Month: February 2023

ERP or enterprise resource planning software collects, stores, and data more accurately and efficiently than manual systems.

It integrates disparate business systems and fosters smooth flow of information and improved collaboration between departments.

It gets rid of information siloes and brings together all the data in a single dashboard, giving real-time data access to all employees according to their roles.

ERP enables organizations to minimize errors in data handling by reducing human intervention, saves time, money, and effort, and boosts overall efficiency and productivity.

Today, ERP software is used in every industry, and by small, medium, and large businesses, and even multinational corporations everywhere in the world, making it a multi-million-dollar industry in itself.

Surprisingly, there are still a lot of myths about ERP that people still harbor.

ALSO READ: Influence and Importance of ERP System in Different Industries

Common ERP Myths

Let’s check out the most common ones:

Myth #1: ERP Is Extremely Expensive

Reality:

Every business is unique and therefore their requirements are also unique.

Each industry has its own requirements; they are of different sizes as well, and each business within an industry has its specific requirements.

This means that the requirement for ERP modules also differs.

A company manufacturing steel bars in multiple locations, for example, has more complex needs than a standalone retail shop that buys finished goods and sells them.

It’s true that premium ERP solutions with more modules and features can cost a pretty packet; however, with the advent of new technologies like cloud computing and mobile platforms, you can get ERP solutions that are more economically priced.

Nowadays, subscription-based pricing is also available, where businesses can choose packages and only pay for what they need, and how much they need.

ALSO READ: What are the Challenges in ERP Implementation?

Myth #2: Only Big Businesses Need ERP

Reality:

While it is true that ERP software was used only by large corporations previously, the same doesn’t hold true today.

In fact, it’s one of the biggest ERP myths that small businesses do not require an ERP solution.

As ERP software becomes more affordable with new technology and pricing models, small businesses can adopt ERP and reap its many benefits.

There are several options available for customizing the solution to suit individual requirements.

It is essential to choose the appropriate ERP solution for the business depending on its size and complexity, so that it can be implemented effectively, and give benefits to the business in the long run.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Implementation Questions to Ask

Myth #3: Only Executives and Management Benefit from ERP

Reality:

ERP delivers real-time information and actionable insights that enable top management to take effective decisions for business growth.

These benefits percolate to the lowest level as they often result in enhancing processes and helps in improving employee productivity and performance at various levels.

As ERP software helps to share information across the entire organization, it helps to improve communication and collaboration.

Your top management can plan and implement projects better, eliminate redundant tasks, and reduce costs of procurement and processes.

So, you can see how the software can benefit even the lowest-rung employee.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Having an Employee Self Service System

Myth #4: ERP Software is Only Used to Influence and Gain Customers

Reality:

When it is properly implemented and made use of, an ERP solution allows you to deliver better customer service.

For example, you can make deliveries on time, in the right quantity and quality that the customer ordered, and at an attractive price.

This will definitely impress your customers.

But that does not mean that it is the only or chief purpose of implementing ERP in your business.

It is simply one of the desired and expected outcomes.

With improved operational performance, you can achieve excellent results, and better quality products and services.

This can help your business to improve goodwill and build trust among your customers, forging long-term relationships with them.

ALSO READ: Future of Enterprise Resource Planning

Myth #5: ERP Software Is Useful Only for Streamlining Internal Operations

Reality:

Streamlining internal business processes is one of the biggest benefits provided by ERP systems.

They get rid of informational siloes, bring data into a central database, foster better communication and collaboration, reduce expenses, and boost efficiency and productivity across the organization.

This has a cascading effect, as eventually, it helps to provide superior quality products and services to them.

It also helps in conveying to your customers that you are an efficient and professional organization and builds trust.

Eventually, this results in customer retention as well as the acquisition of new customers.

With better employee productivity, timely wage payments, better training, appraisals, and promotions – all simplified with the HR module in the ERP – you also get happier employees.

Happy employees are more productive as well as loyal, and you can retain the best talent.

They will also make positive contributions to organizational growth.

Thus, you can see that ERP has multifold benefits.

Myth #6: One ERP Solution Can Be Used By Any Business

Reality:

As we had mentioned earlier, the kind of ERP solution your business needs depends entirely on the nature, size, and complexity of your business and of course, your industry as well.

It is imperative that you make a comparison of the various ERP systems available, and see which one is the most suited to your business requirements.

You also need to check if the ERP is scalable and flexible, and can be customized to suit your specific processes.

Previously we compared a manufacturing company with a retailer; but even within manufacturers, there can be vast differences.

For example, a company making only two or three products will have limited needs as compared to a company manufacturing dozens of products, even if they belong to the same industry.

Therefore, the solution that is good for the first company may be woefully inadequate for the second.

If you do choose an off-the-shelf ERP solution, make sure the vendor can customize it to make it suitable for your specific processes and to help you achieve your unique business goals.

ALSO READ: Detailed Guide on ERP in Production Planning

Myth #7: There is no Difference Between ERP, SCM, CRM, and MRP

Reality:

All of the above – supply chain management, customer relationship management, and manufacturing resource planning are all different software solutions that are designed to handle a specific function of the business.

ERP solutions can have all these modules, or we can integrate any of them with the ERP solution depending on your individual needs.

Myth #8: ERP Implementation Takes Too Long

Reality:

Similar to the cost of ERP implementation, the time taken also depends on numerous factors like the size, type, and complexity of the business, how many users are there, how much customization you need, your expectations from the software, what resources are available, how quickly the employees and management learn and adapt to the new solution, how complex the change is, and what its scope is. Implementation can be as quick as a few weeks, or it can take a couple of years.

For example, a multinational corporation with multiple locations will require a lot more time than a standalone business.

ALSO READ: Accounting Trends

Myth #9: You Can Get Results Immediately

Reality:

This is again one of the oft-repeated ERP myths.

With any new software or tool, you have to give it time to produce results – you simply cannot rush it.

