How to Simplify Complex Products in Production with ERP
In times gone by, the customer was happy to wait that bit longer for their product if it meant the resulting item was designed and made to the highest standard. Today however, customer demands are higher and too are their expectations. In the industrial equipment sector you must be able to keep up with demand, if you cannot, the customer will simply find a company that can. They may also, as a result find this service at a lower price.
The whole process from design through implementation and manufacture must now be far more time and cost efficient in order to retain customers and grow new business.
How to meet increasing demands
Companies that have been struggling with increasing pressure from customers and suppliers have started to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems within the business framework. These systems are becoming widely noticed for bringing a sense of structure and order to the business process. A recent study carried out by leaders in business research, the Aberdeen Group found that the best-in-class companies for the industrial sector were those who had implemented ERP systems most extensively.
Originally these ERP systems were designed to help companies by providing an automated business process to streamline the operations within the company. As demand has increased, these ERP systems have developed so now they can imitate best practices over a wide range of business functions. Such functions include taking customer orders, production planning and manufacturing timetables etc. with this structure in place, it is easier for employees to be more productive, perform better and ultimately work better within the organisation.
What are the benefits of ERP?
By ensuring that all departments across the company are performing to the same set of rules, the ERP systems enable a standardization to be set across the company. This greatly benefits productivity, reduces the risk of duplications and benefits the customer and supplier relationships.
The product configurator is one example of how the ERP or Manufacturing System can greatly benefit an industrial equipment manufacturer. This feature allows the system to have access to the abundance of designs and data that the company will already have built up. As well as this, there will also be stored information on parts that can fit new editions of old designs.
Due to this heavy level of information so readily available, the company can gather important information even at the first stage of the supply chain; enabling the company to inform the customer if they are able to supply the exact product they require. The ERP system also allows the customer to find out if their parts are readily available or need to be ordered to decipher if the product can be made in the required timeframe.
With the implementation of an ERP system the ‘if’, ‘why’ and ‘where’ questions are answered up-front – ‘If’ they are able to produce the product, ‘why’ there may be delays and ‘when’ the product will be ready. This can only lead to a reduced cost for parts and labour which can then be passed on to the customer.