Manufacturing

Manufacturing is still a major engine in today’s economy. The fundamental success factors in this industry remain constant: produce the right products—in the right quantities, at the right time, with good quality, and at a price the customer is willing to pay. However, flexibility and continuous improvements are also imperative.

ERT Group’s solutions offer integrated, adaptable business applications for small and medium-sized organizations and divisions of large enterprises. These integrated solutions help automate and improve financial, customer relationship, and supply chain management.

Overview:
Maintaining efficient operations in today’s manufacturing environment isn’t easy, but putting into practice the principles of lean manufacturing can further hone your organization’s competitive edge. Typical manufacturing plants have multiple vendors, multiple interfaces, complex information flows, and asynchronous processing, all of which can lead to limited visibility into orders, materials, and production. To achieve peak performance, manufacturers must systematically identify and eliminate plant floor inefficiencies.
This lean manufacturing strategy requires a four-step cycle of continuous improvement:
•    Value-stream-mapping documents each step in the process, its inputs and outputs, across the entire supply chain.
•    Analysis and modeling identify tasks that could be simplified or cut altogether.
•    Implementation and continuous improvement actualize change on the plant floor.
•    Management and reporting evaluates the results and begins the cycle again.

Market Scope:

Success includes the flexibility to respond to emerging markets, such as today’s growth opportunities in China and Eastern Europe, and to the ever-changing needs of the customers. Capitalizing on these opportunities and demands involves quickly adapting to new approaches, trading partners, and procurement strategies.

Many companies in this industry manufacture and assemble products globally to take advantage of lower production costs and favorable regulatory environments in different parts of the world. Other companies producing intermediate components and finished goods regularly choose to locate near each other, because doing so allows companies to receive new products more quickly and lower their inventory costs. It also facilitates joint research and development projects which benefit both companies.

Industry Issues:

Did you know that only companies with the ability to manufacture and deliver large quantities of products in short periods of time will get the big deals?

Is it difficult to assess which suppliers provide the best value and level of service?

Do you have any problems managing globally subcontracted manufacturing processes?

How much is the managing of product quality and a rising trend in returned products impacting customer loyalty and revenues

What about rising prices. This issue is an issue for almost every industry.  The recent rises in prices of consumer goods, materials, and gasoline are a major problem for all.  More specifically, this industry has to focus on trying to get their large amounts of materials for less, and working on equipment that uses less fuel.

ERT Group Solutions Benefits:

Integrate collaboration and communication

• Deliver a single, real-time view of data from multiple facilities and departments
• Synchronize communication between engineering, manufacturing, and subcontractors
• Optimize planning to minimize inventory while meeting customer requirements
• Share information within your systems through the Web

Efficiently manage projects

• Provide an accurate overview of project status
• Track activities and resources at many levels of detail
• Leverage knowledge and content from existing or prior projects

Deliver superior customer service

• Gain a comprehensive view of customer information
• Eliminate isolated silos of information
• Create customer self-service opportunities
• Coordinate multichannel communications with customers
• Collaborate with customers on new product designs

Estimate and quote accurately

• Provide accurate quotations based on a real-time view into operations
• Align customer requirements with your capabilities
• Record customer requirements accurately

Provide flexible production planning

• Use data from the entire supply chain to respond effectively to changes and problems
• Access data through familiar desktop tools
• Support various manufacturing modes, such as engineer-to-order, make-to-order, make-to-stock, and mixed/hybrid