What is Manufacturing ERP Software?
The term ERP stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning”.
Basically, this is the tool or technique for integrated management of the business having the objective of efficient and effective use of management resources. In other words, we can say that ERP is the business management software system that is designed to manage and streamline an organization’s functions, processes & workflows with automation & integration.
Earlier the focus of ERP was upon manufacturing industry & used to have a functions like general planning and managing of core business such as sales management, production management, accounting & financial affairs, etc. However, for recent years, ERP is being implemented in diverse industries.
Manufacturing ERP Software module and features
ERP systems are based on various different modules that are there to support specific business process. Some of the most popular modules are as follows:
Finance & Accounting- The main purpose of this module is to help businesses understand their financial outlook and analyse the whole business.
Procurement- The procurement or purchase module helps businesses source materials & services they need to manufacture their goods.
Manufacturing- The manufacturing module, often referred to as manufacturing execution system is a vital planning & execution component to Manufacturing ERP software. The module helps manufacturers plan out the production and secure everything that is needed for the production.
Sales- The sales module is responsible for keeping an eye open to customers and prospective customers. It can use data driven insights to increase sales & make targeted decision.
Customer relationship management- CRM module also known as service module helps the organization to deliver exceptional services. By storing the data of the customer, organization can better serve current & future customer.
Human Resources Management- Module comprises basic capabilities such as time, attendance, payroll etc. If company wants, it can integrate the entire human capital management (HCM) to ERP in terms of delivering better HR functionality.
The Advantage of Manufacturing ERP Software
Implementation of Manufacturing ERP Software have both kind of advantages direct as well as indirect.
Direct advantage- Improve efficiency, information integration for better decision making, faster response time to customer queries etc.
Indirect advantage- Better corporate image, improved customer good will, customer satisfaction and many more.
In-Depth description of some direct advantages.
Business integration- The reason for calling ERP solutions as integrated is because of its capacity of automatic data updating. Means exchanging of data among applications automatically. In case of Manufacturing ERP solutions, the data of related business functions is also automatically updated when the transection occur. By this, one is able to grasp business details in real time & carry out various types of management decisions in a timely manner based on data.
Flexibility- Diverse multinational aspects such as language, currency, accounting standards, etc. are covered in one system, and as functions that are spread across multiple location are integrated, they can be implemented easily.
Better analysis and planning capabilities- By enabling the comprehensive and unified management of related business and its data, it become possible to fully utilize many types of decision support system & simulation functions. Furthermore, as it becomes possible to carry out flexibly and in real time the filling and analysis of data from a variety of dimensions, one is able to give decision makers the information they want, thus enabling them to make better and informed decisions.
Use of latest technology- the ERP vendors quickly adapted their systems to take advantages of the latest technologies like open system, client server technologies, electronic commerce, CALS (Computer Aided Acquisition & Logistics Support) and many more. It is this flexibility of IT that made it possible to adapt to the changing environment and incorporation of the latest technologies during the system customization, maintenance, and expansion phase.
