It’s almost Valentine’s Day and that means presents. No, not candy or flowers, but things ADM professionals can use to boost their bottom-line. After looking at what’s most important in terms of goals, I’ve put together a wish list of the top gifts any manufacturing professional would want. Let’s take a look and see what replaces chocolates for you this Valentine’s Day:
Valentine’s Gift List for ADM Professionals
1. Better Insights – Knowing what’s happening, not tomorrow but today – maybe even yesterday, is one of the top gifts for any ADM professional. By having better insights into the manufacturing process and knowing how to plan for unexpected developments, we can find ways to ensure enough inventory is available and chart a path for growth.For example, in Microsoft Dynamics Nav, there’s the ability to create and maintain document management, flowcharting and audit trails for insights into what’s happening – all the time. With this, I can organize my document flow, chart a visual path of what works or doesn’t and keep an eye out for issues with product flow.
2. More Efficiency – I’ve talked about streamlining your ADM processes before and again, it’s a necessary step to getting your manufacturing operations on track. This, for me, would also be a top gift for ADM professionals. Think about it, who wouldn’t want more efficiency in their processes?To increase the efficiency of your processes, look at how Microsoft Dynamics Nav can link together main systems, such as ERP and PLM. This means a few things for manufacturing professionals:
• Streamline product lifecycles – Get product requirements and other lifecycles under one umbrella.
• Meet customer demands – By streamlining processes, you can optimize the Quote-to-Cash process and ensure your on-track, even during lean construction phases.
• Improve operational performance – Reduce costs and inventory levels associated with each product.
3. Reduction in costs– Costs are up and keep going up, but as a manufacturer, you want to reduce costs and spending on resources and inventory. In order to accomplish this, again, we look at a system, such as Microsoft Dynamics Nav to get us on the right track.When we do this, we look at things to reduce costs, including:
• System integration – Get your systems on the same frequency and avoid data bottlenecks with one system – talking as one, not many.
• Increase order-processing efficiency – Going back to efficiency, by increasing the time your personnel take to build product configurations, you reduce costs by increasing speed and accuracy for each entry.
It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I know what I want on my wish list – more efficiency, lower costs and better insights into what’s happening. I’m not alone, as I’ve found these are some of the most sought after goals from other ADM professionals. Making the goals alone won’t do it, you need to put a plan together and utilize a tool that helps you get there.
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Peter van Leeuwen
