As anyone who’s ever worked in a group knows, communication is key. It’s no good telling someone to use the press brake if they bend the material in the wrong place. It’s even worse if someone tells you there’s enough sheet metal for a job, but they were looking at the wrong numbers, and you come up short. Good communication can improve your shop, but it can be hard to do. ERP software can help by giving your shop accurate reporting, removing extra work, and providing step by step instructions.
Accurate Reporting
Knowing the numbers behind what’s happening in your business is critical. You need to know how much material you have on hand and what your costs were last month. Without an ERP system, these numbers could be written in multiple places and updated inconsistently. Each spreadsheet that contains these numbers could have a different amount on them. With an ERP system, you don’t have that worry. All information is input once into the same database, so it’s accurate everywhere that number appears. Whatever kind of report you run; you will have the right numbers behind it. As any shop owner knows, this is invaluable.
Removing Extra Work
There can be more issues with having multiple spreadsheets than just keeping all of the numbers updated. With all of those different documents, it takes time to fill them all out and keep up with them. An ERP system removes any double entry and tedious report creation. You can make sure that everything is happening as it’s supposed to in your shop. You’ll be able to take those extra few seconds to more effectively communicate with your team. And in manufacturing, time is money.
Step by Step Instructions
ERP systems can also provide job routers. These step by step instructions ensure that no one is confused when they get a job. They know exactly what to do and what happens after that. Jobs will go through the correct process without having to have multiple conversations about them. Instead, your folks on the floor can get right to work. This also means that if you get the same job again, you know exactly how it was made last time. If you get a similar job, you can tweak the steps you’ve used previously to make it fit the new job.
ERP systems are a great way to improve communication in a shop. Imagine how much more smoothly your shop could run with accurate numbers the first time, less paperwork, and step by step instructions for all jobs. It would save your shop time and money, and to a manufacturer, those things are extremely valuable.
Want to know what else ERP software can do for your shop?
