A company has done the research, taken the votes, made the decision and cut the purchase order-a new process manufacturing software system will soon be in place.  The manufacturing executives who made the decision to go to a new software system have crunched the numbers and signed off on the expenditure based on a number of factors, not least of which is total cost of ownership (TOC) and projected return on investment (ROI) both of which have a major impact on the bottom line – profits.

Process Manufacturing Software System

Process Manufacturing Software System Training, Investing in Human Capital

The commitment has been made and the schedule set.  Technical people are toiling away, departments are gathering data and performing tasks prescribed by I.T. and ERP implementation consulting staff, automated conversions and transports planned, records gathered and data is being cleaned up.  All is going according to plan, but what about training?

Training can be done internally by business analysts or designated training personnel if an organization includes such individuals. Often, training can be negotiated into the purchasing agreement as a value-add. If not, it is worth it to a company introducing new ERP software to spend the money to hire a training consultant.

Everyone who touches the system must know how to complete their designated tasks within the system even no matter how small. Adequate training is an essential component in any successful process manufacturing software system deployment. Planning for a multi-day training course for those individuals who will be the primary users of the system is mandatory.

Many employees may be reluctant to change the way they’ve been doing things for years and bringing them in to the fold in a positive manner can go a long way towards increased productivity and morale boosting. Whatever the case; train well and train fun.  This is an excellent opportunity to get everyone on board with the new program.

Employees are going to have to do things differently. Manufacturing personnel must learn how to use the software in order to take advantage of the increased functionality that attracted the company to the product.  Assembly line based production operations will be run by the new manufacturing software system.  Materials will be managed by this software interconnects departments and data necessary for production, inventory, customer service and cash flow.

Thorough training is essential to optimize the benefit of new manufacturing software. This software purchase does not make sound business sense unless there is significant investment in an organization’s human capital.  Remember, executives will be looking for ROI the minute new software goes live.