The same goes for ERP.

You are shifting to a new process; it takes time for the employees to adapt and get used to the new system.

Only after working on it will you be able to know where you are lacking and how you can improve; are you managing the inventory well?

Where can you cut costs?

This will definitely take some time – a minimum of six months at least, to see semblances of change.

But never fear; an ERP system will definitely let you reap rich rewards in the long run.

ALSO READ: How Does Landed Cost Affect the Cost of Inventory?

Myth #10: Adapting to ERP is Very Difficult

Reality:

ERP is basically the work processes in your company being represented in the form of software.

It is designed after understanding your process flow so that it can be simplified and made more efficient.

Therefore, it is not right to say that it is difficult to learn; after all, your employees are very well-versed with your process flows, as they have been working with them for a long time already.

ALSO READ: Debit Note vs Credit Note

Myth #11: ERP Is an IT System and Only the IT Department Is Needed for Successful Implementation

Reality:

Nothing could be further from the truth!

ERP is a business asset, and responsibilities and contributions are required from all the business departments, as well as all rungs of the hierarchy: from the CEO to the workers on the shop floor.

Obviously, IT is a critical part of implementing the solution and maintenance; but every single business function, from procurement and inventory to HR and production, up to sales and marketing have important roles to perform if the ERP implementation has to be successful.

Myth #12: An ERP System Alone Makes Enterprise Resource Planning Possible

Reality:

This is another ERP myth that business owners believe, but this is not the case.

ERP software makes the job of management or entrepreneurs simpler; it does not eliminate them from the scene!

Qualified and well-trained professionals with solid knowledge about the product and experience with implementing software are needed to ensure its success.

It is true that ERP software can enhance overall organizational productivity and efficiency on multiple levels.

However, several activities can only be performed with human intervention – decision-making for business growth is the major such activity.

ALSO READ: Supplier Aging vs Customer Aging

Myth #13: Maintenance and Upgrading Not Required

Reality:

ERP software is not a one-and-done thing; as your business grows and customer demands change, you will need to make sure your software is upgraded to reflect the current trends, and include new features to accommodate dynamic market conditions.

Maintenance is necessary to weed out bugs and technical glitches.

Without upgrading and maintaining your software, you will lose the competitive edge you had.

However, with cloud-based ERP like Tranquil, you don’t have to worry about upgrades as we are continuously working on upgrading our software, and our customers automatically get them.

ALSO READ: How Can you Prevent Inventory Stockouts?

Myth #14: Vendor Support Is Not Needed

Reality:

Without vendor support, implementing the software can be difficult; you will have to learn it all by yourself and also resolve any issues that crop up.

Make sure that your software vendor is willing and able to provide after-sales support so that you don’t have any hiccups later, like downtime that results in business disruptions, or loss of critical data.

We hope this article has helped clear the air around the myths about ERP software. Interested in knowing more about Tranquil ERP and how it can benefit your business? Contact us right away to talk to our experts. You can also schedule a demo of our software and see how it works.

 

In almost every industry, and nearly every business, automation has crept in, to some degree.

Automation reduces operational expenses, improves efficiency, and saves time.

Warehouse automation is a complex job, as a warehouse is a critical element in the supply chain.

A warehouse consists of multiple moving parts, and deciding which you need to automate can itself be daunting.

ALSO READ: Guide on ERP Software in Warehouse & Fixed Asset Management

What is Warehouse Automation?

To put it simply, warehouse automation involves automating the inventory movement from its receipt in the warehouse to the point it is shipped to customers.

Each step in the process is designed to decrease manual effort and amplify efficiency.

By automating your warehouse, you can have proper visibility into warehouse operations and greater control over them.

More businesses who want to boost productivity and efficiency are today aware of the benefits of warehouse automation, and are automating their warehouses.

It must be remembered that automation includes implementing software solutions, and not just robotics or mechanical automation, to reduce human effort.

ALSO READ: Why Should You Implement Trading ERP Software for Your Business?

Types of Warehouse Automation

There are two main types of warehouse automation:

1. Physical Automation

Where you install mechanical equipment and robots to automate manual processes.

The initial cost layout is very high for warehouse owners who choose this type of automation.

However, this automation is preferred by companies who have complex warehousing and/or businesses.

ALSO READ: Strategies to Improve Your Supply Chain

2. Process Automation

Where you deploy software to digitize manual activities like order and inventory data handling, etc.

Modern software like Tranquil help you in tracking complex data efficiently.

This automation incurs lower initial cost as compared to physical automation.

Both types of automation have significant benefits; which you need to implement depends on several factors.

You may even need to combine both if your business is complex and you have huge warehouses.

When To Consider Warehouse Automation?

This is important to know, even if you know the advantages of warehouse automation, and want to automate.

Consider: is your team spending inordinate time in manual warehouse tasks, poring over spreadsheets and papers for hours?

You could be paying heavy costs for not-so-productive labor.

Labor costs make up more than half of your overall budget for warehouse operations.

In such a case, it is time for you to automate.

ALSO READ: Common Inventory Management Problems and Solutions

Here are a few other tell-tale signs that show its time for warehouse automation:

• It’s difficult to fulfil orders on time
• Your inventory and order data are not accurate
• Order error rates are increasing because of incorrect picking
• Assigning tasks to warehouse employees is tough
• Inventory cycle counts are erroneous
• You’ve employed excess staff due to the high orders you get
• Poor packaging methods are resulting in high number of returns due to damage
• Repetitive shipping has caused overhead expenses to increase
• Customer satisfaction is dropping as you’re unable to engage with customers.

Now remember that most of these challenges are faced by the majority of ecommerce owners – however, when you can identify them, you can take measures to overcome them, like automating your warehouses.

ALSO READ: Understanding Sales Management in ERP

How Does Warehouse Automation Work?

During warehouse automation, robotics, sensors, and other hardware, work in tandem with warehouse management system software to bring about almost total automation in your warehouse.

