Does your organization have the same version of truth?

Manufacturers continue to implement global ERP systems to replace disparate departmental systems and processes as a solution to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Ensuring everyone has visibility to the same version of truth across the organization can deliver measured and significant returns. It all sounds good, right? How hard can it be? ERP has been around a while now.

However, after the consolidation, the challenge to meet customer demand drives you back to old inefficient behaviors that continue to erode profit and productivity by as much as 36 percent.  According to Sudhi Bangalore, Head of Smart Manufacturing at Wipro Ltd., over 90% of large manufacturing companies use Excel to do scheduling. We see it all the time. Not only that, when industry-specific features are required, ERP systems generally have little to no data to support complex sequencing requirements on the production floor. What’s needed is a highly configurable and powerful Advanced Planning and Schedule (APS) solution that can accurately reflect the real-world constraints in a multitude of industries.

So, why do planners return to Excel shortly after an ERP implementation? Fraser Bonnett, Senior Project Architect for Smart Expert Solution Partner Lean Scheduling International with over 20 years solely focused on implementing APS solutions provides his insights in the following article Why Your ERP is NOT a Production Scheduler

Dave Snyder is a Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) Partner Sales Executive with Siemens Digital Industries Software. Dave has 30 years of experience building, implementing and selling advanced planning and scheduling solutions in 22 countries.