Are you seeking a solution to improve efficiency, cut expenses, and streamline processes at your manufacturing company? If so, a centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can assist you in achieving those goals. But it’s important to comprehend the requirements of Your Business before working with any vendor.
In this article, we’ll look more closely at how ERP software may assist manufacturers in transforming their businesses from the inside out and understanding the system functionalities they should prioritize when looking for the best option. You’ll be able to start a project successfully and proceed with confidence if you master these 15 factors in your mind.
Advantages ERP software for the manufacturing
What benefits in the manufacturing sector do businesses anticipate from an ERP implementation? Since this is one of the most competitive and dynamic industries, the software is needed to maintain high productivity, low prices, and happy consumers.
One of the most useful features of ERP is the ability to automate critical business operations, making them faster and more reliable. This reduces overall operational costs while streamlining and making data sharing easier.
All teams use the same central platform, from development and design to production and procurement. Stakeholders can benefit from more precise updates, quicker communication, and better decision-making with round-the-clock access.
ERP solutions also allow manufacturers to analyze data in real-time, enabling them to comprehend market circumstances faster and compete more effectively. Due to their combined efforts, these businesses can now meet consumer demands, particularly those relating to turnaround and delivery timeframes, which ultimately benefits their bottom line.
15 Features and functions to check for in your next ERP software solutions
After discussing the benefits of ERP for manufacturers, let’s examine a different step in the procedure: How can you be certain that the decision you make is the best one? Should you give some things a better view than others? Let’s look at 15 things to bear in mind as you move on with this first stage.
1. Identify the problem
To achieve this, seek a system that enables you to trace each product’s history in great detail. To pinpoint the precise touchpoint where the error occurred, you should be able to connect data from product specifications, quality assurance reports, and testing results.
By doing this, you can resolve problems in a proactive manner rather than a reactive one when the costs and stakes are higher. Designers can better concentrate on the innovative and technical components of product creation when such a system is in place instead of spending most of their time supporting corrective actions.
2. Management of inventory costs
It is unavoidable that manufacturers who carry more inventory than they need to suffer financially. Just think of the money you could save if you could manage your inventory more efficiently.
You can if you use the correct ERP system.
Choose one that will allow you to identify where your levels need to be adaptable and user-friendly. The reports you require to help direct your inventory carrying requirements and maintain proper levels should be easily accessible for quick download.
3. Models for advanced pricing
How to price their bids as competitively as possible to forge new connections and secure new business is one of the factors that many manufacturers must take into account.
One bid could fall behind another even if it is off by a little margin. Finding an ERP system with comprehensive pricing and reporting tools is therefore recommended. You can eliminate the possibility of user mistakes and guarantee that pricing models are uniform and competitive across the board when you can swap out manual calculating techniques for automated ones.
4. Robust Transaction Capacity
You’ll discover that platforms are available for almost any business size when you delve into the plethora of choices for ERP software for manufacturing.
As a result, confirm that the system you select is extensive and reliable enough to keep up with your business’s current and future needs. Can it assist you in meeting your transactional volume requirements both now and in the future as you expand and scale? The system you select should enable organic and seamless growth, preventing the need to spend money on extra resources to support your infrastructure.
5. Simplify and unify the terminology
How does your business define and share its key performance indicators (KPIs)? Do the sales and marketing departments have different definitions of success from the project management team?
One version of the figures that the entire organization can use as a guide and strive for together can be established with the aid of an ERP system. Additionally, it enables you to communicate these KPIs with every person in every department so that everyone is focused on the same objectives.
While not everyone will be given the same goals, they can refer to your cross-functional, enterprise-wide KPIs to understand where you want the business to be. To gauge how near they achieve those objectives, they can also access new mission-critical reports, such as studies of the profitability of particular products.
6. The flexibility of data extraction
Your employer requests that you run a report comparing the inventory levels from the previous year to this year. Accomplish you need to set aside some time to pull those numbers manually, or can you do it in a few seconds and clicks?
When you need data, you should be able to find it and extract the precise information you require rapidly. These studies have the power to separate wise decision-making in the manufacturing sector from a hurried, unreliable strategy. Give importance to an ERP system that offers robust reporting features, such as the option to personalize your reports as necessary and mark particular topics for further discussion.
While having the ability to alter your reports manually is essential, the system should also be capable of some level of self-governance. To ensure that your inventory levels never drop, you should be able to configure the software to determine re-order levels as necessary.
7. Availability of data
Data that is both flexible and accessible is essential.
The data requirements across your firm will understandably differ, from your customer service agents to your C-suite executives. The only characteristic that never changes? These workers could require various kinds of intelligence, but they always need it as soon as feasible.
You can quickly and easily get the information you require using an ERP system. The requirement for manual legacy systems and files that are difficult to organize and maintain is eliminated by this automation. Every team member can now respond to any question quickly, confidently, and in more detail.
