If you are here, reading this blog, chances are you already know what a Cloud ERP system or Business Management Solution is. However, you are not sure if it is of benefit to your Manufacturing business. So let's discuss why an ERP system is good for any business and why an ERP system can benefit your Manufacturing Business.
PS: If you dont know the benefits of investing in an ERP system, then please read 4 reasons why you should invest in an ERP system before going ahead.
Benefits of an ERP System for the Manufacturing Industry
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system used by many organizations today that are looking to manage their business functions within a centralized and integrated system. ERP is commonly used by businesses working within the supply chain sector to help them keep a track of all the moving parts of manufacturing and distribution. However, today ERP can be used by a number of different industries including Mining, Not-For-Profit, Agriculture, Construction and some Services too. Organization needing to manage their staff, customers and inventory can all rely on ERP benefits.
1. Improved collaboration and productivity in all departments of your Manufacturing company
A complete ERP system will help you streamline your manufacturing business processes and drive automation for manufacturing organisation. By streamlining the processes, all your data is available in a centralized location with complete visibility in all departments such as – development, designing, inventory, procurement, production, finance, sales, delivery and more. This means all departments can be monitored and reported on from one system.
In addition to this, any personnel with the right access to the system can monitor the production status in real-time without having to depend on a person or team.
This brings efficiency within the teams, improves productivity overall and helps companies maintain their customer commitments. By automating the processes with ERP for the manufacturing industry, the company also reduces hours and manpower spent on manual processes. This not only accelerates the production process but minimizes errors and improves profitability significantly.
To summarise, here are a few ways how an ERP System improves business productivity –
- Streamlined financial operations, manage sales process and other departmental processes all in one place
- Enterprise Resource Planning solution will provide you with accurate, real-time - in turn - reducing data redundancy.
- Businesses get significant ROI by being able to make better-informed business decisions
- Modern employees ensure prompt and transparent communication between departments – this encourages employee productivity.
- It integrates the departmental data and makes it easily accessible to the Managers.
2. Safer Data Storage
Data is the workhorse that powers the company’s growth. Relying on paper records or Excel spreadsheets to manage data is very inefficient and unsafe for a growing manufacturing business since they get torn and lost easily. Even hard disks can’t guarantee data security, especially when there are many people who use them.
With ERP software, manufacturers can access various data anytime, anywhere through a single system. The right access to the correct and responsible staff can be easily arranged for managing data. Cloud-based ERP systems such as MYOB Advanced and Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Wiise even allow those who have access rights to manage data at any time and from anywhere, as long as their devices are connected to the internet.
Data inserted into an ERP system today is secured and coded. Older legacy-based ERP systems were vulnerable to cyber thefts because they required applying manual updates. With new technologies, the ERP provider releases auto-updates regularly and hence, this eliminates the risk of data theft.
3. Complete Inventory Control
Inventory management is an important factor to ensure the smooth running of the manufacturing processes. Manufacturers can monitor their internal and external stock movements more comprehensively, including the shop floor, with the use of a centralised ERP system. The systems also allow companies to identify the most and less marketable products so that they can manage purchasing and procurement more efficiently.
Further to this, to ensure materials coming into the organisation are not going to waste when ordered and excess inventory does not accumulate, those materials must be planned into production. Your ERP system will not only help you manage the procurement, pricing and payment of raw materials, it also helps manage the scheduling of staff as well as machine operation and maintenance to maximize production schedules and decrease downtime which can cost the business.
4. Streamline Supply Chain & Order Fulfillment Process to meet customer expectations
One of the deciding factors of success for any business is the happiness of our customers. Happy customers equate to referrals online and in person, which leads to more business. Hence, increasing productivity within departments and its employees, having transparency with data and communication, efficiency, and complete control of inventory to deliver products on time all lead to one thing - customer satisfaction.
Accurate production planning, enhanced control over inventory, streamlined process scheduling, and coordination of distribution channels enable manufacturers to improve on-time delivery of products, a critical performance metric.
With ERP software, manufacturers can ensure that the entire process runs smoothly and customer demand can be met in a timely manner.
5. Mobility and flexibility – increased employee efficiency
With the right ERP system, your employees can access business data from the mobile phone, tablet, laptop or computer, on the move or in a location that's not the main warehouse or headquarters.
Mobile-friendly ERP enables employees easy access to documents for them to edit and approve on the go. These mobile-friendly applications for the shop floor, warehouse management etc. help floor managers and instructors to leverage information by adding the observations.
In Conclusion
While the benefits of enterprise resource planning systems for manufacturing businesses are plenty, simply deploying any software will not help you achieve your organisation's goals. You must first choose an ERP system that benefits your business while having all functionalities you need. And then you must also partner with an ERP system implementor and consultant who can help you deploy the system and will also help you post-go-live. We can help you with both!
To help you choose the right ERP system for your Manufacturing business, we run regular online webinar events where you can come and learn the benefits and functionalities of two of the best ERP systems in the market - MYOB Advanced and Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Wiise. Please click here to register for the next available event.
Don't want to wait for the event? You can also book an introductory workshop with one of our consultants who will take you through the two systems one-on-one in a workshop setting.
