QAD shines for manufacturers craving a highly configurable and industry-specific platform, but be prepared to invest sweat and tears (and dollars) in implementation and training.

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Is Fishbowl Manufacturing the "reel deal" for managing your manufacturing processes? Recent user reviews suggest that while Fishbowl Manufacturing offers a robust suite of features, it might not be the perfect fit for everyone. Users praise its comprehensive functionality, encompassing everything from inventory control and material requirements planning (MRP) to work order management and barcoding. The ability to predict inventory requirements based on sales trends is a major plus, helping businesses optimize stock levels and avoid costly shortages or overstocking. Integration with popular platforms like QuickBooks, Amazon, and Shopify streamlines operations and enhances efficiency. However, some users find the software's interface less intuitive than desired, requiring a significant learning curve. Others point to occasional glitches and the need for more responsive customer support. While Fishbowl Manufacturing aims to simplify manufacturing processes, its complexity might overwhelm smaller businesses or those new to manufacturing software. Ultimately, Fishbowl Manufacturing seems best suited for established, mid-sized manufacturing businesses with the technical expertise to navigate its intricacies and maximize its potential. Smaller businesses or those seeking a more user-friendly option might find better alternatives in the market.

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