Is Your ERP Creating a False Reality?

ERP systems are well-established within the manufacturing industry. They typically represent the "source of truth" for the business and offer capabilities across inventory, supply chain, maintenance, quality, etc.

But as manufacturing complexity increases with connected assets and a flood of data available for analysis, is ERP the only answer? How does the right data play into such systems, and what is the cost of poor data?

For an ERP, MES, or any system to be effective, it must accurately model and report on the manufacturing process. Without access to real-time, accurate data from the shop floor (or other sources) ERP creates a false reality. This means poor decision-making and ineffective use of resources.

With so many manufacturers adopting ERP, the impact is massive.

Manufacturing technology adoption rate, as provided by Wipfli 2023 report.

ERP systems have a critical role to play and shouldn’t be abandoned. But the focus should be on providing them with accurate data they’re missing from the shop floor and other operational sources.

It’s not unusual for key data items such as part counts, cycle times, and OEE to be inaccurate due to manual data collection or disparate shop floor software that muddies the inputs that ERP systems receive. Real-time, accurate data from the shop floor will improve the insights of an ERP and enable improved decision-making across various activities, including planning, scheduling, budgeting, quoting, and procurement.

Automated Data – a Blessing & Curse for ERP

Automated data processing has become an integral part of modern manufacturing. ERP systems are critical tools for production since they help organizations streamline business processes, provide centralized access to enterprise-wide data, and increase communication and collaboration. They have become so critical that they act as the final word in process improvement decisions, performance measurement, and more.

ERP is in many ways helping to determine the direction of the business as a whole.

The problem with this is that manufacturers must assume that data in the ERP system can be trusted. This is true from a business operations and accounting standpoint. However, the data from the source of production is typically flawed, if not nonexistent altogether. As manufacturing operations become more complex and diverse, ensuring data quality becomes even more challenging.

Having a truly accurate source of production data like that achievable with MachineMetrics drives real-time, accurate information into the ERP, where it can be used to validate, update, and improve the data in the system.

The Cost of Poor Data

Poor data quality isn’t only counterproductive but also costly for manufacturing operations. Because long-term enterprise-related decisions are made based on the outputs of an ERP, they must be based on accurate data.

Yet, 60% of all organizations fail to assess the financial impact of poor-quality data. Insufficient data can cause issues like over or under-estimating inventory, misreading market dynamics, enacting wrong or ineffective process improvement projects, and more.

For example, in the case of cycle times, relying on manually timed studies from shop floor personnel or estimates from a CAM solution can deeply impact your quoting and scheduling. Being just 5-10% off from the "actual" cycle time may result in poorly allocated personal and job scheduling, as well as hindered profit margins.

Imagine if you could easily associate each job with a cycle time based on accurate historical data?

Data Integration - a Call to Arms

As the world moves to the reality of smart and connected factories taking full advantage of IoT and advanced analytics, companies must be fully confident in the ecosystem of data in which they operate.

To accomplish this, they need assurance that the data they use within ERP and other enterprise-level software is accurate and free of omission. MachineMetrics can ensure that production data is not only accurately captured in real-time, but also has the ability to integrate with the ERP.

This ensures that that status of the business and operational performance are in complete alignment, enabling decision-makers to understand performance deeply across each individual component of the production operation.

Empower Your Enterprise Systems with Accurate Data

ERP and other enterprise software should reflect the reality of your operation, but this can only be accomplished with accurate data.

MachineMetrics is a best-in-class solution that gives you access to accurate and actionable data from your production operations.

With robust data integration capabilities, you can be confident that your data reflects your operation's real-time reality and make accurate decisions that improve performance.

Dive deeper into the value of integrating with shop floor systems: