Benefits to having planning and scheduling as part of your ERP system

Planning and scheduling are crucial operations for any business, but with integrated ERP systems, this process can be made much quicker and far simpler.

As your business grows, making sure that new orders are fulfilled and completed in the correct order can be a challenge if you’re having to manage your business with lots of spreadsheets or manual processes.  Let’s look at the benefits of having a planning and scheduling solution within your ERP system and how using such a tool can make your manufacturing operations more efficient.                      

What is an integrated ERP system?

An ERP system is an all-in-one system, which combines all areas of your business together. With an integrated ERP solution that offers planning and scheduling tools, you can make informed decisions for your business, with access to real-time information and see actions as they happen, such as:

• Inventory levels 
• Accounts and financial performance
  
• Order pipeline
  
• Invoices both inbound and outbound 
• Supply chain networks 
• CRM and historical data 
• HR to enable resource planning 
   

The benefits of having a planning and scheduling solution within your ERP system 
 

Scheduling production in real-time 

One of the biggest advantages of an integrated ERP system is the ability to schedule your production with a drag-and-drop visual planning board. Combining the two together is a game-changer, allowing you to schedule your work with the most accurate and up-to-date information. Setting parameters to ensure processes follow sequential patterns, allowing concurrent scheduling or not at all.  

Improving customer services 

Access live and past order data, allowing your team to assess requirements such as shipping costs, to help forward plan, or combine orders to the same customer in one shipment instead of several. If changes or special requests need to be added on, being able to see this information in one system allows you to prevent the wrong order from going out, which can have a knock-on effect on reducing complaints and making sure queries are handled as soon as possible, all contributing to a better customer experience overall. 
  

Effective Human Resources planning  
 
Planning and scheduling your team can also be made a far simpler job as your resource planners can see who is and isn't available or skilled to complete the tasks or stages in your production teams and more. Assessing demand with capacity forecasts can enable you to make informed hiring decisions, to maintain production. In addition to this, innovative ERP systems allow you and your HR team to oversee absences, holidays, shift patterns, and shutdown periods with ease. 

Managing inventory & supply chain 
 
View stock and order levels, the time it takes for new stock to arrive, raw materials, assembled parts, and locations of materials in a fully integrated ERP system. You can also see information that is directly related to products, such as expiry dates, allergens, weights, or parts required. Full visibility makes it easy for you to forecast and plan whether new supplies need to be ordered. ERP systems give you the tools to set up sales schedules or fulfill 'just in time' stock purchase or delivery tracking, helping you to avoid waste, save money and improve profits. 
 

Production management 
 
With both live and historical data stored in your ERP, accurate processing times can be scheduled to complete stages or job tasks, allowing you to enhance the way you plan. With the ability to log on and off tasks, projects, or jobs across an ERP system, you can record just how long it takes each machine and operator to complete the stages and run reporting to show business output levels, including the time it takes to set-up and run machine maintenance. ERP systems can tell you many stories, including:  

• What is being produced 
• The status of each order
• Which materials are allocated or required 
• Whether these materials or parts must be manufactured, ordered, or assembled

With accurate capacity planning and real-time information updates from your teams on the floor, you can plan each process on each machine and by each operator, if you want to. Giving you the tools that you need to be able to accurately plan and schedule jobs, allocate materials and reorder where necessary.                                                                                                                   

Workplace safety 
 
Utilising an ERP system can help you to make your workplace safer, as high-risk operations could be completed at quieter times or in dedicated or controlled locations. This flexibility combined with smart use of your system allows you to be prepared for emergency orders, which you can slot in without worrying. 

Integrated ERP systems for your business 
 
Innovative ERP systems make your business management planning and scheduling significantly easier. Aligning your requirements with system features gives you the best starting point – ensuring that you pick a system that allows you to allocate resources to orders, plan the sequence of processes and make sure all your manufacturing processes are running as efficiently as possible. 

Click here to access your copy of what the WinMan ERP software solution has on offer and how implementing an ERP could be the way forward to a higher level of accuracy when planning and scheduling your products, process and people.