Why now is the time for your manufacturing business to adopt new technologies

11 May 2021

Manufacturing businesses are facing the same technological challenges as other SMEs, but the solutions they require are often complex and far-reaching.

The technology must support all areas of the business, including procurement, stock, sales, manufacturing and delivery and sometimes installation, too.

So with such a daunting task ahead, why is now the right time to take the leap and adopt new technologies.

We’ve identified three reasons why there’s no time better:

1. Your existing systems are no longer fit for purpose
2. Exporting to the EU requires more work
3. You’re unable to accurately forecast and deliver on your promise to customers

Your existing systems are no longer fit for purpose

It’s so important that you review your systems in the context of what your business is doing today, and what you want it to achieve tomorrow. Not what worked for it 10 years ago when you originally adopted the systems.

There’s the old saying that if you’re standing still, you’re going backwards. That’s true for your systems and processes. It’s important that you aren’t being left behind by dated technologies.

These dated platforms could mean that there’s

• No single point of truth for the business
• Duplicated effort on repetitive tasks
• Manual, paper-based processes that lead to mistakes
• Limited or no access to key business information

All of these issues are caused by systems that are no longer fit for their purpose. If any of these pain points sound familiar, it’s time to start looking at new technologies.

Exporting to the EU requires more work

2 points in and we’ve got to the B-word. And whether you agree with it or not, it’s meant there’s some extra work for us all to carry out when exporting to the EU.

Detailing information such as the country of origin is going to be time-consuming, but storing that information in a safe, up-to-date place is also vital for your business.

If you’re called on to produce the documentation, you need to have the confidence that it’s collected and maintained in a system that has that transparency and traceability.

A cloud-based ERP can help build your bill of materials, including information such as batch numbers, procurement information and countries of origin to help reduce the administrative burden.

Unable to accurately forecast or deliver on your promises to customers

Resource planning and forecasting are some of the biggest challenges that manufacturing businesses face.

Adopting technology can really help you forecast the throughput on your production line, making it much easier for you to forecast your schedules and manage your customer expectations.

The last thing a manufacturing business needs or wants to be doing is calling their customers to explain that their order won’t be delivered on time.

A robust ERP system can ensure that your production schedule is forecasting correctly and making sure that resources (materials and labour) are available when required.

What’s more, your pricing can become more accurate as you gather more data, by gaining a better understanding of how long it takes you to produce your products. This will make it much easier to manage the margin on specific projects.

Summary

These are just 3 reasons why manufacturing businesses should review their processes. In truth, there are many other factors that may highlight the need for you to review your processes and systems.

We’d be happy to support you with a process review and help you identify the pain points that are really holding your business back.

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