The process industry provides many of the products we use in our daily lives for food, shelter, and health. Such products are created as materials and transformed through the use of energy resources and chemical products. In addition, the process industry manufactures products that are essential to advanced industries such as computing, biotechnology, telecommunications, automotive, scientific, and space exploration.
These industries are facing major pressures not only to meet the present needs of our global economy, but also to do so without compromising future generations by ensuring that processes
* meet environmental guidelines
* optimize energy resources efficiently
* result in products that are safer, more reliable, and more functional
* provide features that meet both industry and consumers needs
This article focuses on how enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors are helping the process industry meet both the needs of today and deliver on anticipated functional requirements that will help meet the needs of tomorrow.
Process Industry Manufacturing Challenges
Manufacturers in the process industry are at a difficult crossroads. Although the industry is not facing any imminent substantial decrease in its overall profit margins, there is concern in the industry according to a recent study by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which cites the following issues:
* increased global competition
* foreign currency fluctuation
* changing patterns of customer demand
* escalating business costs
* problems in implementing new technologies
* competitive business pressures
* shortage of skilled workers
To address these issues, process industry manufacturers and distributors must manage the following key activities, and ensure they use an enterprise system that supports these activities:
* Planning production for both materials and capacity—to develop a production plan, manufacturers must ensure that there are sufficient available resources and materials, production capacity, and labor.
* Inventory tracking and controlling work-in-process (WIP)—monitoring material consumption and tracking work order progress is the basis of manufacturers' being able to meet sales order, demand, and delivery dates.
* Replenishment and demand planning—the ability to review variances between forecasted and actual sales is the basis of managing vendor lead times and raw material replenishment.
* Managing the supply chain for order fulfillment—reviewing the global supply chain provides manufacturers with the ability to coordinate logistics and operational activity to meet customer order fulfillment expectations.
These industries are facing major pressures not only to meet the present needs of our global economy, but also to do so without compromising future generations by ensuring that processes
* meet environmental guidelines
* optimize energy resources efficiently
* result in products that are safer, more reliable, and more functional
* provide features that meet both industry and consumers needs
This article focuses on how enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors are helping the process industry meet both the needs of today and deliver on anticipated functional requirements that will help meet the needs of tomorrow.
Process Industry Manufacturing Challenges
Manufacturers in the process industry are at a difficult crossroads. Although the industry is not facing any imminent substantial decrease in its overall profit margins, there is concern in the industry according to a recent study by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which cites the following issues:
* increased global competition
* foreign currency fluctuation
* changing patterns of customer demand
* escalating business costs
* problems in implementing new technologies
* competitive business pressures
* shortage of skilled workers
To address these issues, process industry manufacturers and distributors must manage the following key activities, and ensure they use an enterprise system that supports these activities:
* Planning production for both materials and capacity—to develop a production plan, manufacturers must ensure that there are sufficient available resources and materials, production capacity, and labor.
* Inventory tracking and controlling work-in-process (WIP)—monitoring material consumption and tracking work order progress is the basis of manufacturers' being able to meet sales order, demand, and delivery dates.
* Replenishment and demand planning—the ability to review variances between forecasted and actual sales is the basis of managing vendor lead times and raw material replenishment.
* Managing the supply chain for order fulfillment—reviewing the global supply chain provides manufacturers with the ability to coordinate logistics and operational activity to meet customer order fulfillment expectations.
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