Challenges in Selecting ERP Solutions for Manufacturing

Posted by Ho Nguyen

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has had a long history of experience in serving the manufacturing industry. Many businesses nowadays realise that the legacy systems can no longer keep up with today’s dynamic customer’s demands. Therefore, an ERP system that can reflect such change and has the ability to respond quickly to changes is one of the main factors that differentiates one company from the rest.

Read more: Manufacturing ERP review - Infor CloudSuite Solutions

Challenges in Selecting ERP Solutions for Manufacturing

At the end of the day, the manufacturers’ main issues always have to deal with better inventory management, greater connectivity, and improved mobility.

  • Communication: by 2020, there will be more than 26 billion connected devices, and the ability to communicate with ease across different systems, devices, and even between human is crucial to the business. Furthermore, not just communicating in any way you want but the flow of data must follow a set standard to create one single source of truth.
  • Mobility: not only manufacturers but all of us are very excited about the ability to connect to data instantly regardless of time and space. When various business applications nowadays have already had a mobile version, it is time for an ERP solution for manufacturing to do the same.
  • Inventory control: an age old question for manufacturers - ensuring they have obtained the right raw materials, with an optimum quantity. Despite the advancements in technology, this continues to be one most talked about topic for years.

Read more: Digital Transformation in Manufacturing - the 9 Critical Steps

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Common misconceptions about ERP systems

The right ERP solution for manufacturing should allow you to handle the day to day operation seamlessly as well as create a thriving future.

Before you decide to select an on-premise or cloud ERP system, take a look at the below common misconceptions that manufacturers are having.

1. “ERP systems take an extremely long time to implement”

This concept may be true for the legacy systems as they required lots of customisation tailored specifically for each manufacturer. ERP systems have been greatly improved and continuously redefined for the past 20 years based on countless feedback from the customers and from industry best practices. A modern ERP system today can take merely four to six months to be fully functioning.

Video: CIO of Ferrari talks about their ERP implementation

2. “Businesses can’t be self-sufficient if purchasing from one single ERP vendor”

Many tend to think that implementing an all-in-one system from one vendor makes businesses too passive. Others perceive ERP as an independent solution and question its ability to correlate with the existing enterprise systems to create a smooth workflow for everyday operation.

There has been ongoing debate whether enterprises and manufacturers should choose integrated suites or stand-alone systems. Integrated ERP solutions are useful for covering any function that the business is lacking. However, stand-alone systems are also sufficient as they are more focused on one single function.

Read more: Single ERP suite vs. multiple best-of-breed systems

What’s important is how the ERP and all business systems work seamlessly with each other, help organisations to create a competitive edge, achieve higher productivity whilst increase profit and minimise errors.

3. “You don’t need to change the current business processes when implementing an ERP system”

Businesses can certainly have some personalisations to make the ERP system fits in with the current business model and the future goals. Having said that, the majority of enterprises implement the solution right out of the box.

ERP systems are perfected after years of taking in customer’s feedback as well as learning from industry best practices. As a result, the efficiency and productivity aspects will definitely be enhanced. This means that companies ought to reconsideration their business processes to cope with the now improved operations.

Looking for a Manufacturing ERP software? Request a Demo now and see how we can help you.

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Topics: Enterprise Resource Planning ERP

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