Production Planning Software: The importance of ERP

Production planning is an essential element in any industrial company. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how a powerful ERP solution, such as SAP Business One, can help automate production planning processes to streamline activities, boost production levels and maximise outputs.

ERP solutions are used all over the globe by all types of companies. For those in the manufacturing sector, they empower companies by storing all the data you’ll need for smarter production planning.

Today, manufacturing firms will take a holistic approach to planning important production runs. Organisations will initially have to source the goods or materials they require and arrange the finances to purchase these. Then they will have to schedule resources and allocate the relevant machinery for the project. All of these factors can over-complicate tasks without the right software in place.

Inventory management

An ERP solution will help your business to control, manage and track incoming supplies needed for production cycles. By storing data centrally and connecting all users to the same database, companies can track sales orders added to the solution and then order goods or materials needed to complete production orders. By automating key sales and purchasing tasks, this helps companies to plan production runs with less margin for error.

Another key feature of an ERP solution is the management and accuracy of real-time data. Has your business ever suffered by running out of its most popular items or materials? That’s a thing of the past with ERP.

Users can access real-time data on the inventory status and quantity within warehouses. This not only helps to avoid stock-outs, but also stops companies from unnecessarily wasting money on stock they don’t need.

Delivery Times

The expectations of customers have changed in recent years. Customers are now expecting tighter deadlines with the same standard of service and quality of goods.

With ERP, you can access staff availability so you’ll be able to effectively plan projects . This will help to set realistic expectations for your clients. Not only will you be able to check staff availability and utilisation levels, but you’ll also have data on which machinery will be in use at certain times and days.

By having transparency into levels of resources and jobs which are either planned or in production, you’ll be able to improve levels of satisfaction with your customers by delivering items on agreed dates.

Customer History

Do you know what the most popular order is from your best customer? Are you able to check how much they spent last year? Or can you forecast and predict trends in your production cycles?

Customer relationship management tools and business partner records store valuable insight within an ERP solution. This helps to identify trends and patterns and can play a pivotal part in the way manufacturing firms plan production projects.

By scheduling your production tasks around customer trends you’ll be able to optimise resources and machinery accordingly, and maximise opportunities at certain times of the year.

Improve margins

Does your existing system allow you to track real-time financial management? With ERP you can transform your accounts team by accessing instant financial tools to work in real-time.

This is particularly useful if you have outstanding invoices from customers that you are waiting to be paid. Or if you’re monitoring cash flow whilst forecasting out-goings with any outstanding invoices you may have with suppliers.

By managing all of your suppliers from a centralised solution, you’ll quickly be able to identify the best prices for selected goods or materials to increase your margins when your products are sold on.

ERP Demo

Having the right production planning processes in place can help your business become more competitive and efficient. If you’d like to find out more about working with SEIDOR and our ERP solutions, arrange a demo today or call us on 01932 212 777 to speak with one of our system architects.