If you’ve ever purchased a product that is less than quality, you probably noticed an increase in manufacturing costs. When manufacturing errors lead to the wastage of materials, more labour is needed for assembly. This can be prevented with the right MRP software for your company! Here are 7 things that your manufacturing software needs to have:
1) Control over all phases of production- Without this, it’s hard to make sure each part of the process is running smoothly or even knows what stage they are in.
2) Quality assurance- This includes checklists and automated checks for faults on workpieces before processing them further. Preventing faults can save time and reduce defects which leads to quality products at lower cost.
3) Automatic alerts for any breakages- The earlier these are detected, the less time will be spent on rectifying them. This not only increases the cost of production but also reduces the quality of the product.
4) Monitoring over inventory- Quickly identifying and paying special attention to parts that are nearing their expiry date can prevent wastage while keeping costs down. The product would be made to order, at a lower cost!
5) Predictable lead times- Keeping all your products in a state of healthy stock is crucial. By making sure that products are mainly produced using offsite manufacturing methods, you’ll have more control and a clear view of your costs.
6) Flexibility- The software shouldn’t be designed to work in a rigid way. It should be able to vary its operations depending on the amount of time it takes for parts to be completed, and on any special requirements from clients.
7) Automatic cross referencing- This is a must have if you’re going to use more than one database. When something is added or removed, it has to be updated in all the databases, otherwise you could end up missing information that could prevent errors from happening again.
8) Seamless integration- If the software needs to talk to other databases, check on the quality of the machines, or alert you when something needs your attention, it has to be able to do that quickly and efficiently.
9) Training- The software has to be easy to use and understand for all who will be using it. This includes the supervisor, the interns and your customers.
10) Security- If something goes wrong, the software needs to be able to let you know without simply locking you out of all access. This can significantly increase the costs of work. Effective security prevents as much damage as possible from occurring by detecting abnormal activities in real time.
11) Error checking- This is a MUST for any manufacturing software. It’s the most common cause of errors that can cost you dearly. If there is an error in the output and it’s caught in time, it will very likely be caught fast enough to save time and money.
12) Customer support- If something goes wrong (and most things will), they have to be able to help you out when you need help.
13) Reports- These are extremely useful at keeping track of your production and inventory levels over time as well as providing a logical history of all activities carried out by the software over a period of time.
14) A detailed system manual- This is essential if a person with little knowledge about the software is going to be using it. The manual will explain anything from: Minimum requirements for computer hardware, what data is required and how it’s used, whether or not you can use an old version of a database (preventing time consuming technical changes), what happens in case of failures (probably would make you feel better).
Conclusion
MRP Software for your manufacturing business is an investment. It should represent the biggest part of your productivity. The software should be as efficient as possible, and it should help you stay on top of your game.
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