In fact, you can enhance your workflows by integrating your current software with the warehouse automation system.

With warehouse automation, you can be prepared to meet the increasing demands of the market, and deliver outstanding customer service.

Data is extremely important in today’s business scenario; a warehouse automation software captures data in real time, and allows you to analyze it effectively.

ALSO READ: What Is Employee Turnover?

How to Implement an Automated Warehouse Model?

Automating your warehouse is a project; and you need to plan well.

This plan cannot be randomly made by observing other businesses – you have to understand your business situation and goals, and then form a strategy.

Here are some important things you need to do:

1. Brainstorming

It’s a good idea to consider the views and recommendations of all stakeholders and team members; your goals should be well-defined so that you can check your progress after automation.

Brainstorming will give you deeper insights into your warehouse operations and the parts that need more attention.

Third-party industry experts can also give you valuable inputs regarding optimal business tools that can make the process hassle-free.

ALSO READ: Cost Reduction Strategies in Procurement and Supply Chain

2. Evaluate Your Warehouse Layout

Warehouses are unique, and there’s no one solution for all.

Evaluate the space and the throughput to identify gaps in processing, and make changes to the layout so that the warehouse layout aligns with your business needs.

3. Data Collection and Analysis

For automation to succeed, you must have reliable data, collected from your workflows and operations.

Analyzing this data will help you understand your company’s position, which will help you plan the warehouse automation process, keeping in mind your budget and infrastructure.

ALSO READ: What is Cross Docking?

4. Implement Latest Technology for Scalability

You need to focus on scaling and growing your business, and modern technology can help you immensely in this.

IoT technology can help you radically change warehouse operations; with devices and items communicating with one another, you can streamline your processes and make them more efficient.

5. Inventory Control

Warehouses have to manage inventory effectively; ergo, you must have a clear understanding of your inventory management flow before you automate your warehouse.

Implement a robust inventory management system to simplify this process.

This will deliver important data points like movement, loss, damage, and cycle count of inventory, so that you can plan a model that maximizes your throughput.

It is important to analyze your KPIs at this point to get critical insights on important metrics.

ALSO READ: What Is Gross Margin Return on Investment (GMROI)?

6. Implementing a Warehouse Management System

Warehouse management system is a software solution designed to improve your workflow, with every step from inventory receipt to shipping executed in an efficient and economical manner.

WMS from Tranquil easily integrates with your legacy systems, affording maximum visibility and control.

7. Decide on the Suitable Warehouse Automation

We’ve already seen the two main types of automation you can achieve in your warehouse.

After you have sufficient information and have clarity on your goals, next you have to decide if you want physical or process automation, or a combination of both.

This depends on the nature and level of complexity of your business.

ALSO READ: What Is Cloud Data Protection?

Types of Warehouse Automation Technologies

Warehouse automation technology, like other technologies, is advancing and becoming more sophisticated.

Let’s take a look at the most popular automation technologies:

1. Goods To Person (GTP)

This helps in transporting inventory within warehouses via carousels, conveyor, vertical lifts and similar equipment.

It allows inventory to move through different phases without manual intervention, speeding up the picking process.

ALSO READ: Debit Note vs Credit Note

2. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS)

This is similar to GTP, and used in complex warehouses with limited space.

It can raise picking accuracy to nearly 100%, and uses mini-loaders, tote shuttles and other storage and retrieval equipment.

3. Automated Sortation Systems

Sortation determines which product goes where, and RFID is the technology used in automated sortation.

Barcodes on products are scanned to instantly identify storage locations. Conveyors are often used to sort the items quickly and efficiently.

ALSO READ: What is Goods Received Note and Why is it Important?

4. Pick​ To Light and Put To Light Systems

Mobile barcode scanners are synced with storage location digital displays; when an item is searched for or scanned, the employee is routed to the correct location by the system.

This makes it easy for the employee to find the location for both storing and picking the product.

This system drastically reduces the time spent in looking for the location.

ALSO READ: Common HR Mistakes and Tips to Avoid Them

5. Voice Picking and Tasking

Speech recognition is the technology used here; an employee reads out the product’s features into the system via mikes or mobile headsets, and the system shows the employee the best path to reach the location to pick or store the product.

This cuts short the overall time required for picking or placing a product. Additionally, the employee doesn’t have to have the RFID device in their hand during picking or placing, reducing the scope of injury.

6. Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs)

These vehicles are used to transport inventory within the warehouse, following a pre-set path to move, using special sensors.

These sensors follow a magnetic strip placed on the floor of the warehouse, and are more suited to small warehouses with fewer employees.

ALSO READ: Must-Have HRMS Modules and Features

7. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)

Similar to AGVs, the robots determine optimal paths to move within the warehouse, using GPS.

They have sophisticated infrared sensors and lasers that help them move around obstacles in their paths.

Thus, they can be used in crowded warehouses with several obstacles efficiently.

Challenges in Warehouse Automation

While there are numerous benefits of warehouse automation, there are a few challenges as well:

• The initial cost can be pretty high and has to be borne by owners of the warehouse
• Equipment is likely to fail suddenly; therefore, it is essential to schedule regular maintenance checks to ensure minimal and unexpected downtime
• Cost of maintenance has to be factored in
• You need to conduct regular audits to ensure smooth warehouse operations

ALSO READ: What is UOM in Inventory?

Benefits of Automating Your Warehouse

1. Improve Worker Performance and Well-being

You can boost productivity minimize human error and labor constraints, improve material handling coordination and enhance the safety and wellbeing of your employees.

The right warehouse automation system offers more accuracy, less strain and fatigue, and fewer injuries, which keeps employees happy.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Having an Employee Self Service System

2. The Warehouse Adapts to your Changing Needs

You can combine automation technologies to create a system that meets your changing business needs.

Tranquil is a modular solution, and is scalable, so that it can handle your business process effectively when it becomes more complex too.

