Advancing Your Manufacturing Business with ERP Technology
Midsize manufacturers have many, if not all, the business requirements of a larger enterprise. With those needs come the challenges of process efficiency, technology management and staff collaboration requirements. The midsize manufacturer faces the challenge of juggling this set of complexities, while continuing to innovate new products and open new markets. It’s a daunting task for sure, but one many midsize manufacturers do every day and have done for generations, building success one step at a time.
When you stop and look at all the midsize manufacturer is working to accomplish, the value of a good Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software bubbles to the surface as an important piece that helps maintain operational sanity. Sure, ERP software tracking accounting and manufacturing costs is a required tool now a day, and that is not likely surprising to anyone. But the landscape in which midsize manufacturers are managing the ERP tool is changing.
Once upon a time, in a land no so far away, midsize manufacturers purchased servers, software and network equipment to support the ERP software and staff collaboration tools people in the organization used to keep the business moving forward. This technology infrastructure required at minimum an outside IT consultant to manage, if not one or two in-house IT staff to support, update and manage. The costs of the tech infrastructure and staff were booked as operational expenses that reduced the bottom line and owner’s take home pay. These expenses were easily in the six-figure range each year and for many companies, technology management became a core competency of the organization. The honest business owner might ask himself at night if he is in the business to manufacture and develop new product or merely support the human and technology mechanism that makes the manufacturing happen.
See, the behemoth old-school example above was good when accounts were flush, money fluid and business easy. Now, manufacturing business owners know they need to be leaner and meaner and do more with less overhead.
To stay competitive in a tough business climate you have to trim costs, find and implement efficiencies and maximize operational flexibility.
Well what if I told you that all the hype about “cloud computing” and “Saas” and “ERP software in the cloud” were actually the signs of a very different technology landscape that has largely come about as a result of midsize manufacturers looking for ways to make their use of technology simply make better sense, take up less time and energy, reduce costs and improve cash flow?
So enters the cloud computing hype, which while sometimes overstated, is a very smart way to grow. The advantage of Cloud ERP for today’s manufacturing company is that cloud has real-world answers to the three things manufacturers are looking for: cost savings, efficiency and flexibility.
Cloud ERP saves manufacturers money in three ways.
Business Cost Reduction
First, it is no longer necessary to buy, license and maintain those in-house servers. Quite simply it just isn’t necessary any more. Simply purchase server time and computing power in the same way you buy your electricity – month to month in the variable quantity you need. The old in-house server is akin to buying your own electricity generator – why do it. Just hook up to the computing power grid and get the server strength you need in the quantity you need it, where you need it and when you need it.Business Efficiency
Second, because cloud ERP systems are inherently global, the manufacturing operation can gain efficiencies through easier user collaboration and system automation. Cloud ERP makes the same tool easily available to all parts of your organization no matter where they are or what computer or device they have. PC, MAC, Tablet, Mobile – it doesn’t really matter anymore which one your staff use, or where they use them. Your operation gains efficiency by making the ERP resources available to all your staff, anywhere on any device. No more complex “sync” processes or networking remote environments into the corporate office. Everyone uses the cloud, has the tools they need to do their work and it’s all in one package. No more IT superpower brain and labor summits to get the technology stars aligned. Now it is just, get them connected to the Internet, and done. That’s efficiency.Business Flexibility
Last is flexibility. There are many lessons we can learn from the old “buy your own servers” model but one that stands out is the peril of rigidity. Once invested in building and supporting your own technology backbone, it was difficult to then redirect the use of technology, downsize and change the way the operation functioned because so many resources were locked into the way the backbone was structured. In the old world, making a change was like trying to turn a vacation cruise ship – a slow and wide process.A big benefit of Cloud ERP is it is malleable. In many cases new ERP or collaboration tools can be added and implemented easily and immediately. Need a new tool for your Cloud ERP? Turn it on, it is immediately available to everyone who needs it where they need it, and then you just have to train somebody how to use the new feature. Similarly, if you no longer need a tool, turn it off. No more uninstall from multiple workstations and devices, making a tour of all users and locations to get things undone. With Cloud ERP, just turn it off, and it’s gone, for everyone. This is flexibility and enables today’s manufacturer to adjust quickly and easily.
A Call To Action
Of course common to all three of these is cost savings – but you have already crunched those numbers in your head when you walked through the above scenarios. Savings, efficiency and flexibility all add up to dollars. Dollars you can use to engineer new products, update old ones and focus intentionally on what your manufacturing company does – manufacture.So I ask you; is the technology that runs your plant cost effective, efficient and flexible? Or is it a sizable slice of the business pie, not easily contained or managed? If it is the latter, to stay competitive in your industry you need to explore Cloud ERP. Your competition already is.
For more information about Allan Snodgrass or ERP Cloud solutions, visit www.TekoaSoftware.com . TEKOA provides software and network solutions that leverage cloud technology for maximized manufacturing.
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