All too often, manufacturers use different systems for every task in their shop. One system will be used for creating bills of materials, while a different system will be used for managing inventory, yet another for shop floor scheduling, another for accounting, and so on and so on. Several spreadsheets will probably also be included in the mix.
Manufacturing companies that handle their various business tasks with separate systems are more prone to run into problems like disconnected departments, information silos, data inaccuracies, duplication of tasks or records, and poor communication. This makes it challenging to run a shop smoothly and successfully: Due to the need to reconcile data manually between systems, redundant processes will result in lower efficiency and higher costs.
An ERP solution integrates all manufacturing and business activities into a single framework to ensure efficiency.
ERPs allow manufacturers to handle all of their business and operational activities from a single interface — everything from production, accounting, shipping, and finance, to scheduling and so much more, is all integrated into one system. This allows manufacturers to:
If your shop is out of sync, operational inefficiencies can quickly reduce productivity and cut into profits. An ERP system can help turn things around by increasing efficiency and boosting productivity. By centralizing your data and processes, an ERP streamlines financial workflows, enhances operations, manages schedules, reduces errors, delivers real-time data, and ensures timely communication across your business.
Modern, industry-specific ERP systems simplify coordination across departments by providing seamless access to data and facilitating collaboration. With a single, unified system that supports every role, your business can save time, reduce costs, and gain a clear view of operations to quickly identify ways to improve and eliminate inefficiencies.
ERPs provide manufacturers with real-time data in one central location, enabling the automation and optimization of business processes. By streamlining operations, ERPs save time, reduce costs, and free up staff for critical tasks. For example, instead of relying on manual, paper-based schedules, manufacturers can use accurate, real-time schedules created by an ERP system, reducing errors, speeding up workflows, and boosting profitability.
Improved automation is one of the main advantages of modern ERP systems. Modern ERPs automate key tasks like managing raw materials, streamlining supply chains, and anticipating order needs. By streamlining procedures, automating time-consuming tasks, and facilitating quick decisions, ERPs enhance customer experiences and increase profitability.
ERPs also allow manufacturing companies to be in a better position to implement new automation technologies like IIoT, letting them stay ahead of their competition. Cloud-based ERPs further enhance automation by simplifying data collection and decision-making.
A good ERP system will come with a wide variety of beneficial and simple-to-understand analytical tools and enable you to run reports easily. These tools and reports help you to collect, analyze, and organize your data to give you a complete picture of your business. The insights from your reports can help to drive change and eliminate inefficiencies across your shop. Analytics of your manufacturing processes can help to improve machine performance, identify bottlenecks, reduce scrap rates, and improve throughput — to maximize productivity and increase profitability.
Rather than sifting through spreadsheets and manually creating reports, your team can quickly produce accurate, up-to-date reports to support planning and demand forecasting. With real-time sales data and precise forecasts based on past inventory trends, you can improve planning, prevent stock shortages, and ensure smoother operations.
Access to accurate, real-time data is essential for making informed decisions. A quality ERP system centralizes your data, providing the visibility and insights needed for better decision-making.
With an ERP, senior management can quickly assess the impact of market changes, evaluate potential process adjustments, and reduce costs and risks. By leveraging real-time data, your team can make strategic decisions that improve efficiency and drive success.
Manufacturers need to find ways to get the most out of their operations so they can work smarter and more efficiently. Business intelligence (BI) and analytics are more important now than ever as they give manufacturers tools to analyze their shops and make better business decisions.
Looking for potential cost savings is a major factor when choosing a new ERP solution.
When you get a new ERP, you gain real-time data on your business’s daily activities, which lowers administrative and operational costs. By providing real-time data, ERPs reduce costs while automating manual tasks. For example, improved inventory management with an ERP minimizes excess stock, enhances tracking, and lowers warehousing costs.
ERPs also optimize the use of personnel, inventory, and equipment, reducing waste and cutting costs. Labor costs — a significant challenge for manufacturers — are easier to control with an ERP system. By improving efficiency, resource allocation, and productivity, an ERP helps you keep your labor costs under control and drive overall profitability.
Inventory management includes all the processes, practices, and systems used to order, store, and manage raw materials and components for manufacturing. It ensures the right stock is available at the right time, minimizing costs and waste.
Manufacturers track two key types of inventory:
Effective inventory tracking ensures smooth operations and keeps jobs moving through the shop.
Disorganized shop floors lead to delays and wasted time searching for parts. Poor inventory practices result in stock shortages, production bottlenecks, and missed deadlines.
Good inventory management avoids these issues by ensuring materials are available when needed. It prevents emergencies, maintains efficiency, and improves overall shop performance. With proper practices, manufacturers can complete jobs on time, ship orders as promised, and keep customers satisfied.
An ERP centralizes inventory management, providing real-time, accurate data to track inventory levels, manage costs, and automate replenishment. By integrating barcode scanning and real-time tracking, ERPs improve organization and accuracy, ensuring materials are available and reducing errors.
With an ERP, manufacturers streamline processes, reduce waste, and maintain better control over inventory operations.
