ERP systems helping out the industrial and engineering industries

As we all know, ERP systems can and will take care of any company’s business processes, ensuring agility, profitability and responsiveness. The same applies for the industrial and engineering industries. After some research I have narrowed it down to three key functionalities that ERP systems can assist these two industries in.  

Daily accounting tasks and functionalities

ERP systems are capable of fully integrating debtors and creditors modules including invoicing, purchasing and even general ledger. As always, easy navigation of ERP systems assists the users to access key functionalities relevant to their tasks at hand. Tracking of key responsibility areas are easily managed by graphical dashboards within the ERP system. Multi-currency functionalities minimises administrative burdens. ERP systems can also manage all receivables through payment histories that can assist in payment optimisation. This functionality gives crucial insights into various delays that can put pressure on your company’s cash management.

Stock control

Multiple bin, lot and batch functionalities will result in transparent stock controlling methods. ERP systems have the ability to reduce the risk of your company losing business by implementing alternate stock item functionalities. Complete transparency is guaranteed throughout your whole warehouse thanks to functionalities that allow you clear view of stock movement from purchase orders to sales invoices. Integrated web portal interfaces allow customers to place orders directly into the ERP system this reduces turn-around times and speeds up delivery. Stock requirements can be properly planned due to over-all history on items, customers and purchased items.

Customer management

The functionality of full customer contact tracking gives users a clear view of all interactions with customers whether opportunities or issues. Sales pipelines give sales managers the ability to accurately forecast opportunities and to escalate these opportunities to the necessary departments. Quotes that expired or issues that have not been resolved are handled by integrated escalation engines to insure these issues are resolved in the necessary time frames. The integrated escalation engine insures that Service Level Agreements (SLA) is met.

This is just the beginning, in the following weeks to come we will be concentrating on these two industries. Exciting and insightful times ahead, hope you are ready.

Africa’s possible life line.

The saying that you are never too old to learn something new never made as much sense as it did today. I had the pleasure of being “job shadowed” by a student from a local high school here in Johannesburg today and boy did we have fun, well at least I did, I am not sure whether poor Brenda understood half of my mad rumblings about business to business marketing, ERP’s and CRM’s.

I take it most of the population have heard of genetically modified fruit and vegetables. I am happy to say that I knew a bit about it, but what a wonderful surprise when Brenda told me that this was exactly the field of business her dad is in. Imagine my child-like excitement when I learnt about this. Gone were the business and marketing talk and straight into the wonderful work her dad is doing in Africa.

If it was up to me, Brenda’s dad and all the other wonderful souls in Africa doing this wonderful mission should win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Brenda’s dad is a telecommunications director and what he does is travel all over Africa to countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Burkina Faso, to name a few. He opens the communication channels between farmers, ministers and community leaders regarding their agricultural development. These talks are held in regions where famine and draught affect the lively hood of the people. Having discussed possible ways to improve agricultural growth in these rural communities he presents possible proposals to various companies around the world to help these scientists financially working on genetically modifying plants.

So what these scientists do is take the DNA of a cactus that has the ability to grow and strive in desert-like conditions and modify their DNA into the genes of bananas, wheat or corn so that these crops are able to grow in the dry seasons. By doing this it ensures rural communities can grow their own crops throughout the year.

Imagine the possibilities if this trend can catch on. No more horror stories of people suffering and dying of hunger.  It can uplift the continent’s people, give them an alternative way of life, but most importantly, give them HOPE.

THE 6 MOST IMPORTANT ERP QUESTIONS FOR THE MINING MAGNATE.

I have been talking about ERP systems and the mining industry for some time now, I am pretty sure that a lot of my readers would hope I stop. No such luck, the more I research ERP systems and the mining industry the more I learn and the more I want to share this knowledge. A while back I finished my white paper on the perfect ERP system and the mining industry and through that I realised just how important it is in choosing the right ERP system for you and your business.

As with any major purchase, you ask numerous questions and even take it for a test drive if it is a car you are looking to buy. The same should apply when looking for an ERP system. You need to ask as many questions relevant to your business and maybe look at a few demonstrations while you are at it. Let me help you out here, these questions will get the ball rolling for sure.

What is ERP?

Enterprise resource planning [ERP] is the complete system for your business that can run your company’s activities in one streamlined system. All applications are easily migrated into one system which makes it easier for your company to work more efficiently and more importantly to show a return on investment.

Will my financials be taken care of?

Yes, probably the most important question you will ever ask, your company’s financials should be your first and main concern, no business means no money and vice versa. It is crucial that you have a system in place that is clear and transparent in all the aspects of the business’ financial side. A clear view and indication of all the processes should be visible in the ERP system. Following are some of the key functions of an ERP system’s financial capabilities.

