Long Business Systems, Inc. Explains The First Step to Continuous Improvement with ERP Software

Once you install your system, long-term benefits come from continuously assessing its effects and adjusting to optimize operations.

This post describes how a modern ERP system enables continuous improvement practices within modern manufacturing organizations.

Implement the Ideal System
When you implement a manufacturing system, you must do it in a way that weaves seamlessly into how your company operates. That said, the ideal system shares one critical characteristic across all manufacturers: it allows everyone in the company to use the same system and access the same data in real time.

We’ve found this to be the only way our clients can achieve true company-wide collaboration. The existence of a single, unified manufacturing system enables them to drive collaboration that far exceeds just sharing data. They can:
• Establish effective cross-functional workflows
• Gain knowledge regarding what other departments do, how they do it, and why they do it
• Use a holistic view to get insights into how individual roles/responsibilities fit into the overall manufacturing system and processes

When employees recognize how their actions affect the overall good of the company, they begin to take a more strategic view of their jobs, which sets the stage for continuous improvement in manufacturing.

Assess and Adjust Operations
Once a unified manufacturing system, like SAP Business One, is in place, you’ll find it easier to assess what’s working – and what’s not working – and make the appropriate adjustments. For most companies, 90% of process flows are free of problems; it’s the 10% with exceptions that create a substantial drag on the business.

Consider that changing an order was traditionally able to “throw off” a tightly managed production schedule during peak times. It could impact multiple products as well as their associated parts inventory and shipping times. Having a unified manufacturing system that allows everyone to share data, workflows, and priorities, however, makes managing exceptions easier.

After gaining experience with managing exceptions in the new manufacturing system, companies are ready to institute continuous improvement processes. These normally involve doing three things well:
• Understanding the dynamics of a process. As people follow workflows and processes that span the company, they gain an understanding of the entirety of each process.
• Assessing for process improvement. Manufacturers bring together managers from different departments to assess the dynamics of critical processes. This helps them identify stress points and prioritize process modifications to relieve them.
• Measuring the profitability of individual products and product families.
By seeing how different products and product families affect manufacturing processes, companies can pinpoint profitability levers within operations or modify product offerings entirely.

In the end, implementing a unified manufacturing system helps manufacturers optimize manufacturing processes and operations and works toward delivering the optimal product mix. There’s no ‘end game’ to manufacturing process improvement – it’s a continuous process based on sharing data, assessing what works, and adjusting to maximize profits.

To understand how your company can continuously improve your manufacturing operations with a solution like SAP Business One, contact LBSi for a free consultation.

About Long Business Systems, Inc.

You want a partner that will help you apply technology to solve the challenges that today’s fast-paced global marketplace has created. We understand and have personal experience with the diverse demands that manufacturers, distributors and service organizations face.

Our clients keep pace with large global companies by applying affordable technology to streamline operations, act on timely information, and accelerate profitable growth. Let us help you intelligently apply technology to your business challenges.

LBSi has been helping clients with technology and business process improvement since 1989.