3. Sustainable Environmental Footprint

When implemented properly, warehouse automation can help reduce your carbon footprint.

You can create a sustainable approach to manufacturing and industrial storage.

If implemented intelligently, warehouse automation can reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable approach to industrial storage and manufacturing.

Many automation options enable denser operations and storage, lowering the amount of space needed to complete the same tasks and the resulting urban sprawl.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Modules and Features

Additional Benefits:

• Frees employees from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on value-adding tasks
• Reduces possibility of human error
• Enhances employee satisfaction
• Deliver better customer service
• Reducing shipping costs
• Optimized warehouse space
• Boosts overall efficiency and productivity
• Reduced order returns
• Improved picking rates
• Accurate collection and analysis of data
• Fewer inventory stockouts
• No overstocking
• Maximum order fulfilment

At Tranquil, we believe in the power of automating your processes to boost efficiency and productivity, and save significant time and money. We understand fully, the challenges you as a business owner face, in operating a business. Our software can help you improve your warehousing operations and take your business to the next level. Do schedule a demo of our solution to see for yourself. Our representatives will explain everything in detail.

 

Ask any entrepreneur running a small or medium business what he relies on as a comprehensive business tool, and 9 out of 10 are likely to say ERP.

Enterprise Resource Planning software centralizes all information in one database, giving you a real-time view into all your business processes.

A trading ERP like Tranquil can manage and sync activities like assembly, development, arranging, and so on from one unified database.

It includes all elements of the trading industry, from procurement and inventory to marketing and distribution to increase your overall efficiency and productivity, eventually improving your revenues.

While a trader does not have to keep track of multiple types of inventory like raw materials and work-in-progress, they are likely to have several thousand products, which can become very difficult to manage properly.

Each product will be of different value and have a different shelf life, and turnaround time.

Some products may also be seasonal. Manually keeping track of all this can be very daunting and chaotic.

ALSO READ: How Tranquil ERP Benefits in Construction Management?

To be profitable, you must have a robust ERP solution, and be able to deliver products to your customers in time.

These are times of intense competition and uncertainties; of tightening regulations and dynamic consumer needs.

It is imperative for you to adapt to all these situations in the market, and achieve quality in products, and excellence in customer service.

As your business grows, you also need the sales team to draw up result-oriented sales strategies.

You must meet goals and accelerate business growth.

Reasons for Implementing Trading ERP Software

Let us see how trading ERP software can help you navigate the tempestuous modern business environment.

1. Order Management

This feature helps you manage and keep track of customer orders efficiently.

The possibility of orders getting misplaced or duplicate orders being recorded used to be common when orders were recorded manually on paper.

Thanks to ERP and automated process of order management, these errors can be eliminated, and the entire process is made smoother and quicker.

ALSO READ: Why Tranquil is One of the Most Trusted ERP Solution Providers in GCC?

2. Increased Insights and Visibility

A trading ERP gives you excellent visibility into material flow in and out of the organization.

You can make more accurate market predictions and take informed decisions regarding inventory, procurement, production, and so on.

Distributors can also get the benefits of automated distribution processes and improved business insights from a robust ERP solution.

3. Robust Warehouse Management

ERP software for trading offers robust warehouse management features that make sure that your warehouse processes are more efficient, productive, consistent, and are of good quality.

Trading ERP offers accurate business information in real-time by tracking customers, vendors, inventory, external and internal locations, and more; these factors allow warehouse managers and traders to make better decisions for profitability.

Thanks to a trading ERP solution, you can effectively handle incoming inventory and prepare inventory controls.

Supposing you have warehouses in several locations, a robust Trading ERP like Tranquil will smoothly handle the multiple locations, ensuring the inventory operations are transparent and hassle-free.

You can reduce the time needed to process the products, and boost employee productivity with the proper allocation of the appropriate resources at the correct time.

What’s more, Tranquil is designed to scale with your business; therefore, if your business grows and you jump to millions of transactions from a few thousand, the software will handle it without issues.

ALSO READ: How ERP Software is Playing Role to Improve Business Productivity?

4. Better Traceability

Trading ERP solutions can help you trace your products meticulously; it also helps you trace all operations carried out between the vendor and customer.

Lot tracking, serial number tracking, activity log, and perpetual variation, are some of the features that the ERP offers – all this is achieved by diligently following the stock.

Serial numbers are assigned at all steps in the reception and delivery phases to facilitate easy and quick traceability.

Additionally, with just a click, it can also help to forecast all future inventory transactions.

In fact, a trading ERP helps in tracking stock movements to not just specific warehouses, but also to customers, suppliers, manufacturing locations, and so on.

A trading ERP analyzes every action taken with regarding to stock both up the chain and downwards, achieving complete traceability of products.

ALSO READ: Future Trends of ERP System

5. Vendor Management

It is important to manage your vendors efficiently, to ensure that you always have a smooth inflow of your quick-selling items.

Tranquil ERP maintains meticulous data on all your vendors, including things like their lead time (how much time it takes for a vendor to deliver your orders to you after your order), pricing, product quality, reliability, and so on.

This helps you to pick the right vendor when you have to order.

You will need to have a proper mix of local and national or international suppliers.

While the vendors who are far away are likely to offer lower prices, the local supplier will be able to deliver much quicker.

ALSO READ: Route and Van Sales

6. Precise Demand Planning

Along with streamlining distribution processes, trading ERP provides effective forecasting capability for a business.

It leverages historical data, and factors in current market trends to make predictions regarding demands for the near future.

BI and data analysis capabilities of ERP trading software can help traders plan their inventory purchases much more efficiently and gain a competitive edge.

7. Efficient Product Management

A robust trading ERP like Tranquil helps you manage the different types of products, kits, the numerous variants of a product, and different measurement units smoothly and without errors.

From receiving the products to picking, packing, shipping, and delivery, every trading operation can be speeded up thanks to technology like RFID, barcode scanners, touchscreen interface, and so on, integrated with the ERP.

