Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud | Complete Overview
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Operating in the manufacturing industry without dedicated platforms and software tools for specific tasks can slow down operations. To avoid this situation, it’s time to modernize your software stack.
Have you heard of Manufacturing Cloud from Salesforce? It helps businesses in this industry connect their opportunities with demand forecasts and supports teams by allowing them to provide customer and distributor services. Manufacturing Cloud also empowers professionals by giving them accurate data to study with AI-driven tools and features.
If you want to learn more about Manufacturing Cloud in Salesforce, join us in the article below. We explore how this robust platform enhances business operations for those in the manufacturing industry.
Let’s get started!
What is Manufacturing Cloud in Salesforce?
It’s a Salesforce platform dedicated to businesses in the manufacturing industry. With Manufacturing Cloud, businesses can connect all operations and customer service journeys into Salesforce. Manufacturing Cloud is an ideal software solution for businesses that contain the following teams that need to collaborate:
When a business chooses to sign up for Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud, operations can align to support the following tasks:
Manufacturing Cloud provides all the tools necessary to cater for tasks in the manufacturing industry, which include working with:
If you need more than what Manufacturing Cloud can offer, you can leverage features from other Salesforce products, like Service or Sales Cloud, to support your business requirements.
Who is Manufacturing Cloud Best Suited to?
Manufacturing Cloud is best suited for businesses operating in this specific industry. Although there are more, to give you an idea, here is a short list of companies that use Manufacturing Cloud to streamline commercial operations:
Companies who provide the following services also benefit from using Manufacturing Cloud:
Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud Features
By understanding the features of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud, companies get to ensure sales and production teams are working side by side to achieve the same business goals. For example, these teams can use Manufacturing Cloud to view and access data which can be used to generate sales forecasts and predict customer demands. Let’s take a closer look at the features companies get from Manufacturing Cloud.
Sales Agreements
First, we want to explore Manufacturing Cloud’s feature, Sales Agreements. This straightforward feature gives teams access to view every sales agreement in their platform, which means accounts are transparent for all important stakeholders. This makes collaborating and managing customer relationships easier since all information is stored accurately in a single location.
The surface data from sales agreements with the finalized terms are usually stored in an ERP or order management system. So, by using Manufacturing Cloud’s sales agreements feature, teams can accomplish the following tasks:
If you are looking for solutions that allow for agreement generation in Salesforce with a click of a button, we suggest you check out our no-code platform, Titan.
Account-Based Forecasting
But let’s get back to our list of features from Manufacturing Cloud. Next up, we have Account-Based Forecasting. This feature allows businesses to build unified forecasts that support the following teams:
With a more accurate forecast, these teams can craft forecasts for new opportunities faster than before. Salesforce understands that every business is unique, so they also allow professionals to use Formula Builder, a tool that configures forecast algorithms. You can give Formula Builder your custom business metrics and inputs to support more accurate sales forecasting.
Rebate Management
With Salesforce’s Rebate Management becoming available after the Spring 21 release, teams can make business plans that are much easier for employees to follow. For example, teams can use Rebate Management in Manufacturing Cloud to complete the following tasks:
This incentive management software is an ideal solution for businesses that sell via distribution channels. For example, managers working on rebate programs can do the following with Manufacturing Cloud’s features:
When it comes to building rebate programs, Manufacturing Cloud has flexible solutions. For example, while configuring a new rebate program on the system to incentivize channel partners, an admin can add the following data to the program:
The newly added rebate program can also be configured to automatically generate payout periods. This setup will be based on the rebate program’s frequency.
Once all requirements are configured for rebate programs, sales professionals can check their incentive attainment for accounts, payouts, and thresholds in Salesforce.
By streamlining these popular rebate management tasks, teams have more time to manage customer or partner relationships by simply fine-tuning incentive strategies.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics
Manufacturing Cloud’s functionality is extended thanks to Einstein Analytics. But how? Basically, the Salesforce Einstein AI platform gives your Manufacturing Cloud the capability to:
Since Salesforce supplies businesses with a platform that can be customized, whether you are an executive or part of an account team, you can explore data insights from the following:
Order Management Integration
Manufacturing Cloud has features and functionality to easily integrate a company’s front office system to the back. This allows teams to view account data and activity in real-time. This capability is achieved with the help of ERP connectors and templates from the MuleSoft Anypoint platform.
Salesforce recommends using the MuleSoft Anypoint platform if you want to collect order details from an ERP or order management system. It is one way to unify your back and front office with a seamless and approved Salesforce order management integration.
Production Planning Integration
The next integration for Salesforce that can extend your Manufacturing Cloud functionality is Community Cloud. With this Salesforce platform, teams can plan operations faster thanks to their real-time access to accurate data. They also get tools that support collaborating with customers and channel partners on the Manufacturing Cloud.
These advanced integrations help to speed up business plans while generating sales forecasts for the future.
Service and Warranty Management
Manufacturing Cloud assists with managing service and warranty lifecycles from end to end. Whether you need solutions to support warranty administration tasks or collecting claims, Manufacturing Cloud can assist with its Warranty Lifecycle Management solution.
