The definition of manufacturing today is some way from the traditional idea of simply "making products".
This is largely due to a closer alignment with the service industry and the need to be customer-centric. The industry's key objective is to meet the needs of customers, who increasingly want things made precisely (via individual variation and specialised services) and they want them "now".
In an increasingly global, interconnected, dispersed, and fast-changing industrial world the traditional cycle of dominance in a any particular region is becoming ever shorter and less relevant. With this comes ever-increasing pressure to be highly adaptable, and have the flexibility to quickly adjust to change.
To remain competitive companies need the ability to decide what is best done where. To support this, robust and flexible processes and systems are required along with the ability to spread best practice throughout the whole organisation. This process alignment is often referred to as "Lean Thinking", and it applies across the value chain.
Companies need the ability to:
Process alignment necessitates the sharing of a 'flow of information' across the organisation. 'Enterprise Resource Planning' (ERP) systems enable this integration, for example by aligning financial data with payrolls, manufacturing and inventory records, purchasing information and so on.
Another essential component is the increasing importance of the marriage of financial and non-financial data. An extended ERP system can take into account data that can be used to identify how efficiently it is using its resources such as people, money and machines and that all the parts needed for the final product are flowing smoothly. In addition, it is essential to know the associated ability to satisfy customers.
As the distinction between the service and manufacturing industry in the western world becomes increasingly blurred, the importance of being customer-centric is paramount.
The challenge of meeting the demands of the customer and of the ever-changing environment via the implementation of robust systems and processes will enable the main players in manufacturing to:
'Enterprise Resource Planning' (ERP) solutions enable cross-organisational integration and the implementation of 'lean-thinking'
Advantages of ERP solutions are:
At Orchid our team has extensive experience in the supply chain / manufacturing sector via several ERP implementations.