Production Traceability in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: How Reach Robotics Cut Reporting to Hours
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Reach Robotics gained real-time production status and lot and serial traceability in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central by adding four Insight Works apps. Reporting now takes hours instead of days. Manual processing fell by 35–45%, and inventory was optimized by 15–25%.
The four apps are Enhanced Planning Worksheet, Multi-Level BOM Viewer, Shop Floor Insight, and Routing Analysis. Each is a Business Central extension published on Microsoft Marketplace, the kind of add-on partners use to fit Business Central to a specific industry. Microsoft Partner Dynamic Aspect designed and delivered the project.
Who Is Reach Robotics?
Reach Robotics designs and manufactures robotic manipulation and perception systems for harsh environments. The company has about 50 employees, is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and runs sales operations in North America and Europe.
Its systems support defense and commercial work, including maritime infrastructure, underwater inspection, law enforcement, marine science, mining, and autonomous robotics. That mix shapes how production runs. Defense programs bring governance and traceability expectations, so production records have to stand up to an audit.
Why Did Spreadsheets Stop Working for Production Tracking?
Spreadsheets stopped working because they could not keep up with more complex defense and industrial programs. Production tracking and labor time were recorded manually, so production status was never current. Visibility across manufacturing and projects was limited.
The gaps went beyond the shop floor. Planning and procurement ran through disconnected workflows, and finance and operations data did not always agree. Reporting depended on manual reconciliation that took days, and the reliance on spreadsheets created operational risk as the business grew.
Reach Robotics set a clear goal: one scalable, integrated platform with real-time visibility across manufacturing, inventory, planning, finance, and projects. That platform also had to meet the governance and traceability expectations of the defense industry.
How Do Insight Works Apps Add Production Traceability to Business Central?
Reach Robotics implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with four Insight Works apps covering planning, bill of materials review, shop floor execution, traceability, and process analysis. About 15 staff use the apps every day. Each app closed a specific gap the spreadsheets had left open.
Planners now use Enhanced Planning Worksheet to see supply, demand, availability by location, and vendor information in one place, and they create purchase orders directly from the worksheet. Enhanced Planning Worksheet gives the team a more disciplined, visible purchasing process in place of disconnected workflows.
Reach Robotics builds multilevel assemblies, which are hard to review in a flat list. Multi-Level BOM Viewer shows each bill of materials (BOM) as a hierarchy or tree, with supply and demand for every component. Feasibility checks flag potential shortages, so planners can spot component gaps before they hold up production.
On the shop floor, production staff use Shop Floor Insight to record labor, production progress, and quality events with barcode scanning on mobile devices. Shop Floor Insight also captures lot and serial numbers at the point of production. That record provides the traceability defense audits require.
With actual times now captured on the shop floor, the team uses Routing Analysis to compare operation times on finished production orders against each routing’s expected times. Routing Analysis flags operations that vary widely, even when the average looks acceptable. The team then corrects routings and standardizes processes.
How Was the Business Central Rollout Handled?
Reach Robotics manufactures specialized systems for highly regulated industries, so the main task was mapping those manufacturing workflows to finance, planning, quality, and reporting processes. Strong stakeholder alignment was part of that work.
Dynamic Aspect designed and delivered the Business Central solution and deployed all four Insight Works apps. The team aligned the platform with Reach Robotics’ manufacturing, defense, and business process requirements. The rollout caused minimal disruption to day-to-day operations.
What Results Did Reach Robotics See?
Reach Robotics reached a return on its ERP investment within 12 months, supported by a project structured for early operational value. Reporting cycles shortened from days to hours, giving leaders current information sooner. Manual processing fell by 35–45% across the solution, cutting re-keying and reconciliation work.
Inventory was optimized by 15–25%, with the planning apps a major contributor through stronger procurement discipline. Labor time and production status are now available in real time, and lot and serial traceability is captured on the shop floor. Finance, manufacturing, procurement, inventory, projects, and quality share a single source of truth, with improved reporting accuracy.
“This solution delivered a platform capable of providing accurate, real-time visibility across finance, manufacturing, supply chain, and operational planning while supporting the governance and reporting expectations associated with defense industry participation.”
– Nathan King, Head of Operations, Reach Robotics Pty Ltd
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Business Central add-ons did Reach Robotics use?
Reach Robotics used four Insight Works apps: Enhanced Planning Worksheet, Multi-Level BOM Viewer, Shop Floor Insight, and Routing Analysis. All four run inside Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central online.
How does Shop Floor Insight support lot and serial traceability?
Shop Floor Insight captures lot and serial numbers at the point of production, using barcode scanning on mobile devices. The same scans record labor, production progress, and quality events.
Is Shop Floor Insight an app, an extension, or an add-on?
All three terms are correct. Shop Floor Insight is a Business Central app, published as an extension on Microsoft Marketplace, and resellers often call it an add-on.
Who implemented Business Central for Reach Robotics?
Microsoft Partner Dynamic Aspect designed and delivered the Business Central solution and deployed all four Insight Works apps.
A Defense-Ready Operating Platform Built on Business Central
By extending Business Central with four Insight Works apps and working with Dynamic Aspect, Reach Robotics replaced spreadsheets with one connected platform. Reporting takes hours instead of days, inventory is optimized by 15–25%, and lot and serial traceability is captured on the shop floor.
Read the full Reach Robotics case study, or explore Shop Floor Insight to see how production traceability works in your own Business Central environment.