·         Financial accounting

·         Receivables and creditor accounting

·         Payment management

·         Cost accounting

·         Investment accounting

·         Controlling

·         Consolidation

How can an ERP system assist in my business’ production and the planning of my production?

In essence, production planning and production are the key components in any mining industry. Without any products being produced in the mine, can and will the mine not survive. Essential to this is the tracking of production and strategies on production. The secret to a successful production strategy is the transformation of resources to reserves and the managing of production units that in the end will contribute to a total production system. Following are some of the key production functionalities to look out for.

·         Work schedule management

·         MPS ( Master Production Schedule)

·         MRP ( Materials Requirement Planning)

·         Technical data configuration

·         Link to weighing scales

·         Cost calculation

·         Quality assurance

·         Capacity planning

Will I be able to distribute and sell my products, while managing my warehouse?

ERP systems assist in managing the complete sales cycles from open pricing, invoicing up to the delivery planning, shipping and even the distribution of products. As a bonus it can even handle new offers and contracts.

The only way in knowing what is going on in your warehouse is if you have a transparent warehouse management system. A system that can track orders coming into the warehouse and leaving the warehouse, this will determine the rate by which your stock in your warehouse needs to be replenished by. Picking strategies, inventory tracking, inventory planning and stock tracking can be set up by the warehouse manager with the help of the right ERP system.

What about my employees, will I be able to manage all of their Human Resource needs?

The all elusive and oh so difficult aspect of human resources, especially in a work environment such as a big mine, it is essential to have a system in place that can take care and manage all your staff and all the ‘baggage’ that comes with having a big work force.

Can an ERP system grow my business and eventually grow with my business?

Mining itself is made up of a number of departments that can be seen as industries on their own, but when it comes to mining all these departments should work together as a whole. That is why ERP systems were designed to handle all these departments in a single, transparent and all-encompassing system that will show you a return on your investment. What you as a business owner need to keep in mind is that the perfect ERP system can and will be able to grow your business and essentially grow with your business.

What motivates you?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, no wouldn’t it be heaven when you didn’t feel like getting up in the morning to simply just stay in bed, with no consequences and repercussions? I can already imagine myself just lying in bed the whole day when I simply didn’t feel like work or were plainly just not motivated to get up.

I am pretty sure that most of the world’s population would agree with me that they would rather stay in bed than getting up and do something. What make this even worse are those cold winter months when productivity and the over-all morale of people are at its lowest, especially here in our sunny South Africa, where we thrive in the warm summer months.

I think it is safe to say that one of the reasons people are not very eager to get up in the mornings are just plain laziness and with a little persuasion and a few cups of coffee, they are good to go and eventually just get on with it. But what about taking it a little further and say that the other reason for not getting up and seizing the day is truly the lack of any motivation whatsoever? If you think about it clearly, laziness (procrastination?) is the biggest symptom of having no motivation. However, it gets a little serious when people get so demotivated and depressed that they truly lose their zest for life. But where does this stem from and why are people in today’s world so demotivated?

How many times have you heard people say they want to follow their dreams or do something constructive towards society or even leave their job and go live a secluded life in the mountains somewhere? Most people, including me have heard this so many times and we can’t help but roll our eyes at these hippies. But the more I think of it, the more I can understand why these individuals feel this way. Most people are just not following their dreams or doing what they love anymore. In the years when your father was a carpenter or stonemason and you just took over the reins are long gone.

This situation has a very negative outcome as well. It is all good and well to fantasize about a laid-back life somewhere on a golden beach or high up in the mountains somewhere, but in today’s fast paced life it is just not so easy achievable. Surely you must eat while you are living your ideal life or just simply lying in bed, but to eat you must work. Forget about food, there are also bills to pay, mortgages to honour and kids to put through school and university. So it is safe to say that your dreams get put on the back burner and you work to get by, to pay the bills and to take care of your family.

It is very sad to know that so many people struggle with this and sometimes I struggle with it as well, up to a certain point. I don’t really want to live a secluded life or anything. But every person has their own idea of a perfect life. A perfect life in one person’s view is to be a successful business man and another’s simply to be happy by earning a reasonable salary. Personally I think greed is the main culprit in this sad saga. If it wasn’t for the need to have more and more we would all have been happy with what we have right in front of us.

My advice instead of moping around and being all depressed?  Take stock of your personal life. Wake up in the morning and realize what you have around you, not what is in your bank account or the dreams in your head. Be happy to live in the moment and willing to change that certain moment. Start small, make someone smile or help a friend out. Change your outlook and your attitude and you might be lucky enough to realize that what is motivating you was in front of you all the time.