SOFTWARE & ANALYSIS

Trends in
ERP Software
Mobility, adaptability and collaboration. BY GENA JOHNSON
determine the critical business issues
of your market. According to Jay
Deakins, CEO of Deacom (Wayne,
PA), accounting is something virtually

E nterprising Resource Planning

(ERP) software is an integral part
of most business and manufacturing
contend that a good ERP system can
handle 85-95% of an organization’s
computer needs. When deciding what
all ERP systems handle and it is not
particularly different from industry
to industry. However, quality control,
environments. It acts as the operational system is best for your organization document generations, and control-
and transactional system of record for keep in mind the new trends in tech- ling the formulation process are
the business. Some ERP software is nology, mobility, adaptability, lean critical business issues specific to dif-
solely used for accounting while other manufacturing and collaboration. ferent types of industry. Look at how
ERP systems handle all of the sales, well the system can handle the issues
purchasing, shipping, production, and CRITICAL BUSINESS ISSUES germane to your industry. Many
accounting processes. This software is ERP systems can range from one that companies hire consultants to help
the nucleus that ties these and other is operated by only a few people at them make their ERP software selec-
areas of the company together in a a single location to a system that is tion, explained Glenn Nowak, vice
controlled, user friendly, repeatable operated by thousands of people at president IQMS (Paso Robles, CA).
process. Many ERP software experts several sites around the world. First, Businesses look at other companies

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 in their industry similar in size and Before a customer makes any cus- MEASURE THE BUSINESS
function and get a referral, while oth- tomization, Cindy Jutras, president of BENEFIT OF THE SOFTWARE
ers use industry network groups. Mint Jutras (Windham, NH) would According to Jutras, one of the big-
“There are two types of ERP. ask two questions: The first, if the gest secrets to getting the most ben-
General ERP which is one size fits all. software is not doing what you want, efit out of an ERP implementation
And then there is industry specific is it because you have not found the is actually measuring improvement
ERP,” said Nowak. “I consider it mod-
eling the manufacturing process. When
you get those packages, they speak
your language.” This means vocabulary
and functionality of the industry are The more unwired we are
built in the software.
A good ERP system has up to date in terms of devices the more tethered
technology and is easily adaptable.
“It should have modern technol-
we are to the business.
ogy. Since technology is changing so
rapidly it should be nimble enough
to change with it,” said Deakins. It
should be a steadily evolving con- right solution? The second, if you metrics before implementation, mea-
figuration process rather than a have found the right solution, does sure regularly or at key milestones.
customization. Configurations are what you want to do that is different These metrics include complete and
done by creating small layers. The from the software differentiate you on time delivery, improvement in
layers render the data to the devices. in the market? “There should be real customer retention, reduction in
By making the layers small, they can business benefit before you change operating costs, reduction in admin-
be changed and updated when a new it,” said Jutras. “ERP is built around istrative costs, and for a manufactur-
device is introduced. This eliminates best practices and the users should er—reduction in inventory, decreased
the need for a new system every time take full advantage of that before in cycle time, and increased output
a new device is introduced. making modifications.” for production.

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 SOFTWARE & ANALYSIS

MOBILE ERP ability to implement corrective or would get alerted on their mobile
Mobility with ERP software allows remedial action. device. Then they would call someone
users to access information from “The more unwired we are in terms to do the corrective action. People are
phones, tablets and other devices. of devices the more tethered we are becoming less patient,” said Jutras.
According to Jutras, it is having a to the business,” said Jutras. People “They don’t want someone else to
larger impact on customers than they want to know what is happening in have to dig into and do the corrective
realize. Mobility may not be high on the business. Did the big order come action.” They want to take care of it.
the list of selection criteria when users in or not? How was the customer “This brings an executive user to ERP
are surveyed; however, it is a feature complaint handled? Did production when in the past they did not touch
they want. In addition to being alerted finish on time and will this affect the it,” she said.
as to what is going on, users want the customers’ orders? “In the past people
NEW TECHNOLOGY, ADAPTABILITY
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Technology is rapidly changing. “The
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said Jutras. “People are using devices
in their personal lives that no one

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 sold or will soon become obsolete. tion is easily accessed with a touch of managing production, costs and inven-
Many ERP systems allow for cus- a screen. If a series of people have to tory. The trends in this software are
tomers to drive changes in the software sign-off on a process or product, the incorporating new technology with
that reflect their business. Nowak cited chronology of what is happening is mobility, adaptability, lean and col-
examples where a customer thought available to everyone. Individuals do laboration to produce software that
information should be accessed in two not have to wait for others ahead of is user-friendly and intuitive. These
clicks of the mouse rather than three them in the process to bring them the trends are prevailing tendencies not
and this was implemented. Another document, which in some cases can fads and will only grow in popularity
customer found that it was important add days or even weeks to a project. and use. Q
for those in the warehouse to be able ERP software systems bring busi-
to track the location of a product. “In ness closer to their customers while Gena Johnson is associate editor of Quality.
the old days you give a warehouse guy
product with a scanner and say put it
away and go get it,” said Nowak. “It was
not an efficient system.”
Today, advance warehouse manage-
ment systems are part of ERP. It tells
the forklift operator where to go and
what to do. The business analytics are
always compiling big data and stream-
lining the movement in the warehouse.
When a product is put away the system
tells the forklift driver what nearby
product to pick up and put elsewhere.
This way the operator is never driving
an empty forklift from one end of the
warehouse to the other. The software
has built in logic which tells warehouse
workers where to put products for
optimal work flow. For example, if a
product ships tomorrow, the software
instructs the operator to put it by the
shipping dock behind the items that go
out today, explained Nowak.
Combining ERP software with a
computer aided design (CAD) system
is also new. This allows a billing mate-
rial to be drawn in the CAD system
and all the information is automatical-
ly available in the ERP. If any changes
are made, the changes are immediately
updated in the system. This eliminates
manual input of the information, There are many CMMs.
which may not be correct and man-
ual processes are difficult to repeat.
One software makes them more powerful.
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Collaborative CommuniCation maintaining CAD-based digital workflow.
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