ERP Integration & Business Continuity Planning
Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Over the past decade, companies across all industries have been streamlining their corporate level operations with advanced software applications, such as SAP or Oracle, for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Once systems like those have been implemented, a company can expect to see vast improvements in areas such as financial forecasting, order management, operation analysis, etc. ERP systems are successful because they make a company’s data more readily available. Having quick and direct access to data is even more beneficial when faced with the tough economic times of today, as it allows management to efficiently adapt to changes in the market.
Integrating ERP to Manufacturing Systems
However, ERP systems are most useful when fed accurate, real-time data. A common problem that many manufacturers face today is that most ERP systems do not interact easily and directly with the shop floor. Due to this connectivity problem, many manufactures use manual data entry to feed data into and out of their ERP systems. Manual data entry not only exposes companies to the risk of faulty data submission, but it also does not provide ERP systems with real-time data. For manufactures to take full advantage and ensure their ERP system is accurate, real-time data from the production floor must be provided.
Our team of integration and technical specialists develop and implement transparent middleware applications that compliment ERP systems by providing them the necessary real-time, accurate data they seek directly from the shop floor. Engineering has integrated many solutions with numerous ERP systems and across diverse industries such as Food & Beverage Manufacturing, Discrete Manufacturing and Oil & Gas, among others. These middleware applications act as a pipeline that easily allow the flow of data between systems. Middleware solutions allow ERP systems to retrieve data faster and more efficiently while cutting costs at the same time. No longer will companies have to wait for reports at the end of the day to be printed or handwritten and then re-entered into ERP systems.
Engineering’s integration solution allows data to flow directly, throughout the day, into the ERP system. Having data flowing directly cuts down the need for paper trails, redundant data submission and errant data, ultimately saving companies significant amounts of money and time. Most importantly, these solutions supply ERP systems with the real-time data needed to help managers make better decisions and adjust production to realize maximum gains.
Business Continuity Planning with ERP
Another great advantage of using a middleware system is that it allows a company to establish a BCP or Business Continuity Plan. BCP is a way of keeping a factory up and running during planned or, more importantly, unplanned ERP outages. Since software systems are always at risk of going off line for many reasons, backup plans must be set up to handle these situations. When companies rely on ERP systems to plan and release orders, plants must still have the capability to create orders locally during such outages. Any downtime in production is costly and when your ERP system goes down companies can’t afford to stop or slow down production because of it. During ERP outages, the middle ware application allows a designated user to copy previous orders, edit the copied order if needed, and release them for production, allowing the plant to continue running. Once the system is back online, Engineering’s middleware solutions also have the capability to reconcile manual orders with ERP orders, helping to ensure continuity between the different systems and also protecting against processing duplicate orders.
A wide variety of other useful functionalities can be built into the middleware solution such as declaring production or consumption on production orders, creating messages about material movement inside the plant and/or warehouse, or requesting messages from the ERP system to aid work in production. Some plants may not have the necessary equipment to automatically record consumption, scrap, and/or production information. By using one of Engineering’s middleware solutions, workers can manually enter data directly into the middleware system which automatically forwards it into the ERP system, assisting schedulers keep more accurate counts on materials to aid in production planning.
Engineering's Advantage
Engineering’s middleware solutions are critical for any manufacturer running an ERP system. The middleware systems Engineering provides help bridge the gap between the shop floor and the top floor, closing the loop in the field of manufacturing in order to drive efficiency, transparency and communication across the enterprise.
