The manufacturing industry has expanded and elevated in recent years due to the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP). Once, this solution was deployed by large manufacturing enterprises while small and medium manufacturing units operated outside the shadow of the ERP systems.
However, the situation has drastically changed. Manufacturing ERP Software has gained importance and, thus, has become operational to transform the core of small, medium, and large manufacturing facilities. This intense platform growth is due to its efficiency in solving typical manufacturing problems and its capability to unlock growth opportunities.
This article discusses some common manufacturing challenges and how ERP software helps overcome them.
- Data Collection Error
The time it takes for a manufacturing company to grow often directly depends on the time it takes for you to access data. Recording and analyzing data manually can keep your business behind your competitors. It’s because manual data entry is time-consuming and prone to human error. Data inaccuracies and time delays could cost a lot of manufacturing businesses.
An ERP system can help resolve such problems. The software can automatically record data and give authorized employees immediate access. Additionally, regardless of how many applications you use to manage your manufacturing unit, you can store all information in a single place with an ERP system. This application gives you a holistic view of your production process and other business operations, including inventory levels, sales forecasts, finances, etc.
- Lack of Real-Time Information
Lack of real-time information is another challenge you can overcome by deploying ERP software. This accurate reporting system help improves data visibility. Real-time availability of information will help manufacturers determine pre-calculated projections to procure raw materials accurately and avoid over or under-production issues.
Moreover, properly using valuable information can help manufacturing businesses make more accurate and data-driven decisions.
- Lack of Planning and Scheduling
Every aspect of the manufacturing unit, from procurement of raw materials and scheduling the production process to delivering finished products, requires efficient planning. Careful management allows managers better to align production schedules with the company’s deliveries. The absence of workflow planning and scheduling is another common manufacturing problem, so you need to deploy an ERP platform.
Efficient planning needs inventory and sales forecasting data that an ERP system can provide. Additionally, the software also aids in preparing the schedules for the shop floor activities and ensures equipment, raw materials, and workforce are ready to commence production. With proper batches planning and scheduling, you can meet market demands and ensure optimum raw materials and resource utilization, ensuring smooth production.
- Low Production Quality
Providing high-quality products is always the top-most priority of each manufacturing company. And to achieve this goal, manufacturing units require to adhere to the industry’s unique standards. Among the plethora of challenges, maintaining a standard quality in each lot can take time while making the process more complex.
ERP for Manufacturing is usually embedded with quality control tools. It could help track and evaluate the quality of incoming raw materials. Moreover, you can use the system to monitor the work-in-progress product quality through different production phases to offer high-quality products to the end user.
- Increasing Costs with Shrinking Profit Margins
Rising production cost is among the most pressing issues with manufacturing units. If not controlled, rising production costs can impact the overall sustainability of the business. ERP systems designed explicitly for the manufacturing industry are a perfect tool to manage and control the cost of raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished products.
This system allows you to access important information regarding material reorder levels, overheads, resources utilized, and administration. It further lets you reduce inventory accumulation and fully use all resources, reducing administrative and operational costs.
Concluding Thoughts!
If you are still using a manual data entry system, do not have access to real-time information, find it challenging to manage and control inventory, or fail to meet changing customer expectations, the ERP system is your go-to solution to resolve all these manufacturing problems.
It will help if you look for robust, high-performance ERP software designed for the manufacturing industry. Determine your business needs and goals before searching for a suitable ERP platform. You can even get customized ERP solutions tailored to your manufacturing unit needs.
