Of course, manufacturing is an entire industry unto itself, employing 8.2% of the UK workforce in 2018. However, a well-oiled manufacturing department is crucial to the success of businesses in many other sectors, from e-commerce to medicine to technology to transport. Regardless of the industry you operate in, it's vital to ensure your manufacturing arm is running smoothly.
While keeping track of your raw materials, inventory, and orders used to be a head-scratching process, the wonders of modern technology can simplify things to no end. That's especially true when you use material requirements planning software to streamline your operations, allowing you to see at a glance an overview of your performance and automate menial tasks to the system to ensure you stay in shape.
Adapting and upscaling
For those just starting out in the industry, keeping track of manufacturing needs and wants doesn't often pose a problem. Keeping tabs on your raw materials at one end and your customer orders at the other can be easily handled with a simple spreadsheet - or, for micro-operations, even a pen and paper can suffice. However, as your business grows, you'll need something more fit for purpose.
Indeed, one of the dangers of growing your business too fast is that you won't have the capacity or the capability to keep track of all of the inner workings of the company, let alone satisfy them. That's where using bespoke technological tools can prove to be a lifesaver, such as the innovative and intuitive material requirements planning software on offer from Katana.
Features and benefits
This revolutionary time- and the stress-saving tool allows you to keep all of the important data about the manufacturing department of your business in one, easy-to-manage place. Not only does that mean you can stay on top of your stock of raw materials and the inventory of products they create, but you can also integrate the transactional end of your operations seamlessly, as well.
For example, material requirements planning software allows you to ensure that you never have surplus resources on your hands - but that you never run out of them when they're needed, either. By setting an automated alert when stocks reach a minimum threshold, you'll ensure that your company always has the materials that it needs to manufacture the products that it sells, even at times of high demand.
Tangible results
What does that mean in practical terms? Well, for one thing, you'll never have to worry about being out of stock of any of your items or running low on the materials used to create them again. An insufficient supply of resources is one of the chief causes of delayed deliveries, which can do incredible damage to your company's reputation and its bottom line.
Did you know that a recent survey found that 69% of 500 respondents would never go back to a company that did not deliver within two days of the promised date? A mix-up in your manufacturing department could be losing you custom and costing you profits, but with the appropriate software from Katana, those kinds of logistical headaches will soon become a thing of the past.