As barcode scanners can be used to track products with serial numbers, you can save a great deal of time when it comes to resource management, and route customization for the delivery processes.

Tranquil ERP allows you the customization of routes, as well as the picking and packing operations to align with your specific customer delivery process.

Wave picking, batch picking, by-order picking, and most other picking methods are facilitated by Tranquil ERP.

ALSO READ: What is Negative Inventory and How Can you Prevent it?

8. Optimal Human Resource Management

A trading industry works at different levels; from handling product inventories to delivering them to customers who order them, there are multiple segments of people in the various categories involved in processing the various steps involved in each phase.

A trading ERP system helps traders to streamline human resource management efficiently, handling everything in that function from hire to fire.

You can maintain a solid database to record every detail about your employees including contact information, their roles, and responsibilities, attendance, salary, performance evaluation, promotions, performance issues, disciplinary actions if any, loans, vacation days, sick leave, training undergone, and so on.

ALSO READ: Must-Have HRMS Modules and Features

By diligently tracking employee performance, the business can decide on matters like promotions, salary raises, training required, and so on.

The employee self-service portal allows employees to view important information related to their employment in the company, and can directly post queries, follow up with leave requests, and so on.

Tranquil also simplifies your payroll management, ensuring that employees are paid correctly and in time – happy employees are productive employees.

By offering them opportunities to upskill themselves through training, and making timely salary payments, you can help your employees feel valued.

9. Simplified Inventory Management

Traders and distributors greatly benefit by the inventory management module in trading ERP systems.

By streamlining and automating inventory management processes, the potential for manual intervention and error can be significantly reduced.

Additionally, the business can save time, and divert the employee focus to more value-adding core business tasks.

With automation, businesses can supervise and manage data across multiple currencies and locations, offering actionable insights into real-time transit and stock inventory as at present.

ALSO READ: Inventory Management Trends to Know

10. Accurate Reporting

Thanks to the comprehensive and end-to-end visibility that Tranquil ERP provides, you can also generate reliable reports based on multiple categories.

You can also compile data and generate reports for internal use as well as external reasons.

This way, you can respond more quickly and efficiently to complicated requests for reports, and also ensure that you maintain compliance with industry regulations and requirements for reporting.

11. Build Strong Customer Relationships

ERP trading software can help you build robust and long-lasting relationships with your customers.

As we saw above, Tranquil ERP helps in forecasting demand more accurately, planning procurement, inventory, and production more efficiently, and ensures that products are of good quality, and delivered to customers in time.

The software keeps track of past purchases by customers, enabling you to make tailored offerings to them.

All these factors go into increasing customer satisfaction.

This helps businesses retain customers and also gain new ones.

The sales module in Tranquil ERP helps you formulate more effective sales and pricing strategies, and deliver personalized buyer experiences to your customers.

ALSO READ: Stock Adjustment Vs Stock Transfer

12. Powerful Point of Sale

With customer habits of shopping changing quickly, it has become almost a stringent necessity for traders to include a point-of-sale or POS machine or facility for their products.

You can see them in retail stores near the exit and/or billing counters.

Many customers are attracted to purchase at specific outlets as POS machines are there and they can pay by credit or debit card even if they are not carrying cash.

POS is easily integrated with Tranquil ERP, and you can give the satisfaction of increasing purchasing ability to customers.

You can also use this opportunity to upsell and cross-sell products and bring in more revenue.

ALSO READ: Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

Here are some of the unique features of ERP in Trading and Distribution Industries in brief:

• Real-time tracking of business strategies
• Servicing multiple locations and currencies
• Dynamically monitoring various processes
• Lead management
• Controlling inventory
• Tracking commissions and payouts
• Multiple pricing convergence

So, we can see that an ERP solution can benefit your trading business significantly.

Tranquil ERP is a scalable, flexible, cloud-based solution that gets rid of siloed information and integrates disparate systems to render your processes more efficient than before. Every day without Tranquil ERP is a day you’ve not leveraged time and cost savings, and continued with less efficient processes. Contact us now for a free demo – and you’ll know what you’ve been missing.

 

Plastic is a subset of the chemical industry; seeing that mineral oil is one of the main components used to make plastic, the industry is seen as a part of the petrochemical industry.

Along with production, plastic engineering is an integral part of the industry.

Despite the opposition to plastics, the industry continues to grow across the world.

Plastic products include thermosets, polyurethanes, thermoplastics, coatings, polypropylene fiber, adhesives, and sealants.

Due to the complicated nature of the production and storage of plastic and rubber industry raw materials, there are various regulations regarding their storage and recording their safety data sheet.

In fact, this sheet must be linked to the inventories and has to be easily accessible by every user.

ALSO READ: Guide on How Do ERP Systems Work

The plastic manufacturing industry is in a state of continuous growth, necessitating the effective increase of output to meet high demands.

However, this places a huge strain on business resources.

One of the most efficient ways to manage the processes is with plastics ERP solutions.

With a robust software that manages all elements of your workflow, you can boost productivity, decrease loss and expense, and enhance revenues and profitability.

The plastic and rubber industry needs a proper system to record and track all data to ensure a seamless process without delays.

The plastic manufacturing ERP software facilitates the testing of products in processes like distillation, polycondensation, polymerization, and adding chemicals; additionally, it handles integration, extrusion, and thermoforming in injection molding, etc.

The software thus makes sure that quality is maintained, orders are accurately recorded, pricing is performed correctly, and products are delivered in time.

Tracking and traceability are critical to gain a comprehensive view of the business.

You need all details about receiving raw materials, productions, internal transfers, and customer order shipments.

Tranquil ERP covers all your business requirements, whether it is design and manufacture or sales and accounting, or anything else.

This degree of integration makes the passage from one process to the next simpler.

As the rubber and plastics business involves a lot of equipment, you need complete visibility into your shop floor activities and machinery, which is possible with Tranquil.

