Being a manufacturer in today’s world means staying on top of numerous challenges in order to gain a competitive edge. From overcoming the lack of skilled workers, managing inventory and production, to scaling and globalization, entrepreneurs need to find smart solutions to improve their productivity rate, cut costs, and increase profitability.

Adopting automation and technology is a foolproof way to help with making informed decisions and optimize resources. In manufacturing especially, software can make a tremendous difference in managing business operations and processes. If you’re on the fence regarding adopting a new manufacturing ERP software for your product-making business, consider these five problems outlined below. Difficulties with either one of them means you’d benefit from automation tools and take your business to the next level.

1.  You can’t effectively manage production, scheduling, and resources.

Production management or operations management entails planning, organizing, and most importantly optimizing your manufacturing processes. This is key to any manufacturing business, as it leads to increased efficiency, and subsequently increased profitability. From raw materials management to finished goods tracking, you must use lean inventory techniques to get a competitive edge.

When production management is done right, you can:

• Meet your customers’ demands without keeping too much money in inventory or understocking
• Improve your reputation as a business that delivers quality products at fair prices
• Optimize your manufacturing output and therefore lower your manufacturing costs

Manufacturing ERP software helps you keep track of demand and adjusts your production schedule to align your manufacturing operations and deliver maximum efficiency.

2.  You can’t get real-time data on your inventory

Managing inventory effectively is not a piece of cake. You can do it manually or perhaps use Excel spreadsheets if you’re a small business. But as soon as your company grows, you’ll be wasting too much time on this, without proper results.

Using a manufacturing ERP software helps you get real-time data on your inventory across multiple warehouses, allowing you to create bills of materials, set reorder points, and keep your products moving regardless of how high demand is.

3.  You can’t automatically re-prioritize orders based on material availability

Prioritizing sales orders based on material availability is something only software can help you with. What does this mean exactly? Simply put, it means that the MRP tool will look at your raw material inventory, and make sure it advises you to start creating manufacturing orders that can be completed with that inventory. More efficiency, faster order fulfilment, and happier customers.

4.  You can’t trace batches and expiry dates

If you create a batch of products that turns out to be faulty, but are unable to trace it, you might be in big trouble. Moreover, expiry dates are essential in order to stay on top of your stock.

Manufacturing ERP software helps with both. Tracing back faulty batches and keeping track of expiry dates is automatically done with the use of such tools. You can easily comply with industry standards and have complete visibility of your products’ life cycles.

5.  You can’t manage B2B and e-commerce sales orders from a single platform

Modern manufacturers sell B2B and directly to consumers, through various sales channels. Having brick-and-mortar stores, ecommerce stores, as well as profiles on various marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy is common for successful businesses. On top of that, accounting tools and shipping apps are used to keep track of finances and optimize shipping and delivery, respectively. But having to access so many tools individually is a headache and it doesn’t give managers an overall picture of their business operations.

Manufacturing software that integrates with business essentials can easily act as a single point-of-truth. It becomes the main source of data for your business operations, aiding informed decision making, improved efficiency, mitigating waste, and minimizing costs.