With the ongoing energy and cost of living crisis hovering over our heads, many companies are delaying investment into key areas of their business.
And this is completely understandable. We know just how difficult it is for a business to part with it’s money when it doesn’t know what the future may hold.
But when it comes to manufacturing, now is exactly the right time to be investing in software for your business, and for good reason.
So let’s dive into why NOW is the right time to invest in your manufacturing software.
Why NOW is the right time to invest in manufacturing software?
When it comes to manufacturing software, it is often a lengthy and complex process that requires careful consideration and a detailed implementation plan.
By waiting until your hand is forced to make a decision on investing in your software, it can pose a number of problems for your business, such as:
- Less time to plan effectively
- Less time to test the solution parallel to your existing operation
- Reduces the control you have over the implementation
- Increased involvement time for workers affected by the change
- It can often result in a less effective system being chosen
And ultimately there’s a good chance you won’t get the result that you want, or need, to support and grow your manufacturing operation.
If we take the example of the energy crisis going on at the moment, manufacturing companies are facing big price hikes for energy and fuel. When these costs are central to your operation, it’s important to understand the impact they’re having as they both increase and (hopefully) eventually decrease. And then to be able to objectively look at the data in front of you and create a plan of action accordingly.
This helps you minimise any negative impact that energy price fluctuations could have on your business further down the line.
By waiting for the crisis to either end, or escalate further, before you invest, you’re reducing the positive impact that your manufacturing software could have for your business.
And it’s not just about knowing that now is the right time to invest, you’ve also got to know how you can ensure that the implementation will be successful.
How to ensure a successful manufacturing software implementation
Plan early and effectively to reduce risk
Starting and planning your software implementation before your hand is forced can greatly reduce the risk that’s placed on your business.
It not only ensures that you select the solution that’s best suited to your requirements, but it also gives you the opportunity to run protoyping and data tests parallel to your existing operation, allowing you to be a 100% sure the solution works exactly as you need it to before it goes live.
If you’re put in a position when you need to make a quick decision, this planning and testing time quickly vanishes and businesses are forced to implement a system that only meets their basic needs and then try and make changes and adapt on the fly.
By having your solution tried and tested before it’s set live, it also greatly reduces the time and pressure that’s pushed onto the workers operating the system, as they will have had the time to be trained and gain experience of using the software.
Work with a team of industry specialists that understand your requirements
When looking for a new manufacturing ERP solution, companies often look at software such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP Business One or Sage.
However these platforms are designed to be an almost one-size-fits-all format, and so are horizontally orientated. The difficulty this brings you is that you then have to try and configure this to work for a manufacturing environment, often dealing with a consultant who has a zero-to-low experience of a manufacturing operation.
This not only makes it incredibly difficult to translate your requirements as the consultant learns your business from the ground up, but it also increases the time it takes to configure, test and implement the software solution.
By working with a team of manufacturing specialists, who understand both the manufacturing environment and the software, it makes it incredibly easy to translate your needs/requirements, and implement a solution that provides you with exactly the results you want.
In summary, now is the right time to invest in your manufacturing software, to give yourself the right amount of time, and the opportunity to work with the right people, to implement a tried and tested solution that you can help you get the results that are important to your business.
And here at Proximity, as our name suggests, we work very closely with our customers to implement the DELMIAWorks Manufacturing ERP and MES solution, to provide them with real-time visibility of their entire manufacturing workflow and provide them with results which help them to scale their operation.
Why not check out if DELMIAWorks is right for your business, or why you should choose Proximity as your partner to implement your DELMIAWorks solution.
Ready to get the most out of your manufacturing software invesment?
Start planning your manufacturing software investment, with a team of manufacturing specialists, to ensure you get the best results with the least impact on your business.
Start the process today with a chat with one of our manufacturing software specialists.
Posted by Rob on 11th November 2022.