8. Division-wide standardization
ERP systems’ benefits are especially advantageous for manufacturers whose efforts are dispersed over numerous departments and divisions. This is due to the platform’s ability to standardize corporate procedures, lessen or eliminate duplication, and coordinate activities for the company’s benefit.
This encourages improved collaboration and opens up avenues of communication within the department. At a higher level, it aids manufacturing executives in enhancing user engagement and adopting a more process-based management style instead of devoting most of their time to optimizing system components.
9. Better supplier scorecards
Do you use supplier scorecards at your manufacturing company to grade suppliers and keep track of outstanding issues?
If so, you are aware that, despite this resource’s potential value, manually keeping track of each scorecard would be time-consuming. A manufacturing-specific ERP solution can be helpful in this area as well.
You can simply observe and report on important metrics, such as the number of difficulties experienced in a particular month when you make these scorecards available online and incorporate the capability into your system. The system can automatically add or subtract points from each scorecard depending on supplier performance. Most will also enable you to determine whether the non-conformance negatively affects your customers quickly.
10. Amplification of team capacity
One more of the top advantages of ERP in the industrial sector? Teams can do more work without additional employees when labor-intensive back-end tasks are substituted with automated techniques.
The higher production levels allow your business to take on more orders and address consumer needs without having to hire more staff or spread itself too thin.
11. Arrangements to the productions schedule
What would you do if the president of your business contacted and requested that you launch a specific product the following day? Would you be able to grant the request swiftly and without hesitation, or would you have to spend hours changing your current configuration?
You can quickly respond to this query with the most reliable manufacturing ERP software systems. You can quickly perform an inquiry to see the status of your stock during the conversation. You can meet the demand right away if you have enough on hand. If not, you can examine the open purchase orders and provide a knowledgeable comment regarding the anticipated delivery date for the material.
12. Simplify order receipt and entry
When an order was received in the past, just a small number of employees would be aware of it. This update can now be shared with the entire company, including important clients.
Your order entry times have also significantly increased in line with this. With ERP software, the parts required to fulfill a new order are nearly instantly allocated as soon as it enters the system. This significantly shortens a period that once required weeks to accelerate.
13. Better Workforce scheduling
How are your employees and resources now scheduled and allocated? Do their efforts match the requirements of your business?
An ERP system makes it simple to identify when one work center is being utilized to its fullest potential, and another is not. You can reassign important resources in response to help balance the load without impacting production capability; you can reassign significant resources in response. Most will give you access to information on total workplace capacity, which will enhance corporate planning and scheduling initiatives.
14. Avoid regulatory violations
Technical, regulatory, and corporate compliance requirements are numerous in the manufacturing sector. Important regulatory organizations aid in establishing the rules that team members must adhere to when producing and marketing their items. This holds for the entire industry, but the manufacturing of food and beverages (F&B) is where it stands out the most.
Without ERP, it may be challenging for F&B executives or team members to consistently demonstrate compliance. This is because using an intranet-based filing system or paper chain is, at best, unreliable and, at worst, erroneous. Businesses using an ERP solution can upload these files to the cloud, where they are permanently saved.
They can then produce and keep up-to-date documents that demonstrate every compliance action, including those conducted in response to company-based Standard Operating Procedures, from there (SOPs). They assist teams in staying on task and protecting your business in the event of an audit.
15. More commercial details
Do your customer service representatives have the information necessary to respond to the inquiries they receive from customers?
These team members have to be able to quickly find any answers they need, whether it be a request for assistance with troubleshooting or a request for further information. An ERP platform excels in this situation.
Thanks to this integrated data platform, your representatives can quickly view a customer’s whole history. This covers the things they have purchased, the discussions they have started, the complaints they have made, and more. Research shows that businesses with superior customer service beat their rivals by 80%, and your team can easily address this need with ERP.
Achieve successful ERP software manufacturing
Any program that enhances visibility, permits accessibility, and empowers your employees is one to consider in the quick-paced manufacturing sector.
A manufacturing ERP software solution should have a few of these critical characteristics. It helps to have an experienced consulting team by your side as you continue to consider your options and the rewards that are most significant to you. As an award-winning NetSuite Solution Provider, we are knowledgeable about the various facets of complete ERP solutions and can direct you in the proper direction.
Next Step!
Taking Your Business to the next step can only come to reality if you have the right expertise to deliver outstanding solutions. At Seibert Consulting Group, we specialize in delivering modern solutions to businesses that aim at taking full advantage of the eCommerce platform. We always customize our solutions to align with Your Business requirements and goals. Let’s start talking about your project and find out how we can help your business grow. Get in touch with us via our chatbot or email hello@seibertconsulting.com and via our direct line at 760-205-5440.
