Is cross-functional communication working well in your company?
To remain competitive in an increasingly demanding market, as a production manager at a manufacturing company, you must
ensure that the company’s cross-functional communication—between sales, purchasing, warehousing, and production, among other departments—is well managed.
A lack of cross-functional collaboration and data sharing across functional areas can lead to:
- that the delivery time promised by the sales department is not being met.
- that raw materials and semi-finished products are not in stock when they are needed.
- that the production department does not know when specific items are to be produced.
- that maintenance work on your production machinery results in costly production stoppages because it is not coordinated or planned.
We focus on the resources, activities, and processes that transform raw materials and components into finished products. We examine how you can ensure that the various functional areas have the necessary information and data available when planning production, purchasing raw materials, or providing customers with a delivery date.
Where do you start? – What options do you have?
Most people know that a company’s processes work best when the systems “communicate” with each other and the various departments have access to relevant data.
Many companies already have a wide range of systems that they use to manage and monitor their various business processes. These are often either manual or standalone systems (“silos”) that are not integrated with the company’s other systems. This means that to get a complete overview, you have to compare data and information from multiple systems. This process is often done manually—with the risk of errors and omissions.
By integrating your systems and consolidating the information into a single system, you can achieve a much higher degree of transparency—and a better overview.
Most people know that. But where do you start, and what options are available?
We start with a Business Central solution that consolidates all information and can be enhanced with additional functionality in the form of integrated, standard, vendor-independent apps, rather than costly customizations.
Focus on the need—then on the product
The main purpose is simply to give you an idea of the digitization opportunities available in your manufacturing business when you choose to view the company’s systems as a single, integrated whole. We’ll provide a number of very specific suggestions for what you can do and the value it will add.
Only after you’ve decided which workflows and functions you want to digitize in your business should you take a closer look at which functions Business Central handles and which ones require you to integrate an app
The starting point is the day-to-day operations of your manufacturing company
When we work with manufacturing companies, we start with a simple model that illustrates the workflows and processes in a typical manufacturing company.
The starting point is the finished goods that you sell to your customers. The finished goods consist of a range of raw materials and semi-finished products—supplied by various vendors—that are produced using the company’s resources and capabilities through various processes and production routes.
The process from raw materials to the finished product at the customer’s site can be both convoluted and complex—and many functions and processes are interdependent. A clear overview and timely responses are therefore crucial to making a profit.
Business Central Manufacturing Company
In principle, this entire process can be handled by the production module in Business Central.
But for some companies, it makes sense to add extra functionality—in the form of apps—that can make processes easier and simpler and give you a better overview. This extra functionality can strengthen your business and make your employees’ day-to-day work easier. The apps you can choose to add to your solution are often so well integrated into your Business Central that your employees won’t even notice they’re using them.
Focus on 7 core areas
Of course, there are a wide variety of functions and processes that you can digitize. However, it would be too overwhelming to list them all here.
We have therefore chosen to focus on seven different subareas that are closely linked and interdependent.
Under each sub-area, we describe some of the most common processes and functions that you can benefit from digitizing or automating—either using Business Central’s own production module or by leveraging additional functionality from apps that you integrate with your Business Central. We describe in concrete terms what you can achieve by digitizing your various work processes.
