ERP for manufacturers: Top technology trends for 2020

What are common problems faced by manufacturers today, and how are they using technology to create solutions? In today’s world of increasingly powerful business technology solutions, many manufacturers are investing in technology to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and boost profits.

Here are four of the most common pain points we see for manufacturing organizations, along with examples of tools and strategies they’re using to make substantial improvements.

Problem: Employees lack the information they need to work effectively
Solution: Providing unified visibility across your organization

When employees lack insight into the big picture of orders, inventory, and production schedules, they can’t effectively meet change orders, guarantee on-time deliveries, or respond to exceptions. Manufacturers are empowering their workers by using fully integrated business management systems to provide consistent, accurate information to everyone who needs it.

Problem: Production costs are too high
Solution: Analyzing detailed operational data to make better decisions

In the globalized economy, you can’t simply charge more for a product to compensate for higher production costs. In order to increase their margins, many manufacturers are turning to data analytics to reveal inefficiencies and gaps in their supply chain and production processes, and know exactly which changes need to made.

Problem: Inefficient quoting and bidding
Solution: Automated workflows with real-time, accurate inventory and pricing data

For many manufacturers, it’s a common problem for sales reps to provide inaccurate quotes as they feel pressured to complete the quote and bidding process as quickly as possible, but they lack the right product and pricing information.

To combat this problem, manufacturers are integrating their ERP and CRM solutions to connect product, pricing, purchasing and production information with detailed customer information. This gives sales teams instant access to the full picture along with easy, automated quoting tools.

Problem: Expensive design process with lengthy time-to-market
Solution: Providing design teams with better communication and collaboration tools

As competition increases, manufacturers are looking for ways to improve and shorten the design process. How can you design better products while saving time and money?

One strategy is to provide collaborative design teams with more data and make it easier for them to communicate with each other. Information about product performance, end-user satisfaction, and production cycles can help engineering teams think on their feet and meet real needs in innovative ways.

Want to learn more about technology trends for X-to-Order manufacturers?

Here at Arbela, we have over a hundred experts in manufacturing technology. To learn more about recent trends and innovations we’ve seen in manufacturing, download our e-book 12 Game-Changing Trends for X-to-Order Manufacturers.