Best of both worlds: Robust ERP framework and industry specificity working together

Packaging has always been the key factor which results in protecting its content and aids in its value proposition to promote impulse purchase. These units giving such solutions have a very demanding situation to respond to. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) assists such organisations immensely.

The case for an ERP  

You can control and improve something only when you can measure it in real-time. 

Since business information is interdependent; having an integrated information system (ERP) is a prerequisite for such improvements to be implemented. 

Postmortem analysis is not as good as controls in real-time before an event takes place. Real-time control can be installed in real-time only when the data is configured in an integrated system (possible by using good ERP). Approval system before the designed bill of material is changed at production stage is a good example. 

Big ticket investments in machines are called for continuously for your unit to enhance capacity and quality. Having a good information system (ERP) to drive ROI for such investments is super critical. 

Selecting the right ERP 

Selecting the right ERP, the platform as well as the implementation partner makes a big difference. Here are some tips.

The implementation partner Must understand your business.

Please check this thoroughly. If there is a solution already available, have a good look at that and engage with the partner to get convinced on this. 

It takes a long time to understand the nuances, build the solution for them, learn from a few implementations, improve the offering and then offer it as off-the-shelf product. There is no shortcut at all. 

Functionalities on Microsoft Dynamics 365 (business central and finance and operations) like pre-sales costing, product design interface, production planning and scheduling, reel management, trip planning, deckle planning and optimisation, purchase planning, etc take a huge investment of time and resources.

Some partners have their solution certified by the ERP platforms. Samadhan has Microsoft-certified solutions for corrugation, flexible packaging, folding carton, paper, commercial printing, composite packaging, flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC), packaging film, etc.

Check on the ERP platform. Look for a solution on top of the ERP platform.

The times have changed now. You now have access to ERP platforms which were so far available to large corporations. Platforms like Microsoft makes sure the customers always use the latest technology. They invest billions of dollars and the best minds to do so.  

They address usability, security and scalability on a continuous basis by releasing new updates. For Microsoft Dynamics small updates are regular while there are two major updates every year, wave 1 and wave 2. Such updates make sure the platforms always remain state-of-the-art. 

They also make sure that new and futuristic requirements are built into the platform and improved upon. It relieves you of the pressure to address them on your own. Sustainability is an example worth mentioning. It was not very critical earlier, but times have changed quickly, and the priorities will continue to change in future too. Continuously tightening statutory compliance regime is another example. The platform makes you ready for a feature much before they become critically required to run business. 

These suppliers have a large ecosystem of partners, and thousands of consultants and users. This makes sure help is available from multiple sources. 

These solutions are universally available in multiple languages, multiple currencies and suited to the statutory requirements of the respective country. 

The platform is seamlessly integrated with other software tools like Microsoft Office and analytic tools like Power BI. 

The platform has modern tools to connect with machines and software applications to help extend the solution. 

The current requirement is for suggestions to come from ERP through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Platforms like Microsoft Dynamics have these features built-in and continuously improved for your benefit.

Look at the value and not just the apparent cost

Do not ignore the hidden costs of ERP implementation: 

The executive time spent by your organisation to get the ERP working to your level of expectation should be valued and taken as cost for the project. 

Deciding to implement the wrong ERP means you lose on the opportunities due to delays which are natural consequence of the wrong choice.  

A wrong choice also means that after the money and effort is sunk, it will be quite a while before you will realise that it must be written off and needs to be replaced it with the correct one. It is more worthwhile to spend time and energy to choose the right ERP meant for you. 

It is very easy to recognise an implementation which is not optimal. In such an environment, multiple systems (softwares) and spreadsheet will be seen along with the ERP, where the actual work is done. After the work is done data is populated in the ERP. Loss of real-time control and immense effort to reconcile data from one system to another is a direct and ongoing cost to the organisation. Totally avoidable.

The values to be aimed at:
•    Cost reduction. Not only the material but overhead costs must reduce per unit of output 
•    Reduction in emergencies 
•    Quality of customer relationships to clearly differentiate yourself 
•    Ensure profitability item-wise, customer-wise, category-wise, and production order (work order-wise) should improve over time 
•    Improvement in inventory and working capital turnover 
•    Improvement in response time of the organization to external demands 
•    Reduction in attrition rate of employees 

The opportunity

You have a unique advantage now. Top of pack ERP framework like Microsoft Dynamics are available on cloud at a very reasonable rate. There are partners like Samadhan who have a very rich experience in paper and packaging domain which is productized through Microsoft-certified apps which work on top of Microsoft Dynamics. This combination and value therein are widely appreciated world over.