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ERP for Manufacturing Industry

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Jennie Miller

Are you a small manufacturer facing the odds of inventory, sales and finance management? A mid-market company looking for a solution to eliminate the need of spreadsheets. You need the best ERP software with a core focus on state-of-the-art automation to minimize human error and maximize efficiency, and determine where improvements are needed.

Gone are the days when ERP systems being expensive and complex were only used by multinational organizations and large corporations. Today, it’s affordable for small and medium-scale companies that used to dream of streamlining everything for maximum speed, accuracy, efficiency, and control – all in real time.

How an ERP System Benefits Businesses:

  • Streamline Processes

  • Automated Operations

  • Centralized Data

  • Maximized Efficiency

  • Fosters Growth

  • Capacity Planning

  • Analytics & Reporting

  • Regulatory Compliance

  • Uniform Compatibility

  • Quick Customer Service

  • Collaboration and More…

Impact of Business Size on ERP Selection:

Business size is a key factor that affects your ERP choice. You need to determine which ERP software will be the best for your business.

Small Business: 1-100 employees and often without dedicated departments for IT and finance, etc.

Medium Business: 100-500 employees with usually having IT and account specialists; these businesses may or may not have a dedicated IT department.

Large Business: More than 500 employees and large companies almost always have dedicated finance, accounting and IT departments.

Despite these definitions are somehow malleable, they will surely help you comprehend and establish an outline for what you want in an ERP solution.

It’s important to determine your business size while selecting an ERP because not all ERP solutions are better choices for SMBs. If designed for the larger end of the business spectrum, it will not only be costly, but complex and requires loads of skilled technical support. SMBs simply cannot afford this all.

For instance, SAP Business One is a widely-used and perfect option for small and medium businesses, while Oracle provided ERP with high-level scalability is perfect for big organizations, accommodating the networks of hundreds and thousands of unique end users.

ERP solutions for small companies are often designed in a way that they don’t need a dedicated IT department for its implementation, while enterprise-grade ERP systems may need the input of dedicated IT manpower from the customer’s end.

Impact of Business Industry on ERP Selection:

Another critical factor to note is that not all ERP suites cover all types of businesses. Some ERP solutions are only suitable for specific business types in certain industry sectors.

Therefore, businesses should be aware of which ERP suites are more industry-specific and which are more suited for different types of businesses.

In the manufacturing sector, selecting the right ERP software can make or break your business because this sector with its capital-intensive nature and extreme technical complexity has a diversity of business models. So, you need an enterprise resource planning solution that will not go wrong and bring your entire business to a halt.

Moreover, you must know the different models of ERP Software for manufacturing industry available for different types of small-to-medium scale manufacturers.

Discrete Manufacturing ERP:

Designed for a business model with a blueprint-based manufacturing and production process such as shop floor or assembly line.

Process Manufacturing ERP:

Designed for a business model with a formula-based manufacturing and production process such as food and beverage industry.

MIE Trak Pro, for example, is a discrete manufacturing ERP suite with key features including accounting, business analytics, CRM, EDI, BoMs, human resources, inventory and sales management, quality control, invoicing, RFQ/Quoting, purchase and work order processing, time clock, and reporting.

Additionally, it offers SolidWorks CAD integration, whiteboard scheduling and Kiosk data collection modules to simplify and streamline shop floor operations for maximized efficiency and profit margins.

IFS, by contrast, is an agile process manufacturing ERP system for the food and beverage industry. With a modern user interface and integrated CRM (customer relationship management) and NPD (new product development) modules, IFS gives the process manufacturers authenticity, sustainability, traceability and transparency they seek to unlock new revenues. It brings them deep functionality, flexibility and configurability to keep their business agile as the food and beverage market changes.

Commonly Used ERP Solutions:

 

Best ERP Software for SMBs

Now, before getting into the ERP selection, you should know what different options are available on the market.

Don’t shop around without having a clear idea about the ERP solutions and what purpose they fulfill when it comes to a specific business in a certain industry sector.

1- General Purpose ERP Software

Geared towards the masses, generalized ERPs are ideal for a diverse range of industries due to robust flexibility, easy integrations, and customization capacity to match their requirements.

2- Open-Source ERP Software

Ideal for the tech industry, these ERPs help developers build and integrate custom applications to an ERP software. Although covering a small portion of the whole ERP solutions market, they are popular because of easy handling of highly customized technology processes.

3- Small Business ERP Software

Call them ‘lightweight’ ERPs due to high-end flexibility with custom modules. In contrast to fully-integrated solutions, small business owners can select these ERPs with just a few modules they need such as HRM, CRM and accounting, etc., and can further add the modules with the evolving business demands. For example, can add-on a sales and inventory management module.

4- Vertical-Specific ERP Software

Unlike the general-purpose ERPs, these software solutions target specific industries such as retail and construction to name a few. It brings the businesses and industry-specific functionality and configurability.

Top 5 ERP Software for Manufacturing:

Let’s find out which ERP system, be it on-premises or in the cloud, is an ideal fit for your manufacturing business of any scale.

  1. Infor

  2. Deltek

  3. BatchMaster

  4. MIE Trak Pro

  5. AccountMate

Last but not the least is to make sure that whatever ERP software you choose, it essentially consolidates all your business tools and components (like accounting, CRM, inventory, supply chain, HR, and more) into a centralized console. You can narrow down your ERP selection process by considering the following feature sets.

  • Business Processes and Modules

  • Dashboards and Quick Views

  • Reporting and Forecasting

  • Predictive Analytics

  • Custom Capabilities

  • Setup and Deployment

  • Training and Support

MIE Trak Pro has all these features, making it the right investment for your business growth and profitable success.

The Verdict:

Harness the power of centralized data and process automation for future-proof manufacturing and production, thereby to thrive in a digitally connected, competitive world with the best ERP software available on the market. Always perform an extensive research and testing to make the right decision depending on your situation while choosing a powerful, user-friendly ERP system for your business.

Source: https://www.mie-solutions.com/mie-blog/the-best-erp-software-for-smbs

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