High-growth manufacturers are rethinking their business software as the skilled labor gap increases, raw material shortages continue and ever changing customer preferences present new challenges to growth.
While outdated software systems like Excel spreadsheets may have sufficed pre-pandemic, in many cases these tools are now costing manufacturers more than their potential savings.
In 2021, most manufacturers found themselves in a tight position, with raw material shortages
on one side and high demand for their products on the other. Accustomed to working with three- month raw material forecasts, manufacturers began producing one-year forecasts and order timelines thanks to supply chain shortages, which impacted everything from semiconductor chips to lumber to steel to resin.
Here are four reasons why high-growth manufacturers need a unified cloud based manufacturing ERP software system to keep up with fast-paced industry changes:
1. Buyers are demanding visibility.
As supply chain disruptions drag on, buyers concerned about extended order lead times are asking for more detailed data and better supply chain visibility. They want to know where their orders are, how long they will take to fulfill and when they will arrive at their facilities. (Read more on how we can help with that here.) High-growth manufacturers using QuickBooks, Excel spreadsheets and inventory management applications like Fishbowl and/or scheduling applications like TSheets are unable to answer those questions. With an ERP system like NetSuite in place, the same manufacturers have the visibility that they need right at their fingertips.
2. Manual processes are no longer cutting it.
Without a centralized financial and inventory management platform, manufacturers end
up wasting a lot of time, money and effort on manual processes. These approaches may have sufficed for a smaller company operating pre-COVID, but they quickly became liabilities as organizations grow. Working with Paapri, manufacturers can use NetSuite to automate many of their manual processes, save on labor and cut down on the amount of time it takes to manage ongoing repetitive projects.
3. Employees aren’t engaged.
In a hiring environment where 95% of workers are looking for other jobs, empowering and engaging employees has become vital. Rather than spending their days manipulating spreadsheets and trying to align different technology systems, manufacturing employees can focus on innovation, production and customer service. Using Paapri Quality Management System (QMS), engineers can easily manage requests for deviations, measure material removal rates and take steps to improve product quality while also improving process productivity.
4. Information shouldn’t just be pieced together.
As manufacturers are seeking new ways to conserve cash and cut costs, they’re discovering that their disjointed software can’t support those efforts. With data stored in multiple systems, companies need to piece together bits of information to get a clear picture of operational performance. Sales forecasting, demand planning and labor management are equally as challenging as maintaining profitability and margins.
Once in place, NetSuite and Paapri’s industry- specific applications help manufacturing customers eliminate manual processes, save time once spent merging and integrating data between systems and consolidate manufacturing, inventory management, job scheduling and finance management onto a single cloud ERP system.
Laser-focused on the manufacturing industry, Paapri has spent years addressing its customers’ biggest pain points and coming up with solutions to those problems. By integrating its applications with NetSuite, Paapri adds capabilities that speak directly to manufacturers’ biggest challenges.
Are you a manufacturer looking to replace inefficient, disparate systems to manage processes from the shop floor to the time the job is completed and paid for? Fill out our web form for a free consultation or go check out our blog that talks more about how a cloud erp can help industrial manufacturers optimize their operating environments.
