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ERP Software for Manufacturing Company

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Jennie Miller

Shop floor management is as important as dealing with any other business operation. In fact, you need to be more proactive and vigilant when it comes to shop floor and assembly line activities. One mistake and your production will be on halt, which means delayed order fulfillment and hence, unsatisfied client. Also, your equipment may break or urgent orders rush in and so on can make it difficult to manage the shop floor. Moreover, the constant peer influence for increased quality and reduced manufacturing cost is another challenge that needs to be mastered and managed.

Well, it is not rocket science to cope with all these problems when you know and apply the shop floor management techniques.  

 

You Need Time And Data:

The first and foremost thing is time. You need this precious resource to streamline and run your shop floor processes seamlessly. It’s important to get your orders completed timely and to increase the output of shop floor workers’ time spent on their respective jobs. You need to work on things that need constant attention to avoid time waste.

As you master time management, you will be in a better position to solve shop floor challenges. And, for this you need data. Without data, your all operations will run on guesswork or your gut feel, which is not a good idea at all. For the reason that you may run a good company on your intuition that lacks logical rationale, but you cannot build a great company solely based on perceptions. Here, you need both – your basic instinct and data. Make sure this data is accurate and reliable. ERP software is the best possible solution in this regard – you will get your hands on real-time, error-free data.

With significant time and accurate data, you need to develop a well-informed strategy and then its implementation. Here are some well- recognized techniques that actually work to help you manage the shop floor like a pro.

EVERYTHING TAKES TIME:

Acknowledge the fact that you cannot bring change overnight. All techniques you implement for shop floor management will take time. You need to spend your time dedicatedly on the most important tasks. Make this time investment in a way that keeps on paying off. A good time investment means you will be getting the greater rewards in return.

Don’t rush with the decisions. Take time and make data-led, well-informed decisions to maintain shop floor processes that will help produce quality products. It may take time to restructure and systemize your shop floor, but it’s worth the wait, considering you keep focused on what’s most valuable and rewarding.   

MEANINGFUL DATA IS THE KEY: 

You need reliable and meaningful data to take appropriate measures to manage your shop floor activities. Make sure you are having enough and reliable data that will help you in taking decisions that will navigate your business in the right direction. Information inaccuracy could be detrimental for your shop floor performance. The worst-case scenario is not meeting the consumer demand and hence, start losing your business.

You must have data with a well-established point of reference, else it would be misleading. Set the rules based on this data that defines the expectation and effectively help measure your shop floor performance. Make your manufacturing and production data matter.  

NO MORE SPREADSHEET SYSTEM:

Small manufacturers may rely on excel and google spreadsheets, but it’s not a long-term solution. If you are a discrete manufacturer, of any scale and type, you need more than mere spreadsheets for data management. Well-managed data is the backbone of making well-informed decisions to run your business smoothly and efficiently.

This is where an ERP for manufacturing industry steps in because a myriad of spreadsheets isn’t an absolute solution for any length of time. With the passage of time when data starts getting massive and complex, your spreadsheet system will surely collapse besides you may not be having error-free data. This leads to the next step.

EMPLOYEES TRAINING ON ERP:

Having a flexible ERP solution with a shop floor management component doesn’t mean that it will give you the results you are exactly looking for. This is mainly because your workers are not trained on it. It means either your shop floor workers cannot follow the procedures as defined in the system or they are unable to use the ERP system to its fullest potential.

Only with a fully trained staff you can ensure that your selected ERP solution is truly helping you in managing and monitoring your shop floor operations. From the point of generating accurate work orders to the point of production, all of your employees should be aware how an ERP system works and how it can help you improve the shop floor performance.  

TURN DEPARTMENTS INTO PROFIT CENTERS:

Each and every department plays a significant role in earning business success. Consider them as your profit centers and build the standards based on real-time data you have across all departments with the help of a well-integrated ERP system.

With reference to shop floor management, you must define what it will take to produce what you want to meet client’s demands and expectations – without compromising sales and profit margins. You must know what resources (material, equipment, labor, etc.) you actually need to manufacture your product. This means everything from routing and BoMs (bill of materials) to labor standards – involving different departments – must be correct.

Last but not the least is to keep measuring and improving your shop floor procedures for maximized output – increased sales and profit margins.

Bottom Line:

Remember, every manufacturing business is different so you need to define and implement different techniques for improved shop floor management. Don’t bypass any of this and define procedure guidelines for labor standards, efficiency reporting and issuing materials to the approved work orders. Use data to find the shop floor issues and fix them for better management. Apply the best shop floor management practices as mentioned above and integrate an ERP system across the organization to meet your manufacturing plans and goals – to ease your business growth.

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