As manufacturing companies’ top management look for solutions to improve productivity and ultimately profitability, upping your game requires focusing on the core problems. Based on our experience with organizations struggling to manage their business using outdated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, we have identified the following four cries for help. (The following problems where mentioned in Rootstock’s Demo Jam Win https://goo.gl/y68CCc

  • Visibility across the organization
  • A single source of truth – (real time)
  • 1 time data entry with no rekeying
  • Connected data flow – naturally

Perhaps your business has one or all of these problems. Let’s look at how Cloud ERP Solutions can address these cries for help.

Visibility Across The Organization

Reports need to be easily accessed from any location, and systems need to be linked and ‘speak’ to each other.  Also, they need to be customizable and based on real-time data. Examples of such reports could include jobs, revenue, inventory, employee hours, customer surveys, invoices and customer data.

ERP’s response to the need for visibility provides an integrated real time platform accessible from numerous devices. This real time organization wide accessibility delivers the tools to identify problems and solve them quicker such as supply chain and production delays.  With real-time access across the company communications, top management and employees can trouble shoot faster, use their time more productively versus verifying data. The value of the visibility is real time assessment and access across all departments. For example if you think of real-time access in terms of a leaking water pipe. Wouldn’t you want the entire team to know, wouldn’t you want to know immediately, and wouldn’t you want verification of the size of the leak and the water flow and be able to trust the data as you commence to develop a solution.

Single Source of Truth

A single source of truth (SSOT) is the practice of structuring information models and associated schemata such that every data element is stored exactly once. Any possible linkages to this data refer back to the primary “source of truth” location. Updates to the data element in the primary location propagate to the entire system without the possibility of a duplicate value somewhere being forgotten.  The SSOT avoids the need for frustrating and redundant meetings where teams arrive with their own data and/ or disconnected spreadsheets. How much time does your organization spend reconciling data only to repeat the process again? What could that time be better spent doing?

How many times has one of your employees or you made a commitment to a vendor or a customer based on information that you thought was true but turned out to be false? Because you didn’t have the correct data, either it hadn’t been updated, or the depth of your systems could not provide sufficient detail. What did this cost you in terms of time, additional resources, aggravation and not to mention reputation? Accounting and inventory control cloud software provides a definitive real-time source for all users not to mention assures accuracy.

SSOT not only improves productivity but eliminates scapegoating where bad data sources are blamed and other data sources are considered a better resource to rely on. Not having to debate data validity changes the dynamic of an organization where everyone can confidently focus on improvements versus factual verification.

Is your front office seamlessly connected to your back office? What kind of results could you achieve if you were connected through Cloud MRP solutions?One Rootstock lighting manufacturing client successfully combined its CRM system and accounting platforms to achieve on ROI of greater than 250% with a payback timeframe of 4 months.

Data Entered 1 Time – No Re-keying

Data reentry can be caused by many factors some of which include multiple systems that cannot “talk to each other”. Having to re-enter data is not only time consuming, but often annoying to employees, whose time would be better served on providing management oversight, outstanding customer service and /or developing and implementing best practices procedure. Many companies run on outdated or disconnected systems.  A fully integrated, and extendable, cloud solution that includes accounting, lot/serial control, shop floor control as well as inventory, supply chain functionality can provide one platform which eliminates this mundane task.

Re-keying also increases the opportunity for error. Every time data is entered there is the chance it could be entered incorrectly. So, every re-key doubles your chances for error. Enter data a third time and it triples your chances.

Studies show that re-keying of data also creates employee frustration. Employees who desire to help the organization improve and innovate perceive this task as menial and boring which can lead to disengagement.  According to a Gallup Poll disengaged employees cost up to $550 billion a year.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disengaged-employees-cost-us-up-550-billion-every-year-caballero

Finally, re-keying can create an audit trail nightmare in trying to track data back to its original source, and accounting and inventory software is truly a benefit to your accountants/auditors.

Naturally Connected Data Flow

Have you ever run a pivot table or a flow chart off of an excel spreadsheet only to say, “What is that?”  “Or that can’t be true?  How effective is  it to upload data from another system into a separate one in order to try to identify trends? What is the probability to make  entry errors, or manually clean your input data? Data flow also includes sifting and filtering in order to drill down to the core processes and or supply logjams that reduce productivity and profitability.  When data flow charts and representations are built into the software platform it facilitates an understanding of where processes and supply are disconnecting and or creating logjams.

One of the greatest values from connected data flow is the ability to increase production flows based on the ability to set machines and processes at optimum levels for speed and efficiency.

“Rootstock netted us at ROI of 14% and an investment payback in 2.6 years”

Chris Muto, Manager Sales Operation Pro-Tech

Succeed with Rootstock – Pro Tech Replaces Spreadsheets and Old Software with Rootstock Webinar