1. Accurate Order Management
With ERPs, manufacturers can manage orders in real time. Advanced tracking features ensure each order is recorded and monitored correctly, significantly reducing order errors and improving customer satisfaction.
2. Production Optimization
ERP systems empower manufacturers to plan their production more effectively. Demand forecasting tools and production-level adjustments reduce delays, and orders are delivered on time — even during high-demand periods.
3. Full Integration
Fully integrated inventory management systems connect your operations, streamlining inventory tracking, accounting, production planning, procurement, and reporting, while providing real-time, accurate data to improve efficiency and decision-making across your organization.
4. Real-Time Inventory Management
ERP systems provide real-time inventory tracking, helping manufacturers monitor stock levels, avoid overstocking or shortages, and improve profitability through better inventory control. With built-in barcoding and scanning, ERPs also allow workers to update inventory counts in real time, while automated reorder systems ensure parts are restocked before shortages occur.
5. Data Analytics
ERPs use data and analytics to improve forecasting, track inventory performance, and provide detailed reports, enabling smarter decisions and continuous improvement in inventory management. ERPs track key performance indicators like carrying costs, turnover rates, and write-offs, giving manufacturers precise insights to identify issues and measure progress.
Engineers need an ERP system designed for their specific needs, such as managing Bills of Materials (BOMs), routing steps, and work instructions, as well as seamless CAD integration.
In custom and engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing, engineering plays a critical role, requiring significant time for each order. Yet, many ERP systems fail to include features that make engineers’ work efficient or connected to other departments. Tasks like manually transferring BOMs from CAD to an ERP can consume up to 20% of engineering time, leading to wasted effort, errors, and reduced productivity.
A manufacturing-specific ERP with features made specifically for engineers improves efficiency by automating data transfer, saving time, and streamlining processes. It boosts communication across departments, connects engineering with the rest of the organization, and enables better collaboration — benefiting engineers, operations, and even customers.
1. Improve Communication
An ERP integrates all departments into a single system, enabling engineers to track progress, share files, and collaborate seamlessly, improving workflows and eliminating bottlenecks.
2. Automate Inefficient Processes
With an ERP, engineering teams can automate critical processes like change requests, project scheduling, and data updates, saving time and reducing errors.
3. Streamline Development Cycles
ERPs provide a real-time, centralized data source, ensuring engineers always have accurate, updated information for better decision-making and fewer errors
4. Ensure Accurate Data
ERP systems provide real-time inventory tracking, helping manufacturers monitor stock levels, avoid overstocking or shortages, and improve profitability through better inventory control. With built-in barcoding and scanning, ERPs also allow workers to update inventory counts in real time, while automated reorder systems ensure parts are restocked before shortages occur.
5. CAD Integration
ERPs use data and analytics to improve forecasting, track inventory performance, and provide detailed reports, enabling smarter decisions and continuous improvement in inventory management. ERPs track key performance indicators like carrying costs, turnover rates, and write-offs, giving manufacturers precise insights to identify issues and measure progress.
Supply chain management (SCM) covers the processes required to plan, execute, and monitor the flow of goods, from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished products. Key activities include demand planning, procurement, production, logistics, and delivery.
SCM has become even more critical as manufacturers face material shortages and supply chain disruptions. While cost reduction was once the focus, robust SCM is now essential to maintaining production schedules and meeting demand.
An ERP integrates supply chain management into a single system, automating workflows and streamlining processes. By improving material planning, procurement, and supplier relationships, ERPs ensure manufacturers have the right materials at the right time to keep production on track.
Modern ERPs optimize every stage of the supply chain, from purchasing to inventory management and delivery, while improving communication with suppliers and partners. They enhance efficiency, lower costs, and provide tools to mitigate supply chain disruptions, helping manufacturers navigate today’s challenges more effectively.
1. Better Demand Planning
ERPs use current inventory levels, sales projections, and historical trends to generate precise demand plans, reducing supply chain disruptions, bottlenecks, and delays.
2. Complete Visibility Across Your Organization
An ERP provides a consolidated view of your entire supply chain, offering managers real-time insights to spot and resolve issues quickly, improving overall efficiency and customer service.
3. Automate Procurement Processes
ERP systems streamline purchasing by automating vendor communication, tracking, and reordering while integrating procurement with other departments to ensure materials are available when needed.
4. Fewer Production Bottlenecks
ERPs improve demand forecasting, inventory management, and resource allocation, ensuring production lines operate at full capacity and minimizing delays.
5. Error-free Shipments
ERPs automate shipping processes, generating pick lists, shipping memos, and invoices to ensure accurate and timely deliveries to customers.
Accounting and financial management involve tracking, analyzing, and reporting a company’s financial performance. Key activities include managing accounts payable and receivable, the general ledger, budgeting, and generating financial reports.
As businesses grow, managing these tasks with spreadsheets or disconnected software becomes inefficient and error-prone. An ERP centralizes all financial data, streamlining accounting processes and providing real-time insights for better decision-making.
