ERP for Manufacturers | Next Steps As Economy Reopens

As economies begin to open up and business activities resume, the use of software solutions would be instrumental in helping against the spread of Coronavirus. Organizations must use every trick in the book to ensure that the disease is contained and the workplace is safe and in line with government policies. Some manufacturing organizations are clearly ahead of the curve by deploying SAP Business One  as their ERP for manufacturing processes while others are still battling with strategies that can enable operations again. Businesses must find ways of setting up a comprehensive health screening and also deploy cutting edge technological tools that would ensure that employees do not come so much in contact with each other.

With a robust manufacturing ERP solution such as SAP Business One, manufacturing organizations can be more effective through the employee self-service module. The ESS module would ensure that people do not come frequently in contact with each other, and employees can have the freedom to manage themselves. Employees can carry out automated training through the application, manage their personal details, line managers can review performance, bill of material can be generated for the manufacturing process, and engineering change orders can also be automated.

MANUFACTURING: WORKPLACE SAFETY

During the total lockdown, a lot of manufacturing organizations were still functioning in some capacity; however, due to poor safety measures, there has been a lot of infections in the workplace. As economies begin to open up the government and health bodies, have put up guidelines which must be adopted by manufacturing firms to ensure workplace safety. However, here are some major guidelines that can be adopted by manufacturing organizations to ensure safety.

A lot of organizations have adopted remote work as a way of reducing physical contact between employees, but this is not applicable to manufacturing organizations. Employees need to be physically present at the manufacturing centers to handle equipment and machines for production. Most manufacturing firms have limited shop floors; therefore, remote work is almost impossible for them. This means managers must determine how best to redefine and structure workflows to ensure limited movements of both humans and tools to avoid contamination and infections. This is why it is essential for organizations to deploy SAP Business One who can perfectly assign roles and responsibilities, streamline complex workflows, and manage the entire day to day operational activities. It comes with a robust reporting system that can enable managers to track production activities, monitor, smooth procurement of parts, and management of ECO and BOM.

ERP for manufacturing solutions can also help organizations to define shifts to avoid overlap and would define who and enters certain premises such as cafeterias, conference rooms, knowledge rooms, and lots more. But aside from deployment of technological solutions, organizations must also allow for more time in meal breaks, and cleaning to ensure that premises are properly sanitized.

MANUFACTURING: SITE BY SITE NAVIGATION

Manufacturing companies need to limit the transfer of workers from one site to the other as that can increase the likelihood of infection transmission. Organizations should come up with guidelines and policies to limit the movement of workers from one site to another. CCTV cameras should be installed in various manufacturing premises to allow managers and line managers for remote inspection, which has the potential to reduce site by site movement greatly. SAP Business One deployment can enable managers to gain visibility into inventory levels and when to refill, which would also help reduce site by site movement. As the premier ERP for manufacturing, SAP Business One has the potential to integrate all aspects of the business operations, including remote production locations. It manages resources, operations, sales, monitoring, reporting, accounts, and finance, etc.

MANUFACTURING: LIABILITY PROTECTIONS

Personal injury claims have been on the rise, especially for manufacturing organizations, and the potentials for claims to double as economies begin to open up has increased. Here are several areas of liabilities and personal injury claims that manufacturing companies need to be aware of.

• Discrimination — Organizations should evaluate their policies with respect to reopenings, such as underlying health issues, age, and gender. Failure to address this could result in a liability claim because age, gender, and underlying health issues all fall under anti-discrimination rules.
• Exposure liability: It is vital for manufacturing organizations to properly evaluate who comes in and out of the premises to ensure infections are not transmitted. Exposure to infection can result in unwanted personal injury claims and other liabilities. Remote communication should be carried out with contractors, third party agents, suppliers, etc.
• Personal information privacy: There are laws that protect employee information privacy, which can be conflicting with some reopening criteria. As businesses beg to reopen, employers are testing their staff and carrying out health screening, but this can lead to health privacy liability which organizations must be aware of.

MANUFACTURING: A PATH FORWARD

There are lots of guidelines and regulations as regards reopening, and without adequate evaluations and planning, most companies might not be able to adapt. Some essential product manufacturers did not completely shut down, but the landscape has changed with new reopening criteria, which means those organizations must restrategize. Organizations that do not have a phase by phase reopening plan must do so and deploy technology solutions to streamline operations and reduce physical interactions between staff. SAP Business One can help manufacturers streamline operations, centralize information, provide visibility, manage inventory, production, and so much more. Furthermore, any assigned personal can monitor production from any location without depending on other team members. By automating processes, the organization can improve the existing system and easily adapt to the present reopening guidelines.

If ERP for manufacturing organization is your next step contact info@softengine.com.

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