Digital transformation surrounds us, and we can read about it on all technology-related websites. You can see that there are new approaches to software development lifecycles, and delivery time is becoming shorter. And this has an influence on common business models and processes. We see how they improve and become more sophisticated at the same time.
The rapid speed of technology development and implementation may be a bit threatening for business owners. However, there’s a need to meet the requirements of the new digital age to stay on the competitive edge for a long time.
Customers want to have personalized sales and ads, one-day delivery, smooth communication, and transparency of all orders. Production lines should work efficiently and provide customers with the right number of goods on demand. What can help you meet all those requirements? Implementation and integration of ERP solutions will help you make your core processes efficient and productive.
Learn more about ERPs:
Distinctive features of ERP for midsize company
Financial ERP software: General trends for enterprise apps development
The manufacturing industry comprises complicated business processes and has a lot of requirements for software. There’s a need to access data in real time, no matter what type of device you are using at the moment. It’s good to have an opportunity to extract any piece of data from the database in a second or so.
A cloud solution is an application or a pack of them that are installed on a remote server. If you have a custom variant that was built for your company, you will access it the way that is comfortable for you. Most off-the-shelf solutions, on the contrary, are available through web apps. It’s not always comfortable to navigate through them from mobile phones.
Three reasons to migrate to the cloud:
Moving your ERP software to the cloud will let you simplify the processes inside the company. You can restrict access to specific components of the ERP for SME like bar code scanning for one group of people and viewing the partners’ contacts for another one.
Cloud solutions can be integrated one with another. You can have a look at the available solutions like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and others. Besides, they are good for any manufacturing area, including construction companies.
You can benefit from using cloud ERP for any manufacturing industry, from aerospace to electronic devices. It will let you add, remove, and manage operations, inventory, costs, quantities, replenishment planning, and so on.
In simple words, ERP software for manufacturing companies solves the following tasks (a few of them):
If you have never implemented complex software or you think of upgrading the current one, we have a list of things to check. If two or more statements below are true for you, it’s high time for a new ERP system:
What if your ERP system fails? There’s a lot to read about how good it can be, but let’s have a look at the top failures that global manufacturing companies have ever faced.
Cisco aimed at becoming a market leader in the 1990s. There was a gap in tracking the inventory of goods produced in several locations across the globe. The supply system was built to be highly responsive and to be able to manage the demand. The result was the production of a twice bigger amount of hardware that led to a loss of $2.2 billion in 2001.
There was a claim that this problem was caused by the system that was developed by the company. The automated system recorded a bigger number of hardware pieces that were ordered. This system ignored significant issues like the level of debt, interest rates, bond markets, and other parameters.
How could Cisco prevent the disaster? Having a great department responsible for integrating a tracking system doesn’t guarantee the absence of any cyber-attacks or insufficient forecasting results. Data security is of high importance as well as developing stable and consistent software products. Outsourcing ERP software development to a company with good expertise and experience could minimize the risks.
Nike spent $400,000,000 to upgrade the supply chain management software and ERP and CRM systems in 2000. There was a problem with untrained staff, but Nike representatives stated that they solved this problem. There was an announcement to increase profit by 2003.
A wrong choice of the development company and a blind belief in the forecasting system influenced a footwear supply chain. Retailers had to place orders in advance, and it was called “a crystal ball scenario”. It wasn’t a traditional Nike business model. This led to the loss of $40,000,000 of the income.
How could Nike prevent the disaster? There had to be a clear and easy-to-use supply chain control system and an analysis of competitors’ activities. The human factor, wrong software, and the change in demand are the key things to consider to avoid such cases in the future.
This company had new ERP and DC systems responsible for picking orders and moving them to the right location. There were so many expectations about the future profits that the company made deals long before the use of the new systems. There was a big load of orders that the new system couldn’t process the right way.
The software errors led to the partial shipments of the orders and tons of complaints about that fact. There wasn’t any opportunity to see what was missing from the order. The company announced its bankruptcy. Its major competitor bought the company for $80 million, while the cost of the main operating department was about $5 billion.
This was a tremendous disaster for the drug supplier that was caused by the use of the wrong software, causing the supply chain transportation problems. Foxmeyer couldn’t solve the problems as the two companies above.
How could Foxmeyer prevent the disaster? Hiring the right company to develop reliable and stable solutions for planning and managing the supply chain could save them. It could be outsourcing the services to make sure that only qualified and certified people deal with creating a product that can influence the future of the whole corporation.
It’s important to have tools for manufacturing traceability. Reaching this point is critical for production processes within an average company. Blockchain leverages traceability and brings process transparency to a high level.
All operations and transactions are recorded. No one can ever make changes to these pieces of data. As a result, we get a single source of truth in a chain of custody. When we are talking about everyday operations, we will have minimized downtimes.
Transparency and visibility of each stage of production and supply lifecycles are efficient with the help of blockchain. Improvement of these processes will lead to an increase in revenue and better ROI.
The implementation of blockchain requires the adoption of new business models, no matter if it’s an energy company or a trading company. If your organization is ready for change and digital transformation of the core processes, you will benefit from implementing blockchain.
When you face the need to scale up your business, you have two ways. The first is to add more space for production, warehouses, and so on. Another way is expanding with the help of software. The second option means using only existing capacity and improving the processes so that they will meet new demands.
An advanced ERP system will reduce the number of downtimes and track materials availability, production lines, and any problems with delivery and further distribution. You will have fewer human working hours, no duplicate or inaccurate data, fewer delivery delays.
We deliver robust ERP solutions for manufacturing organizations that improve the efficiency of the processes. DICEUS becomes a technology partner that takes care of the implementation of the latest technology stacks for good performance. Every partnership is driving digital transformation that will let manufacturers reach their business goals.
We can help you define what kind of ERP system you can benefit from and provide you with a thorough analysis of the current technology trends. Let us know about your current processes, and we will get back to you with variants on how to improve them.