When it comes to the equipment necessary to the manufacturing industry, hammers, saws, pliers, conveyor belts…all are important, but ERP manufacturing industry – those are three words that have come to go together like peanut, butter and jelly.  ERP (enterprise resource planning) is a tool as much as a hammer, wrench or screwdriver but it’s made of programming code rather than stainless steel.

ERP manufacturing

ERP manufacturing industry – must have tool

ERP software plays and integral part in any manufacturing business but assembly line production processes are as much ERP manufacturing industry driven as any software package.  ERP manufacturing industry software is the spine upon which product is built.  In discreet manufacturing, like the automotive industry, ERP manufacturing industry systems control line sequencing.  This widget combined with that widget must be incorporated into the process HERE on the line followed by the next widget that gets added to the first – ERP software is used to ensure that the right widget goes in the right place to create the end product.

The ERP manufacturing industry software maintains the business database and continues the transaction process beyond production.  ERP software administers the shipment and initiates the billing process.  Once the product ships, transactions are triggered and billing is generated.  The ERP manufacturing industry deals with complex databases and logistical information.  

Information stored in the centralized ERP database is shared throughout the organization and can be tweaked to preserve the privacy and integrity of each account.  Whereas stacks and stacks of paper files were once retained, electronic storage has replaced much hard copy and is easily accessible to those needing to access that information.

Customers are often provided with a dedicated portal for their own account.  They can now check the status of their order via their page on the Internet and can review their account at their convenience reserving customer service personnel to attend to the nitty gritty of the order and freeing them to address any issues.
ERP manufacturing industry software developers like SAP and Oracle have been providing for the manufacturing industry for large corporations but smaller manufacturing concerns have been drawing the attention of the “big boys” for some time.  There is money to be made in all market segments.  Discrete manufacturers have long been dependent on software to run their production lines.  

Process manufacturers, however, had some trouble making general manufacturing software meet their needs.  Process manufacturing is recipe driven manufacturing.  Food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, paint and dyes – all is recipe driven with frequent line changes.  One day a bakery line may be making cream filled sponge cakes.  The next time the line runs, the filling or cake flavor might change and ERP manufacturing industry software is used to keep the info and processes straight and consistent while meeting the delivery date as promised to the customer.  A paint manufacturer may be turning out gallons of winter while wall paint but come spring, a whole new color palette is being serviced.  Again, ERP manufacturing industry tools are used to affect the production changes and specialty batch-driven software has been developed to be responsive to the constant changes inherent to process manufacturing.