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Part of the larger ALERE ERP suite, ALERE Manufacturing is designed to manage all aspects of mixed-mode, make-to-stock, and make-to-order manufacturing environments. ALERE offers powerful tools to organizations of all sizes, including an MRP system featuring automated work, transfer, and purchase order generation, work orders with modifiable routes and material lists to accurately document and cost production, and BOMs with built-in configuration options to take the hassle out of finished good management. ALERE additionally provides WIP tracking, order status, variance tracking, and lot and serial traceability, all in real-time. ALERE also provides an out-of-the-box barcoding solution to manage inventory and document work orders. No matter how simple or complex your manufacturing needs ALERE can transform how you manage your business.
Provider
TIW Technology
Located In
United States
Foundation
1983
Open API
No
Deployment
On-Premise Windows, Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
Mobile Apps
Android
Training
Documentation, In Person, Live Online, Webinars, Videos
Support
Phone Support, Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base, FAQs/Forum
Discrete make-to-order, make-to-stock, and mixed-mode manufacturing companies. Organizations that require high levels of oversight for inventory levels, traceability, and cost for conformance.
Content Source: ALERE
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ALERE Reviews
Pros
So, the user interface is rich and powerful, and all modules utilize that same interface.
I love the comprehensive nature of ALERE. It handles all of our operations.
The ability to modify is very important for us. Ease of use is also very important for our clients and the product is easy to learn.
The manuals and demos are very helpful. Support from TIW is always quick and helpful when we have questions.
Cons
Having customers that need to connect to other websites other than the ones that TIW has made available can be difficult which the customer does not understand.
Tracking the bills that we pay and being able to hyperlink them to the actual invoice.
Sometimes the different tabs of the modules can take time to load, and we had some problems with errors and the system freezing up.
Everyone is able to find out information through the system, instead of constantly asking if an order has been placed. There are less errors with duplicate orders because of the warnings.
"An Accounting/ERP package that should be considered in your next search."
Overall: Alere has a robust accounting package. From that, Alere can be expanded to support distributors, job shops, make to order, engineer to order, make to stock facilities. A company can grow and expand its usage while staying on the same platform.
Pros: Alere is a mature and well-established product which continues to adapt to new technology to support the needs of today's customers.A benefit of its development process is a continual emphasis on refactoring the basic architecture. So, the user interface is rich and powerful, and all modules utilize that same interface. Cross-training benefits from this intuitive interface.TIW provides a conversion program to convert from multiple other software packages, such as Quickbooks, SBT Pro, and others. This is a rather full conversion process which allows a VAR to complete a conversion over a long weekend. On Thursday, staff works on the old platform. On Monday, staff works on Alere.Alere is one product/one platform. The base is a robust accounting package. From that, additional modules can be added to provide additional functionality, only as needed, for kitting, distribution, bills of material, full manufacturing. So, as a company's needs change and grow, Alere will grow with it without needing to change platforms.Alere offers integration with Shopify and TaxJar which ease tax management and easily opens the door to e-Commerce.
Cons: The interface does represent a traditional data entry format, and doesn't provide a more contemporary interface more typical of web interfaces which represent user process. However, the architecture is largely open, data is accessible, and such interfaces could easily be customized.
"New User"
Overall: Everyone is able to find out information through the system, instead of constantly asking if an order has been placed. There are less errors with duplicate orders because of the warnings. On my end, setting up the system wasn't as bad as I was imagining it, and the learning curve was short for new users. We are still learning new tricks, but people have picked up the system rather quickly.
Pros: This software has so many capabilities that we didn't have available in our last software. The ease of finding information is great. We all love being able to have multiple windows up at once.
Cons: Sometimes the different tabs of the modules can take time to load, and we had some problems with errors and the system freezing up. The most problematic area is mass emailing, currently there is a large work-around to be able to send out mass emails from G-Suite. Also, we would like to be able to input customer information when using the mobility app.
Vendor Response
"Boyesen, Inc."
Overall: We are very happy with Alere. As well as the fact that it is very user friendly.
Pros: Alere is very user friendly. Alere can also be configured easily for our needs.
Cons: Not enough space for customer information without customization
"Alere Offers Robust Functionality Reflecting Decades Of Ongoing Development & Improvement "
Overall: Alere's publisher, TIW Corp, has provided superb customer service, both to our company as well as directly to our clients. This is definitely a company who understands the importance of timely responses to issues and have always gone out of their way to provide thorough resolutions. Their annual software maintenance is one of the best investments our clients can make and we never hesitate to heartily recommend that our clients stay current in order to take advantage of the new features Alere consistently provides each year.
Pros: Conative Information Technolgy specializes in providing software that accommodates and streamlines existing business workflow and assisting our clients to accomplish their stated goals and objectives. We often write custom programs that integrate with existing ERP systems. We've worked closely with Alere since the early 90's and have always been impressed with their technical depth and clearly evident commitment to providing software that preserves these custom changes even as their product evolves over time. Their custom development framework is the best we have seen in over 30 years in the business. Our clients have found Alere easy to use and navigate. Due to the design of Alere's library of intelligent objects , integration with other company systems has been accomplished with ease.
Cons: Since we reside in Canada, we have had to integrate Canadian-specific payroll programs with Alere, but this has never proven to be much of an issue as there are several ways to integrate and analyze the data.
"Excellent ERP Program for SMB Market"
Overall: ALERE is excellent ERP solution for small to medium size business in distribution and manufacturing industries. Well organized and connected data structure provides powerful and easy to use ERP program without complex and confusing user interface. Reason pricing and low maintenance cost allow users to keep up with latest version which comes with new enhancements and better reports.
Pros: Easy to learn and use in most area of company work including accounting, inventory management, distribution and manufacturing. Normalized data structure eliminates duplicate information stored in multiple places. Drill down allows auditing process or researching information work pretty simple and straight forward. Reasonable purchase price and low maintenance cost is the best in SMB ERP market. Fast and knowledgeable support team provides dependable assistance in problem solving.
Cons: Front end program is still based on VFP9, which make some large transaction processing slow. VFP also creates ungraceful program crash in case of program or data error.