Along with real-time information into every business process, Tranquil provides advanced analytics, generates reports, and delivers actionable insights which you can use to take better decisions for your business.

ALSO READ: Critical Factors for a Successful ERP Implementation

Modules

1. Inventory Management

It is crucial to keep track of your inventory, which includes raw materials, work in progress, and finished products.

While this is important in any business, it is all the more essential for plastic manufacturing.

Tranquil provides all the tools you require to ensure smooth, undisrupted production, without overstocking or causing inventory shrinkage.

You can also set reorder levels to make sure you replenish raw materials in time.

ALSO READ: Common Inventory Management Problems and Solutions

2. Finance Management

You can manage your finances better with this module.

It will help in maintaining compliance with financial and taxation regulations, analyzing your financial data, setting budgets, making forecasts, tracking expenses, allocating costs, managing your cashflows, and tracking profits.

ALSO READ: Benefits of ERP in Accounting and Financial Management

3. Project Management

Plastic manufacturing is a complex business; with the right ERP, you can manage your production efficiently from start to finish, making sure that you complete tasks in time and within budget.

Expense management and tracking, and logging billable hours by employees helps you bill customers accurately, and calculate profits correctly.

4. Sales and Distribution Management

You can efficiently manage your sales and distribution on the basis of real-time data from order management.

By ensuring timely and smooth product delivery, you can ensure customer satisfaction, which will help you retain your existing customers and tap into new markets too.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Sales Management Software 

5. Procurement Management

Procurement is one of the biggest expenses for any manufacturing business; this module will help you keep the procurement expenses properly controlled and manage the entire process much more efficiently.

The procurement process can be automated and streamlined, and you can track your purchase orders from the time you order till you get delivery.

Efficient vendor management, detailed transaction history, and credit limits are other features available.

ALSO READ: Different Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

6. Fixed Asset Management Software

The plastic manufacturing industry involves a wide range of equipment – these are your assets, which you need to maintain well.

This module helps you track and maintain your assets, boost their operational efficiency, and extend their life.

You can also maintain detailed records of assets that have been retired, get damaged or stolen, or are disposed of.

ALSO READ: What are the Key Stages of Fixed Asset Life Cycle?

Additional Features Available

Specifically for the plastic and rubber industry, these features are available in the ERP.

Their functions are such that the modules may overlap.

For example, for material requirement planning or forecasting, both inventory and sales modules (departments) are involved – and so on.

ALSO READ: Reasons for Failure of ERP Implementation

But these features are important for this business:

• Material requirement planning
• Production process defining
• Master production scheduling (project management)
• Work center management
• Demand management
• Machine efficiency (asset management)
• Bill of Material (project management, procurement)
• Batch or Lot manufacturing
• Engineering change request
• WIP tracking (inventory)
• Job Work Management (project management)
• Quality control
• Tools and Equipment tracking
• Compliance management for quality, labor, finance, tax etc.
• BI and reports
• Order management
• Document management
• Warehouse management
• Stock valuation and costing
• Warehouse management
• Audit trail
• Product costing
• Job estimation
• Machine Scheduling
• Multi-plant planning
• Scrap handling
• Barcode and RFID
• Quote generation
• Quote comparison

ALSO READ: Top Trends of ERP System For The Future

Benefits of Investing in Plastic Manufacturing ERP Software

Tranquil offers in-depth visibility into your plastic manufacturing business thanks to AI and IoT which can be integrated.

It collects real-time data which is presented in an easy-to-use central dashboard.

You get actionable insights and identify problem areas so that you can take the right decisions for your business and ensure smooth operations continuously.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Modules and Functions

Let’s take a look at the benefits of plastics ERP:

1. Quality Assurance

There are numerous steps involved in rubber and plastic manufacturing, beginning with the creation of the initial plastic form, up to building the final polymer.

With manual QA measures, it’s quite possible that you will end up making crucial mistakes that hamper the product quality and the customer relationships too.

With Tranquil ERP, your quality management is automated, allowing you to ensure that your product quality is maintained across your supply chain.

Tranquil unifies and centralizes all your quality functions so that you can record and track materials and products throughout their life cycle.

From the central dashboard, QA personnel can access lists of items to be inspected, identify parts to be reviewed, and any other activity required to ensure quality of your finished products.

You also can track vendors and get real-time updates on inbound shipment inspections so that before you commence manufacturing, you get good quality raw materials and components.

Furthermore, plastic companies manufacture products for industries like aeronautics, automotive, defence, medical device manufacturing and so on.

This means that the plastic manufacturer has to meet compliance standards and industry regulations.

With detailed audit trails and automatic checks for compliance certificates, Tranquil simplifies your compliance.

ALSO READ: Importance of ERP System in Different Industries

2. Production Control

The plastic and rubber industry has a very complicated supply chain, with customers demanding numerous customized and intricate products.

Tranquil ERP is equipped to handle these challenges.

It allows you to govern processes and manage products whether simple or complex.

The project management module affords you full control over any project and gives you in-depth estimations, and helps you plan, schedule, execute costing, and logistics information.

You can even manage bill of operations, multi-level BOM, and assemblies in a single engineering structure, allowing them to confirm parts visually to accurately cost and schedule.

Automatic generation of BOM, routing, component numbers, complete CAD integration, and more, help you to make your engineering workflows robust, and assist in designing products.

With production control from start to finish, you can handle subtle manufacturing processes and customer requirements, simultaneously minimizing waste and maximizing yield.

ALSO READ: Challenges in ERP Implementation

3. Reduced Design Times

The plastics manufacturing business handles a wide variety of customers with disparate requirements.

While the design process can take time, it can be quickened with the help of Tranquil ERP.

You can map consumer requirements to your plans while considering what can be done technically.

4. Lower Margin of Error

Mistakes can be costly for any business.

Design phase miscalculations or missing crucial customer requirement information can cause excess spending.

