2020 has hit hard. As manufacturers reopen and continue to find ways to keep their employees safe and their machines running, efficiency and improvements become even more important. Technology can help any job shop become more efficient and keep it running. Below are three ways ERP software can assist a shop post-lockdown to run even more smoothly.
Limiting People in Your Shop
During this pandemic, the fewer people in one place, the better. This is especially true if your shop is relatively small. Fortunately, technology can help. If your ERP software is on the cloud, some of your employees can easily work from home. By having some employees work from home, you have the germs of fewer people in the shop, and the people who are there have more space to stay at least 6 feet apart. Meanwhile, the people who are working from home can still access your shop’s ERP software and work just as well as if they were in the office, without having to commute. The technology in your shop can also help with efficiency.
Efficiency
Job shops always need to be efficient, but there’s even more need for efficiency now. Some shops need to have the same output with fewer people, and some shops are busier than ever. One way technology can help with the need for efficiency is through the scheduling part of ERP software. With this software, everyone in the shop can see which job is next, where every job needs to go, and if it’s on time or behind. The software can automatically set a schedule for your shop based on routing time, due dates, and lead times, but the scheduler can still edit the schedule as needed. However, the decisions made in your shop are only as good as the information they’re based on.
Accurate, Current Information
Whoever is making decisions in your shop needs up-to-the-minute, correct information. Without that, the decisions they make might not be as good as they could be. Without ERP software, some people will have information hidden in file cabinets, or stored in spreadsheets on their computer that no one else can see. When a decision needs to be made, it can take far too long to compile all of the data, and by the time you do, some of it may be out-of-date. With ERP software, there’s only one source of truth. Information like time spent on a job, material coming in, or a job being sent out goes directly into the ERP software in real time. Anyone who needs to see that information can see it as it happens and make better decisions based on that information.
Technology can help make our lives easier. It’s just a matter of knowing what we need and how to use it. With ERP software, there are many ways to make your shop more efficient and easier to run. As more shops use ERP software, and as more complications arise in the world, it becomes even more helpful for your shop to use ERP software. The trick is just finding the ways ERP software helps your shop specifically.
