ERP systems have done a good deal for manufacturing, streamlining processes, unifying siloed departments to ensure collaboration, and increasing efficiency on the production line. With the speed at which technology is advancing, however, even the best ERP system might have seen its better days. Is your manufacturing ERP solution everything it should be and still delivering, or is it time to move on to a newer, more advanced system? The following are 5 telltale signs you need a manufacturing ERP upgrade.
You are still using analog workflows.
Any ERP system that leaves you working with analog workflows is decidedly behind the times. It’s time to change and embrace the digital. It doesn’t matter how entrenched these manual processes are. We’re looking at you, accounting. The time has come to digitize your workflows. Sticking with the analog only makes things take longer, drives up costs overall, and exposes you to more human error… none of which bode well for a 21st century manufacturing company.
Your current ERP frustrates your staff.
Today’s ERP systems increasingly focus on the ‘UX’ or user experience. That means that they enhance your team’s workflows and never get in the way. If you have an older ERP system, it may be too restrictive for your staff. It may demand that they adjust to it, instead of vice versa. If this frustrates users, and you are hearing repeatedly your ERP is impeding their work, it’s time to change.
Your reporting is inconsistent or downright incorrect.
Many legacy ERP solutions restrict your data access to the historical. This hampers your decision making, for one, and makes it hard to respond in real-time to changes in your production line, company or in the industry at large. Older systems also often don’t have a way to unify all data across your business so that you can view it and parse it in one place. Today’s best ERP solutions fix all of that, besides reducing errors and redundancies. Reporting will be easier and correct.
Your business office is in turmoil each month.
Look, closing out the month is never easy for your business office, but it also shouldn’t be a nightmare. When you wall departments off from one another, data is scarce, and workflows vary from one area of your business to the next. So, your business office spends a lot of time at the end of the month chasing things down, including invoices, reports and more. ERP ends all that frustration by getting everyone on the same page, and accounting gets access to consistent and unified data each month.
Your production line is experiencing slowdowns and delays.
Saying production is ‘complex’ is an understatement. You know exactly how many moving parts go into order processing, production, distribution, etc. When your ERP doesn’t give you an easy way to integrate these moving parts, your production line can end up with slowdowns and delays that hurt your bottom line. The automation tools offered by a modern manufacturing ERP deliver demand management logic, making adding orders to the production schedule seamless. With the enhanced accuracy of an ERP-enabled production schedule, you will limit downtimes and reduce unnecessary overtime spending and premium freight costs.
Want to uncover even more telltale signs you need a manufacturing ERP upgrade? Download our eBook today. And if you’d like to talk to an ERP expert about the next steps in upgrading your legacy ERP system, contact us.
