September 24, 2014
Winning Manufacturers: What Are They Doing That You Are Not? (Part 1)
If you can learn from example and implement certain guidelines, the risks aren’t as high and you create a stable work environment along the way.
This, in part, is what inspired us to include examples in “How Today’s Manufacturers are Taking Control of Materials, Inventory, and Manufacturing Costs from Order to Delivery.” Here are 3 of 6 of those examples, which we hope will serve as inspiration for you in your business:
- Realistic sales forecasts based on purchasing trends – A kitchen appliance manufacturer cautiously entered a new geographic market while also introducing a new line of appliances. The line started to take off after a great feature article in a magazine. The manufacturer’s distributors were afraid to run out of stock and placed orders that were draining stock levels. With system guided Materials Resource Planning (MRP), the manufacturer was able to build realistic sales forecasts based on purchasing trends. Excess production capacity was identified and managers were able to redirect resources quickly and meet demand.
- Purchasing process automation with barcodes – A pump manufacturer was challenged with matching up backorder and special orders with pumps that were in production. When a back or special order part was received, it went to a holding area. When it was needed in production, someone would come and retrieve it. In addition to taking too much time, parts were often picked up for the wrong order. Rush orders could be delayed because the part had been used on another pump. Through automation of the purchasing process, parts orders now are automatically matched with the customer order. When the part is received, it is barcoded and delivered to production to be included in the parts bin for that pump in production.
- Optimal warehouse management – When a residential lighting manufacturer found success selling directly to homeowners through a specialty website, the shipping department was overwhelmed by the number of orders. In the past, they were accustomed to handling 100 orders of 50 light fixtures each on an average day. Suddenly, they were faced with handling those 100 orders, plus 250 individual orders of one or two fixtures each. Between picking and packing, the chaos was overwhelming. Through a barcoding system, where labels were printed in the warehouse, the team was able to handle the increased load without hiring any additional workers.
Please download your own copy of the eBook and get a better idea of exactly how integrated ERP can help you make better and faster decisions every day.