With Tranquil, you can keep track of these details efficiently and make precise calculations so that your bottom line is not hampered.

ALSO READ: Why Tranquil is One of the Most Trusted ERP Solution Providers in GCC?

5. Accurate Pricing

Your customers will want proper quotations before they decide to order.

When you can factor in the pricing restrictions, you will be able to generate quotations effectively.

You will also be able to issue a BOM quickly and with precision.

You will be able to generate and deliver quotes even in a very tight time limit, which is better for you and your customer.

6. Better Lead Times

With an efficient workflow, your goods delivery turnaround time will be short; the reduced lead times will not only keep current customers happy and get repeat orders from them but can help you acquire new ones too.

A speedy turnaround also means being able to take up more business opportunities as well.

ALSO READ: How ERP Software is Playing Role to Improve Business Productivity?

7. Effective Management of Production Scheduling

Varying production challenges accompany each customer order.

However, ERP helps you plan how you can produce a particular design the most efficiently.

You can schedule and manage tasks and resources with the project management module – ensuring even the minutest aspect of the whole project can be properly managed.

8. Supervise Material Consumption

Wastage is one area of business where you can lose a significant amount of money.

Tranquil ERP can help you reconcile discrepancies discovered in the raw material weight vis-à-vis the output.

The precise data provided by plastics ERP can help you keep your production costs under control.

ALSO READ: Guide on ERP for Metal Fabrication Industry

9. Manage your Tooling Process

As a plastics manufacturer you will be managing several jobs simultaneously, and keeping track of it all can be very daunting.

Tranquil ERP can help you track each project and each task within a project.

can easily track the lifecycle of your equipment and tools, and you can schedule maintenance services for them as required.

In fact, the asset management module can help you automate the maintenance, improving their operational efficiency and extending their lifespans.

ALSO READ: Accounting Problems and Solutions

Tranquil ERP can simplify the complexities of your plastic and rubber manufacturing industry. Schedule a free demo to see what exactly the software can do for your business. We are happy to answer all your queries.

 

It is essential for living beings, businesses, processes, and so on to evolve so that they can survive and thrive.

The same goes for supply chains as well.

Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and other new technologies are disrupting not only the supply chain software environment but also the way supply chains function.

What will the emerging trends in supply chain management for 2023 be?

Let’s understand a few things first:

Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a worldwide shortage of truck drivers, workers, and so on, slowing the movement of products and spiraling the cost of shipping.

This shortage has been having a cascading effect, with disruptions in Europe possibly crossing 900 billion this year, according to a report by Accenture.

The continued shortage of labor and increasing cost of freight, congestion at ports, breakdown of logistics, and inadequate material supplies are the main causes of these disruptions.

Despite the supply chains being on the mend continuously, a full recovery is going to take a long time.

With business leaders undergoing fluctuations in supply chain, they are increasingly relying on technology and restructuring their strategies.

ALSO READ: Best Ways to Improve Supply Chain 

Trends in Supply Chain Management

Let’s now take a look at trends in supply chain management.

1. Resilience

The lockdown caused chaos and upheaval in all sectors all over the world; supply chains have had to innovate and venture into uncharted territory.

Since the pandemic set in, the supply chain pressure index has been very volatile.

McKinsey says that companies have to discover and mitigate hidden risks while reshaping strategies that are no longer relevant so that they can be more resilient to such situations in the future.

Value chains include everything from procuring raw materials to delivering the products to customers.

The impact of supply chain disruptions extends beyond these value chains.

Every tier in the supply chain suffered losses during the pandemic, as a disruption at any point in the chain has a cascading effect and impacts several activities in the chain.

These risks are forcing supply chains to take a fresh look at risk assessment and their vulnerabilities to have flexibility and resilience.

ALSO READ: Inventory Management Trends to Know 

They have to consider:

• The weak links in vendor partnerships
• Important areas in the chain not in their control
• Reliance on items with just one source that could disturb the supply chain if they faced issues
• If they have adequate visibility into end-to-end processes that will enable them to be agile during unforeseen circumstances

It is not that being flexible and resilient are new concepts; in the race to cut costs, these objectives were often ignored.

From now on, choosing the lowest cost option can be damaging to the supply chain.

2. Blockchain

Blockchain technology offers outstanding transparency and visibility.

Instead of the conventional method of storing information in tables, blockchain uses blocks of data.

New blocks are created as each storage block gets filled with data, and are ‘chained’ to the previous block.

These blocks become undisputable records, giving users transparency into every transaction with precise time stamps.

It is one of the important supply chain trends as it allows:

• Better tracking of materials from the source, across the chain, up to the customer
• Reduces administration and paperwork
• Improves security of transactions and offers better visibility into suppliers etc.
• Enhanced security and fraud detection

ALSO READ: What is Hybrid ERP?

3. Digital Supply Chain Twins

With social distancing and remote work, digital became more popular than manual, as it provides real-time data from across the supply chain along with precise analytics.

This helped avoid many disruptions.

They recreate a supply chain and its processes in entirety, in a digital environment that can be accessed easily.

The real-time data collected from IoT devices offer full visibility into everything, from what customers order, to individual items going through the supply chain.

It can identify delays in production and possible consequences, while alerting you to machinery in need of repair.

They offer massive benefits to industries out of supply chain management too, but necessitates huge investment financially and equipment-wise.

ALSO READ: What is Inventory Reorder Point?

4. Supply Chain as a Service (SCaaS)

SCaaS is rapidly becoming one of the most popular supply chain software trends.

As value chains gain complexity, it becomes very difficult to handle every process in-house.

The trend is to shift to digital from manual, where data maintenance and analysis, implementing massive numbers of IoT devices, etc. become the norm.

Most small and medium businesses will be unable to execute these tasks themselves, choosing to outsource them instead.

SCaaS can help reduce costs, boost productivity, and enhance customer service, and offers specific benefits for the supply chain like improved asset management, flexibility, agility, and resilience.

