Overcoming Operational Blind Spots in Manufacturing Production & Scheduling

Whether you are a medium-sized manufacturing firm or a small custom job shop, your ability to manage production and scheduling will largely determine your success as an enterprise.

To do this well, your organization needs three fundamental elements:

1. Leadership: Solid management with expertise and experience in production and scheduling.
2. Production planning: Carefully defined production plans with all of the input and parameters necessary to meet product demand.
3. An ERP software solution: An integrated enterprise resource planning production and scheduling software component to keep your team working in unison.

If lacking any one of these three elements, a manufacturing operation will find it difficult to retain and grow its client roster. These elements must be present and in alignment. Managers should understand how to devise a production plan to meet product demands and delivery deadlines while minimizing production times and costs. They must account for every input into the production process; optimize the use of plant resources, equipment, and inventory; streamline product flow; and minimize time spent between and during stages in the production sequence.

Plant and operation managers are responsible for making sure these factors occur consistently and reliably, so that product quality and on-time delivery (OTD) performance are never compromised. To this end, they require complete visibility into every aspect of production, with up-to-the-minute, accurate data. The right ERP software solution with an integrated scheduling and production component is indispensable, so matching available software options to the business needs and environment is paramount. Using this software module, managers can set parameters, provide input, and generate a sequence of manufacturing activities optimized for cost-efficiency, time-efficiency, quality, and profitability.

Download Overcoming Operational Blind Spots in Manufacturing to continue reading about the 10 biggest challenges facing production and scheduling and the 10 benefits that come from a fully integrated manufacturing ERP.

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