An ERP combines all accounting functions into one system, automating repetitive tasks and improving accuracy. It enables faster month-end closes, better cash flow management, and more detailed financial reporting. Beyond traditional accounting software, ERPs integrate financial management with other business operations, offering a comprehensive view of performance and profitability.
1. Easier Processes, Fewer Errors
An ERP automates data entry and integrates all financial functions, eliminating manual errors and ensuring accurate, real-time data for consistent reporting and compliance.
2. Improved Productivity
By automating accounts receivable, payable, and other financial tasks, ERPs free up your team to focus on high-value activities, such as generating reports and improving cash flow management.
3. Real-Time Financial Insights
ERPs provide instant access to up-to-date financial data, enabling better forecasting, budget management, and the ability to assess which business lines or projects are most profitable.
4. Accurate Job Costing
With an ERP, you can trace costs throughout the production process, including labor and materials, ensuring precise job costing for improved profit margins and better pricing decisions.
5. Scalable for Growth
ERP systems grow with your business, handling increasing transaction volumes and financial complexity, ensuring your accounting operations keep pace with expansion.
Implementing a new ERP system is one of the biggest — and most challenging projects your organization will ever take on. An ERP touches every aspect of your operation, and will most likely change how every single one of your employees does their job, making it is a massive undertaking, to say the least, to get a new ERP up and running in your manufacturing shop.
If you have failed to successfully implement an ERP in the past — don’t worry you’re not alone, up to 75% of ERP implementation projects are considered failures. But don’t give up, read on for our top 5 tips to successfully complete an ERP implementation project. We want you to succeed and reap the many benefits an ERP can offer you: Be part of the 25% of businesses who can enthusiastically claim that their ERP implementation was a success!
One of the most crucial steps for a successful ERP implementation is ensuring your entire organization understands the vision behind the project. ERP systems disrupt workflows, impact every department, and require significant adjustments from your staff. Without a clear vision communicated across your company, employees may struggle to see the purpose behind the changes.
Make sure upper management is aligned on the budget, timeline, and resources, and that end users understand how the system will improve their day-to-day work. Share the ultimate goal: to transform your business into a more efficient, streamlined operation. When everyone is on the same page, you’ll foster collaboration and commitment, even during challenging moments in the implementation process.
Selecting the right project sponsor can make or break your ERP implementation. Look for someone who passionately believes in the project’s outcomes, communicates effectively, and fosters an open environment where staff feel comfortable raising concerns.
Your sponsor should be a skilled leader who can manage details, adapt to changes, and guide the team through unexpected challenges. A supportive and approachable sponsor ensures smooth communication and helps resolve problems early, avoiding costly issues down the line. Their leadership will be pivotal in keeping the project on track and ensuring its ultimate success.
A strong project sponsor needs an equally strong implementation team. Select representatives from key departments, focusing on those with deep knowledge of your business processes. Avoid stacking the team with upper management alone; include employees who work directly with the processes your ERP will manage.
Choose team members who are open to change and willing to learn. ERP implementation requires aligning existing workflows with the new system, so having team members who understand the day-to-day operations and are ready to embrace new ways of working is essential. With the right team in place, your implementation process will be more efficient and effective.
Planning is the backbone of a successful ERP implementation. Break the process into manageable stages instead of attempting to deploy the entire system at once. Modern ERPs are complex, touching nearly every aspect of your business, and trying to implement everything at once can lead to burnout, delays, and failure.
By focusing on one phase at a time, you allow your team to adapt gradually while building on each success. Start with the most critical processes, then expand to other areas as your team gains confidence. A phased approach ensures smoother adoption, minimizes disruption, and delivers better results over time.
One of the most common pitfalls in ERP implementation is underestimating the need for staff training. A new ERP system requires a significant shift in how employees perform their tasks, and proper training is essential to ensure they feel confident and capable.
Allocate ample time and resources for training, allowing staff to learn at their own pace and make mistakes in a controlled environment. The more prepared your team is before the system goes live, the fewer issues you’ll face during the rollout. Investing in thorough training upfront will result in a smoother transition and better long-term adoption of your ERP system.
Implementing an ERP is hard — after all most really good things don’t come without a lot of hard work. If you want to successfully implement an ERP system, put a lot of planning and resources into the project upfront. Taking the time to get your entire organization on board, building a solid team, and putting a realistic plan in place will help you reap the rewards of a successful implementation project. A little, or more accurately, a lot of hard work upfront, will ensure you have a better more efficient business for the long run.
Be kind to yourself and your team. Even with the best planning, a great team in place, and a well-considered timeline, mistakes and problems are always going to pop up on a project of this scale. Remind yourself that what you and your team are trying to accomplish is huge — and not an easy undertaking. Take a few deep breaths, let the moment pass, and then forge on. You can be confident that all the hard work and energy you and your team have put into this project will help you get through the hard parts.
An ERP system is essential for manufacturers looking to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and stay competitive in today’s market. From enhancing productivity to cutting costs, the benefits of an ERP are clear.
Ready to learn more about how an ERP can transform your business? Check out our eBooks for expert tips and insights to help you maximize your ERP investment.
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Find out how Genius ERP can simplify your manufacturing.
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