Teams will find they can create warranties at varying product levels, which helps to manage them better. They can also use Warranty Lifecycle Management to build a powerful framework in business for maintaining warranty eligibility rules or entitlements. These agreements can be based on:
The Warranty Lifecycle Management feature is designed to build complete service standards for:
By organizing these procedures and processes with Manufacturing Cloud, teams get accurate data to use in warranty management and service processes, such as collecting claim data from partners or other stakeholders. This is an important step to get right as it will ensure that subjectivity in claims are reduced. Additionally, there is less back and forth between a company and its partners, dealers, or distributors to clarify data.
We suggest using Manufacturing Cloud to build automated processes for your services and warranties so that your teams can:
And the biggest benefit is that teams get to carefully examine all warranty claims in a single location.
Partner Community
If you want a solution that connects your business to partners, distributors, and suppliers you need a partner portal. These portals can be created and synced to Salesforce with a Partner Community for Manufacturing license.
Once you have this license, you can use the software to collaborate with partners in the following ways:
Customizable Dashboards
Dashboards are a great way to visualize data and share your custom company insights with key decision-makers. To embed dashboards in your Salesforce Lightning Experience pages, you need to connect the Analytics for Manufacturing app to your Cloud. Instructions on how to do this can be found on Salesforce’s Help page.
Here are a few of the dashboards you get from the Analytics for Manufacturing app:
These dashboards can be embedded into any manufacturing page, and their filters do not need to be configured, so you get instant access to your data. However, for the best views, Salesforce recommends you configure your dashboard height to 450px.
Salesforce: Manufacturing Cloud Pricing
When looking for a software solution to streamline business operations, it’s also important to consider its pricing. This information can help you determine whether your budget can afford the software, in this case, Manufacturing Cloud. If it doesn’t, you can always plan budgets, reallocate resources, and choose the right time to sign up for Manufacturing Cloud.
So how much is Manufacturing Cloud? Take a look at our table below to quickly scan the prices and find out if it is an investment you could afford.
| Sales Enterprise | Service Enterprise | Sales and Service Unlimited | Einstein 1 for Sales | Einstein 1 for Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | A manufacturing CRM solution built on top of Sales Cloud. | A manufacturing CRM solution built on top of Service Cloud. | A manufacturing CRM solution giving businesses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation capabilities. | The Einstein 1 platform but designed for the manufacturing industry looking for sales solutions. | The Einstein 1 platform but designed for the manufacturing industry looking for service solutions. |
| Price | $250 per user per month | $250 per user per month | $450 per user per month | $650 per user per month | $650 per user per month |
| Feature #1: Sales Agreement Management Solutions | |  | | | |
| Feature #2: Advanced Forecasting Capabilities | | | | | |
| Feature #3: Program Visibility | | | | | |
| Feature #4: Visit Management Solutions | | | | | |
| Feature #5: Order Estimates on the Field | | | | | |
About Manufacturing Cloud Certification from Salesforce
Passing the Manufacturing Cloud Accredited Professional exam will prove that you know who this platform is designed for. To obtain a Manufacturing Cloud Salesforce certification, you will need to learn how to implement Manufacturing Cloud solutions that give businesses and their customers extra value.
If you are a Salesforce partner who has access to the Partner Learning Camp training and Partner Community portals, then you are ready to start your journey on obtaining your Manufacturing Cloud Accredited Professional credential. However, you should also have the following under your belt to make the exam easier to pass:
If you are interested in taking the exam, schedule your slot on Trailhead.
Our Final Thoughts on Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud
Thanks for reading our article on Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud. This robust platform is designed specifically for professionals in this industry, and it has advanced tools and features powered by AI, depending on the edition you sign up for.
In this article we answered the popular question, “what is Manufacturing Cloud in Salesforce?” and learned about who could benefit from this product the most. We also covered some of the most popular features businesses are leveraging from Manufacturing Cloud and provided a price point table for the different editions you could choose.
And as always, Titan supports continuous learning in the Salesforce and software community, so we provided a little extra information on the Manufacturing Cloud certification.
Do you have any other topics you would like us to explore under Manufacturing Cloud? Reach out to us on one of our social media channels below. We would love to continue the conversation.
TITAN’s Solution for Manufacturers in Salesforce
If your company needs manufacturing solutions for Salesforce, check out our platform called Titan. It is a powerful, no-code software solution that integrates directly into Salesforce. With it, you can create custom web projects, like forms, surveys, and documents that contain electronic or digital signatures among other valuable elements needed in the digital-first world.
Titan automatically syncs all your data from projects to and from Salesforce to keep your CRM platform accurate and reliable. Then go ahead and generate documents, agreements, and reports from Salesforce with a click of a button.
And, yes admins can build portals connected to Salesforce, too – without code! For more information on Titan’s no-code features that extend Salesforce and Manufacturing Cloud’s capabilities, take a look at Titan’s platform pricing options and contact us for a demo.
We would love to hear from you and help your company scale seamlessly with Salesforce in the manufacturing industry.
See you soon!
Disclaimer: The comparisons listed in this article are based on information provided by the companies online and online reviews from users. If you found a mistake, please contact us
