What is ERP and what does it do?

 

Every member of staff who is involved in a customer- or supplier-based process or takes part in the manufacture of components will come into contact with the system at some point in their working day. Any information that they enter or create is instantaneously accessible to users elsewhere in the system to ensure joined-up and effective management of every aspect of the manufacturing process.

The use of an ERP system reduces duplication between stand-alone software, streamlines workflow and allows intelligent planning. It gives your production supervisors the tools to ensure consistent, quality output across every manufacturing cell. They will have the tools to understand where bottlenecks and shortages are likely to occur in advance, alleviating pressure points and allowing for better planning. In turn, this provides your customer service teams with the confidence that delivery dates will be met and customers will be informed of any issues in advance.

 

Key features of Access ERP software system:

Marketing, estimating and sales:

• Customer relationship management: gives your sales reps instant access to customer information; because CRM is part of a cloud ERP system, all the information they need is available to them on the move, either via a browser or the Access Workspace app. CRM also allows your marketing team to manage data and analyse trends using every piece of data throughout the system; from the range of products a customer has purchased over time, to geographical hotspots for your business.
• Improved customer communication: from automated order confirmation, requests for feedback and delivery updates, you can set up email communications to be triggered at specific points in your customer journey, ensuring that you are the supplier renowned for keeping your customers informed.
• Estimates and quotes: using either actual costs or standardised costs, the estimating module will pull data from the stock record, where the real costs of purchasing and manufacturing can be rolled up. This provides you with total control over margins and pricing consistency, with additional facilities for special customer price lists or discounts, and approval settings for specific products or pricing outside of standard criteria.

 

Manufacturing and operations:

• Product configurator: a bill of materials and routing for every part will be created so that purchasing demands are accurate and scheduling is realistic. Resources (tools, skills, equipment) are specified so that they can be allocated during planning.
• Project management: to maintain control of costs, resources and to track allocated time, functionality designed specifically for capital projects is included. This is ideal for businesses that run longer-term high value projects, or to collate data for development work into a single bucket.
• Stock and warehouse management: this provides total control over stock locations (for both single and multiple sites), inventory, lots and batches and traceability through your own and your sub-contractors’ processes. Barcodes, RFID and voice capture devices integrate with this module for usability. Optimum stock levels can be maintained using real-time demand, forecasting and minimum safety levels, and can be managed in line with concepts such as JIT.
• Scheduling and production management: visual Gantt chart style software allows for intuitive scheduling around shift patterns, skillsets and equipment constraints, providing the most effective production plan and delivering a work-to list direct to workstations or individuals.
• Shop floor data collection and job costing: the amount of time spent on any production activity is logged through touchscreens at workstations for improved efficiency and accurate costing. Machine downtime, unproductive working hours and scrap levels can all be monitored to enable the measurement of OEE.
• Purchasing and supplier management: POs can be raised automatically, deliveries tracked and managed, and invoices matched with PO receipts for traceability. If your ultimate goal is effective supply chain management, ERP software is the right solution with which to do this.
• Traceability for QA: raw material can be tracked at individual lot level to ensure full traceability of every component throughout the manufacturing process, including who made, inspected and approved an individual product.
  
  “Access ERP is helping us meet our target of filling 97% of all orders while reducing stock levels by £200,000. For us, a measure of success or failure is whether there’s stock available to meet the next order.”
  
  Antony Glenn, IT Manager at WDS Component Parts Ltd

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HR and accounts:

• Debtor management: automated invoicing and statements allow for close management of customer payments and credit control, with easy maintenance of credit terms and better control over your cash flow.
• Human resources: attendance and shift pattern set-ups allow closer people management and identification of issues as well as more accurate and immediate payroll information. The facility for scanning and uploading of receipts whilst on the road gives your staff control over their own expenses whilst ensuring information is captured, as well as giving you real-time visibility of costs.

 

Top-level and overall systems features:

• Integration with other systems: APIs can be used to integrate with your existing infrastructure such as e-commerce platforms and, for example, allows sales orders to be pulled in and automatically processed. You can also integrate with supplier and customer databases for total supply chain management; ERP software being the central hub of that process.
• Workflow management: email alerts to teams, task notifications, approval requests and bespoke process flows can be set up to ensure that the system works in the best interests of your business processes. You will have control over users and their access level as well as the facility to set up approval triggers through workflows.
• Business Intelligence: Dashboards and emailed reports are available to track KPIs for individuals, teams and for use at board level. Because Access can support you with a cloud ERP system, you can track your KPIs and run reports from anywhere in the world to enable real-time business decisions to be taken from any internet-enabled device. Real-time data facilitates immediate decisions to be made based on accurate, current information.
• Document management: a central storage location that can link documents to components, works orders, sales orders and accounts; it allows the right information to be available to the appropriate people at their workstation. Documents are controlled centrally with version histories available for full traceability.

"Fundamentally, we now have confidence in the data we are collecting. Improving data accuracy from the factory into Access ERP has enabled us to get a handle on stock, labour and materials reporting."

Adam Hooper, Operations Director, Martin’s Rubber

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Our series of articles will be looking at the differences between ERP and MRP as well as discuss which system is right for you and your business.