Manufacturing companies rely on their engineering department in order to secure a profit. While the sales department initiates leads, the engineering department is in charge of creating products and filling orders which ultimately results in the sale and revenue. This means that the efficiency of your engineering department directly affects your profit potential the more efficient you are, the more profitable you can become. ERP software makes running an efficient department easy.
Engineering departments initially receive an order or a request for a quote that includes most or all of the information and specs concerning the order. The department must read the order, dissect it and fully understand it in order to provide a realistic quote and/or fill the order.
Next, the engineering department must reorganize the directions and specifications so that they can be easily interpreted by all of the departments in the company. The information is kept together and transported with the piece as it moves through the different stages of production. Included in the packet is also a list of materials needed for the project. The information is not only used by production, it is also used by purchasing, planning and scheduling departments.
Manufacturing software makes this process easier. Instead of creating a packet made up of various forms, directions, prints and correspondence. The engineering department simply enters the information into the ERP software, which can be accessed by all of the stages of manufacturing, packaging, shipping, etc.
The engineering department enters the information into the manufacturing ERP software in much the same way that they would prepare other forms, but no hard copies are created. Whenever the various departments need to see the specs, all they need to do is access them on the company’s computer network. This process also helps ensure that all revisions are passed along and followed in an efficient manner.
When a revision is requested, the engineering department must make the changes and report the changes to all of the departments. To personally send new specs to all of the departments is time consuming and often results in miscommunication. Outdated specs are hard to get out of circulation. If someone picks up an old document thinking it is current, days of work could be lost. Manufacturing software automatically removes all outdated specs and sends flags to the various departments that need to be aware of the change.
Some changes are not convenient. Work can be lost if a customer requests a change that requires redoing part or the entire project. Some companies charge a fee for work already performed. To make such decisions, however, a clear outline of the work already done is needed. With the software, engineers can check on the project without leaving their desks or having to shuffle through stacks of paper. They can quickly evaluate how much work has been done and how the changes affect the course of the project.
ERP software streamlines the engineering department by ensuring accuracy, efficiency and communication.
Author Resource:
Samuel Daggle writes articles for the manufacturing and construction industries that focus on providing advice about selecting manufacturing software. To learn more or to read reviews of specific software packages, visit http://www.ctsguides.com/manufacturing.asp
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