Important Modules of ERP for Process Manufacturing

ERP applications play a vital role in optimizing business operations and enabling data-driven decision-making, which can lead to increased growth and profitability.

An end-to-end ERP application supports several key modules that provide a seamless flow of information and offers better collaboration across departments in an organization, including finance, sales, procurement, inventory management, manufacturing, and supply chain. With a centralized and unified database, the ERP modules ensures that accurate and up-to-date data is available to all authorized users across the organization. With access to relevant data and key performance indicators collected across all processes, decision-makers can make more informed and timely decisions regarding trends, opportunities, and risks.

Through built-in business process automation, an ERP can eliminate manual and repetitive tasks, thus reducing the chances of errors, and enabling employees to focus on more value-added activities. For example, an ERP module can automate inventory management, order processing, and financial transactions, resulting in faster order fulfillment, reduced stockouts, and improved cash flow.

ERP Modules for Streamlining Process Manufacturing

This blog addresses the major ERP modules found in an ERP application. It focuses on those modules whose features uniquely support formula-based process manufacturers.

1. Procurement & Purchasing

The procurement module assists organizations in acquiring the necessary materials or products for manufacturing and/or selling goods. With an ERP procurement module, businesses can seamlessly manage purchase order management, vendor management, pricing, deliveries, and inventory management. These features allow companies to maintain a list of approved vendors and associate them with specific items, streamlining the entire procurement process. The module also automates request-for-quote processes, tracks, and analyzes incoming quotes, and facilitates purchase order management. Inventory levels are promptly updated upon order arrival, ensuring smooth operations.

ERP will also help you manage your purchase orders, by breaking down orders to include specific lines that refer to specific items. Additionally, they can allow specific multiple delivery dates. It will also allow you to track parts required for those jobs and have a more organized purchasing order system. An efficient system will help you see the pending batch jobs for ordering along with all purchasing operations.

2. Financial Management

ERP financial modules are accounts payable, accounts receivable, and the general ledger. The application can automatically generate invoices, process payments, reconcile accounts, and prepare financial statements. Decision-makers can access up-to-date financial information, monitor cash flow, track expenses, and make informed decisions based on the organization’s financial performance.

For formula-based, process manufacturers, the financial records are accurately updated in real-time based upon process manufacturing and inventory management activities, in addition to sales and procurement activities. A process manufacturer’s ‘Order to Cash’ and ‘Procure to Pay’ cycles can be reduced.

3. Inventory Management

ERP inventory management modules manage ingredients and raw materials from receiving to production, and intermediate and finished goods products. It provides a comprehensive view of both current and incoming inventory, through seamless integration with the procurement process. It helps consolidate data sources to provide insights into SKU performance history and facilitate accurate demand forecasting, reducing excess stock. An inventory management module can help weigh sales trends against available products to assist companies make informed decisions that boost margins and improve inventory processes.

For formula-based, process manufacturers, the inventory module includes variability e.g., strengths, potencies, different UOMs, expiration date, and other industry-specific features.

4. Manufacturing

Manufacturing is a core aspect of any process manufacturing company. With the ERP manufacturing module, organizations can ensure raw material consistency by providing critical reports for items that are low in quantity or may impact production. It provides manufacturing dashboards that manage resource utilization, target manufacturing capacity, machine components, raw materials, and more. This module streamlines production processes, ensuring efficiency, and maintaining high standards.

For formula-based, process manufacturers, it is easier to handle losses/gains with batch production, it also becomes efficient to check the scaling up batch sizes are linear. All this helps with smoother and more efficient manufacturing processes.

5. Sales Management

Sales management involves overseeing customer relationships, sales orders, pricing, and shipping. An ERP sales management system simplifies the sales process from scheduling work and purchasing to ordering component materials required to fulfill customer demands. It enables effective communication by alerting sales management and relevant departments about order scheduling. It also keeps customers informed about potential issues along with analyzing batch jobs in progress. With all these features, it also provides comprehensive transaction recording for managing sales order demand.

With an ERP sales module for formula-based, process manufacturers, sales have better viability to available inventory and planned batch production jobs promoting all-around sales development.

6. Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management involves the movement of supplies and goods from sub-suppliers to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers or consumers. An ERP module dedicated to supply chain management handles the flow of goods and services, including the management of returned materials or products for replacement. It encompasses various process manufacturing areas such as procurement, inventory management, manufacturing, order management, and warehouse management. It offers specific features and functionalities tailored to supply chain management. It also offers specific features and functionalities tailored to supply chain management, including improved visibility, coordination, demand planning, and forecasting.

For formula-based, process manufacturers, it provides greater insights into the lot traceability of raw materials and finished goods within the plants.

Benefits of ERP Modules

There are several ERP modules available to meet the modern process manufacturing industry’s requirements. Each module offers a range of benefits, including:

1. Real-time Data Visibility

The right ERP module saves costs by enabling real-time data input. Instead of manually coordinating and assigning resources and projects, you can use role-based dashboards for each process, effectively managing and centralizing data. This eliminates the need for searching, creating, and updating end-of-month data on paper and spreadsheets. As a result, targeted prioritization becomes possible, boosting efficiency and productivity in all aspects of operations.

2. Scalable Batch Manufacturing

Process manufacturing ERPs include recipe or formula management. This enables businesses to calculate precise ingredient quantities for consistent batch manufacturing. It effectively manages units of measurement and automatically adjusts volumes and quantities as required, reducing manual errors. This ensures batches are consistently produced to high standards. It also allows seamless integration of changes in customer orders into production processes, securely storing relevant information.

3. Industry Specific Compliance

Process manufacturers face strict regulatory requirements to ensure product quality and compliance. Industries such as food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and more must adhere to specific regulations governing ingredients and product safety. ERP systems simplify industry compliance by integrating compliance requirements into production workflows. They facilitate easy updates to data sheets and enable quality checks, ensuring that the team operates by the latest legislation.

To Sum Up

The process manufacturing industry encompasses various sectors such as food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and chemicals. Sectors have their own unique business models, trends, and challenges. Therefore, organizations should choose an ERP solution that provides modules catering to their specific industry sector and addresses their challenges effectively.

BatchMaster ERP software offers modules that streamline day-to-day operations, providing a centralized platform to store and access any data as per your requirements.

Reach out to us today to learn about the must-have modules for your company, which can significantly impact process optimization and productivity.