Manufacturing Software

For manufacturing companies, software functionality is at the core of any ERP software selection project. While there are stand-alone manufacturing software packages available on the market, the best manufacturing solutions are tightly integrated into a centralized ERP system.

The functionality of manufacturing software varies based on the industry focus and the production process utilized. Most ERP and manufacturing solutions are placed into the categories of process manufacturing software, discrete manufacturing software, or mixed-mode manufacturing software. These different manufacturing categories directly relate to the production environment and whether this environment can be classified as continuous process, contract manufacturing, job shop, batch processing, repair and maintenance, repetitive, or work order based.

Manufacturing companies have long used ERP systems to streamline operations, address customization requirements and manage complicated supply chains in order to build profitable, sustainable businesses. ERP software provides integration of every aspect of procurement, production and delivery for manufacturers regardless of whether they are a make-to-stock, make-to-order or engineer-to-order manufacturer. Companies must be particularly careful about choosing an ERP system flexible enough to meet their specific operational processes and functional requirements.

Manufacturing Software Functional Requirements

  • Job process/cost accounting
  • Capacity scheduling
  • Material requirements planning
  • Product sourcing
  • Inventory management
  • Shop floor reporting and scheduling
  • Order entry and shipping functions
  • Quote generation
  • Work orders
  • Product configuration
  • Workflow management
  • Quality control
  • Manufacturing process and flow
  • Integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
  • Contract manufacturing
  • Activity-based costing
  • Product lifecycle management
  • Integration with third-party logistics (3PL) providers
  • International customs, tariffs, and regulatory requirements

Within the manufacturing industry, contract manufacturing companies need software flexible enough to manufacture a variety of product types and efficient enough to produce low cost, high quality goods in a lean and highly automated environment. Contract manufacturers need to manage multiple customer requirements simultaneously while meeting delivery deadlines, quality specifications and product design requirements.

Strong contract manufacturing software will offer detailed costing information, robust demand planning and production control, integrated financial management, and a strong inventory control for raw materials and finished good inventories. While there are ERP software packages available for this diverse set of requirements, not all ERP solutions can meet the needs of a contract manufacturer.

Contract Manufacturing Software Requirements

  • Formulations and recipes
  • Scalable batches
  • Multi-level bill of materials
  • Revision level tracking
  • Engineering change order tracking
  • Engineer-to-order production scheduling
  • Online product configuration
  • Strong inventory management
  • Certificate of analysis (COA) generation
  • Bi-directional lot tracking
  • Expiration date tracking
  • Recall management
  • Lot control and serial number tracking
  • EDI transmissions
  • Bar-coding and RFID

Panorama’s ERP consultants provide a complete service offering that can assist your organization throughout the process of ERP selection, ERP implementation and organizational change management.

Our consultants are aware of the potential pitfalls of ERP selection projects and can help hedge against project cost overruns, software that is misaligned with business needs, and lack of return on investment. The ERP team has industry-specific expertise that helps achieve measurable business improvements. One of our most recent clients in this industry is Weed Instrument, a leading manufacturer of fiber optic networking equipment, pressure transmitters, catalog RTDs and thermocouples.

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