Manufacturing SMEs face many challenges to stay ahead, yet Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) systems have been around for more than 20 years.
But why do manufacturers need a simple MRP system like QuickWorks and what benefits can be achieved?
Use our helpful guide to find out what can be done if your manufacturing business faces challenges on a day-to-day basis.
Management Time
The problem: Key members of the team would like to free up time to focus on developing and growing the business.
How an MRP system helps: You can reduce the time spent chasing jobs and materials by improving visibility to all in the business. With QuickWorks, the information is all in one place, and the dashboard helps communicate the status of jobs and materials to all members of the team automatically and immediately.
Waste
The problem: The business needs to improve productivity and reduce waste of labour and materials, as well as reduce the dependency on high overtime.
How an MRP system helps: QuickWorks will help flatten the demand through the month, which will prevent a slow start and a month-end nightmare.
Employee Engagement/Ownership
The problem: It’s difficult to delegate tasks and it is not easy for employees to become fully engaged. Consequently, key people in the business are overloaded.
How an MRP system helps: QuickWorks makes it easy to delegate tasks whilst maintaining control. The dashboard allows individuals to take ownership of the different functions and tasks within the business, the progress of which is visible to all. Furthermore, the job boards instantly communicate the changes in priorities, so the shopfloor staff know what the next jobs are.
Change Management
The problem: A lot of time is spent communicating changes and informing the shopfloor staff of their changing priorities.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will formalise the management of change, with the advantage of having all the associated documents and information in one system. QuickWorks has the added advantage of communicating these changes easily and instantly to the shopfloor staff, using the job boards.
Administration Time
The problem: It takes too long to generate quotes, sales orders, purchase orders, etc, and, as a result, too much time is spent on administrative tasks, which is holding the business back.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system helps you react quicker and improve accuracy by being able to generate professional looking documentation automatically and eliminates the need for manual duplication. QuickWorks not only enables you to email documents from the system (no need to cut and paste documents into emails), it informs you through the live dashboard which tasks are outstanding, enabling you to keep production moving.
Data Errors
The problem: There are errors caused by manual data entry into spreadsheets or manual systems, which is causing a knock on effect to production and purchasing.
How an MRP system helps: Reducing the amount of input and having the ability to automatically populate information with an MRP system will greatly reduce the risk of data errors. QuickWorks does not require complex data entry and therefore greatly reduces the risk of errors.
Lead Times & Delivery Performance
The problem: The business needs to reduce the time it takes to deliver orders to customers
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will provide control manage jobs through the business. The dashboard in QuickWorks gives everyone in the business the visibility to keep jobs moving and therefore reduces the waiting time within the business. This is complemented by the job boards, which communicate changing priorities quickly.
Quality System Compliance
The problem: The business needs to comply with quality management systems (e.g ISO9001, AS9100, TS16949), without adding to its administrative burden.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will create and manage a lot of the key documents required in a Quality Management System. QuickWorks MRP has full traceability of materials and manages NCRs (non-conformance records), enabling businesses to comply with Quality Management Systems easily.
Cashflow
The problem: We sometimes invoice late and/or it takes too long to get paid by customers. As a business, we need to improve the cashflow.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will ensure jobs are invoiced. The QuickWorks dashboard will give you the visibility to know instantly when jobs are finished (i.e. ready to be despatched), which jobs have outstanding PODs (proof of deliveries) and which jobs need to be invoiced. As result, customers can be invoiced quickly and nothing is left on the shelf.
Subcontract Management
The problem: It’s hard to keep track of what work is due for subcontract and what work is already with subcontractors.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will inform you of when a job needs to go to sub-contract. The dashboard in QuickWorks will give you the visibility to know when jobs are ready to be sent out and which jobs are at subcontract. At the click of a button, you can see if it is worth waiting for another job, before sending a job out, and you can also see if there are jobs available to bring back from the same supplier.
Stock Management and Purchasing
The problem: It’s difficult to keep track of existing stock to determine what material needs to be ordered, this sometimes causes duplicate orders or late ordering.
How an MRP system helps: An MRP system will keep track of purchase orders and manage your stock. QuickWorks gives you visibility through its live dashboard to know exactly what needs ordering, as soon as there is a demand on the system. It will also inform you of what can be picked against jobs the instant parts are booked in. Using MOQs and minimum stock levels, a lot of parts can be managed (typically low-value or regular parts), such that you never run out of stock.
Visibility of Information and Remote Access
The problem: Accessing information held in spreadsheets and manual systems may be difficult, especially when people are remote to the business (e.g. working from home or on the road).
How an MRP system helps: MRP systems hold all the information in one place and information can be accessed by other users. As QuickWorks is a cloud-based system, this makes access of live information even easier, as it can be accessed from anywhere, without the need for VPNs or remote access software.
If you'd like more information, please book a discovery call with us to discuss the challenges you’d like help with.
Find out more about QuickWorks MRP on their member profile page here
Member-created content 1 year ago | From members