Use Sage ERP X3 to Overcome Common Manufacturing Challenges

Manufacturers face many challenges in an increasingly globalized world. Lowered trade barriers, cheaper imports, and changing tastes among businesses and consumers are all just part of the cascade of challenges that manufacturers face on a daily basis.

IWI Consulting Group would like to offer you a special white paper entitled ERP: A Strategic Growth Driver for Manufacturing Firms. In this paper, we address the many challenges faced by manufacturers and explore how software such as Sage X3 can help you overcome these challenges.

The Only Constant Is Change

All businesses face changes on a daily basis. From fickle consumer tastes to changing ways of accessing information, the world changes at an ever-faster clip.

Manufacturers are not immune to the increasing pace of change. Manufacturing today is a far cry from the way it was 30 years ago – or even a few years ago. You don’t have to look far back into the past to see how global, regional, and local changes have impacted the manufacturing industry.

It is important for manufacturers to accept, rather than resist, change. Change is happening at every level of the organization. To embrace change is to realize the potential inherent in many of the positive changes taking place in the world of manufacturing.

Four Common Manufacturing Challenges

Manufacturers face four common challenges to the status quo:

1. Automation, which is essential to building a lean manufacturing culture that supports efficiency.
2. Flexibility in all areas of manufacturing, from how you staff to how you determine what to produce.
3. Globalization, which is forcing manufacturing firms to compete with an ever-widening circle of companies.
4. Innovation, not just in the world of manufacturing, but in transportation, information technology, and systems to improve efficiencies.

As with all things in life, there is a positive and a negative to each challenge. Automation improves the speed with which goods can be produced and drives costs down. It does, however, eliminate some lower level jobs from the labor pool. Innovation means a constant drive to improve and keep pace with changes, but it also means that more powerful technology is now available to manufacturers that can help them address issues of flexibility, globalization, and more. It’s a constant cycle of change, of ups and downs, good and bad, that keeps the world of manufacturing interesting and challenging.

The Business Information Cycle

Information is powerful, and real-time information can help you improve your business. Tapping into the business information cycle helps you understand both the details and the big picture in every aspect of your company.

The business information cycle starts with data on the raw materials headed into your company. From there, it extracts data from production, manufacturing, purchasing, sales, human resources, accounting and finances, and warehouse management to help you accurately forecast sales, profitability, and delivery times for your customers.

With better insight into your company’s business information cycle, you can make confident, assured decisions that help your company address the many challenges it faces. Better insight leads to innovation; innovation requires flexibility; automation enhances productivity and profits, and this, in turn, addresses globalization challenges. It’s a cycle that keeps boosting your company higher and higher.

But it requires the right information systems and software in place to get there.

Sage X3 Can Help You Address These Changes

How can a software like Sage X3 help you address these challenges? Sage X3 is enterprise resource planning, or ERP, software. It addresses the data needs of your company including finance, supply chain, and production tracking, reporting, and analysis.

According to the white paper offered earlier in this article, 86% of new technologies can make life easier, and 81% of new technologies improve working conditions. New software such as Sage X3 provides you with a comprehensive, complete resource to respond to the changes and pressures your company faces.

Although software itself cannot fend off pricing pressures brought about by globalization, Sage X3 can provide you with real-time data on your supply chain and production department so that you can make smarter, better decisions. These decisions can impact and improve efficiencies, performance, costs and more to make your company more competitive on a local, regional and global scale.

The challenges facing manufacturers are many, but with better software, you can face them confidently. Learn more about Sage X3 through our virtual tour and be sure to download the full paper to explore the challenges – and solutions – for manufacturers today.

IWI Consulting

IWI Consulting Group helps businesses gain insights into their operations, inventory, and profitability. We provide software and support for a wide range of industries throughout the Toronto area. For more information, please visit IWI Consulting Group or contact us today.