This affords a tactical opportunity to work with organizations who aim at making every part of the chain more efficient.

When each segment can focus its efforts on rotating inventory or managing assets, it becomes possible to innovate and gain competitive advantages.

Of course, it necessitates surrendering control over specific parts of your supply chain and can be worrisome; but bear in mind the advantages you can gain.

ALSO READ: Benefits of E-commerce and ERP Integration

5. Circular Supply Chains

Conventional linear supply chains dispose materials left after producing an item; with sustainability becoming more important than ever, circular supply chains are gaining in popularity.

Here, unused materials are pushed back into the chain – recycling and promoting low or zero waste.

Today’s customers care about the ethical value of their products, and governments define limits for waste too.

To be successful today, you must use ethical practices and have sustainability in sourcing.

Circular supply chains require some effort but can help cut costs significantly.

6. Cloud-based Products

Cloud-based systems reduce expenses and customization issue, without compromising on security or functionality.

A study by Markets estimates that the market for cloud-based supply chain management will cross 45 billion dollars by 2027.

Businesses today are more open to outsourcing, and are not worried about third parties accessing their software, inventory information and the like.

The benefits provided by cloud software like Tranquil are numerous: rapid deployment, lower upgrade costs, better software lifecycle, anytime anywhere access, and so on.

Extreme customization is possible with on-premise deployments but with little customization in cloud-driven software, you may end up altering your processes so that it works better with tech – and this can bring you many more benefits.

ALSO READ: Importance of Cash Book in Accounting

7. AI and IoT

With low price and reliability, IoT sensors are available in ample quantities; internet penetration is massive and increasing still, data storage capacity has increased tremendously as has processing capabilities, and AI has not only made its entry but is also gaining more applicability.

All these have driven the rapid adoption of IoT in supply chain management.

Thanks to AI and IoT, customers today can find out where their shipments are at any given time; the technology helps reduce costs and boost productivity, increasing revenues.

AI saves time and money, and speeds up the entire supply chain process end-to-end.

With lower-level decision making automated, management can focus on strategy formulation and higher-level decisions.

AI helps in balancing supply with the demand forecast and transform the way you view future trends in supply chain management.

It studies current patterns and predicts potential results for future scenarios – thereby solving inefficiencies in the present chains.

ALSO READ: Understanding Sales Management in ERP

8. Robotics and Automation

Supply chain can benefit significantly by adopting modern robotics, as they can integrate with your processes safely, from remote locations.

While there is the fear of humans losing jobs, it actually only takes up low-value tasks, enabling you to divert your attention to complex challenges and value-adding tasks.

The employees performing lower-value tasks can be upskilled – they don’t have to be dismissed.

Like it or not, automation is here to stay thanks to the increased productivity and efficiency it offers.

ALSO READ: What is Physical Stock Verification? 

9. 5G Networks

It is imperative that we have networks capable of handling a large number of devices, now that thousands of IoT-enabled devices are becoming available in the market.

There is a huge gap between the capabilities of 4G and 5G. while the former is capable of handling 10,000 devices in a square mile, the latter can handle a hundred times that number.

The rapid adoption of digital necessitates a robust network being in place to enable seamless and speedy communication between machinery, processes, and users.

5G offers better quality and also optimizes important supply chain components, from logistics to distribution, up to warehouse management.

ALSO READ: How Can you Track Unit of Measurement (UOM)?

10. Capacity Crunch

The possibility of a capacity shortage stretched the trucking industry to its limit in the past few years.

It was expected that this would be rectified by 2020, but then all hell broke loose with the pandemic, and it doesn’t look like it will improve anytime soon.

With more people preferring to shop online, it is becoming challenging to deliver their orders on time.

While revenue increase is an outcome of the increased need for transporting goods, it has several challenges – maintaining trucks, for instance.

Truck breakdowns can have a ripple effect, especially when demand is at a high.

Companies have to become agile and diligently track their business processes to respond to market changes.

Truck manufacturers should invest in software that automates processes and reduces expenditure.

Trucking companies and shippers will require robust collaboration systems to sail through the choppy waters of the supply chain.

ALSO READ: ERP in Accounting and Financial Management

Conclusion

In the near future, we will see even more technologies emerging in the supply chain industry, along with newer challenges.

Businesses will have to become resilient to tide over unforeseen disruptions. Leveraging emerging supply chain software trends like those we mentioned above – AI, robotics, Blockchain, cloud computing, 5G, etc. will help companies scale, and be flexible and agile.

Tranquil ERP is a cloud-based, robust, affordable software that can help you manage your supply chain efficiently, cut costs, save time, and boost revenues. It is a scalable and flexible system that will improve your business processes from end to end. Simply book a demo at your convenience and see for yourself how it works. Our representatives will walk you through it and answer any query you have.

 

The world is getting increasingly digitized by the day, and today you have software for almost everything under the sun.

Businesses of all sizes use software to help them manage their accounting, HR, or sales functions.

One of the best solutions for businesses, however, is Enterprise Resource Planning software.

ERP software gives you a 360-degree visibility of your business, simplifying operations management.

One of the most popular and trusted ERP software providers in the GCC region is Tranquil.

With over 150 customers served for more than one decade, Tranquil has established its presence and carved a niche for itself in the GCC region as one of the most effective and reliable ERP solutions.

Let us see why…

Tranquil ERP integrates disparate systems, bringing every business function in a central location, with all information stored in a single database.

By getting rid of siloed information, ERP software collects real-time data and offers access to relevant personnel, empowering them with information that helps them make the right decisions.

ERP streamlines and automates time-consuming and cumbersome activities, improving accuracy, and saving time and effort.

It also frees your employees from routine tasks and allows them to focus on more value-adding tasks that are essential for business growth.

ALSO READ: How ERP Software is Playing Role to Improve Business Productivity?

Advantages

Tranquil ERP helps a business to streamline their business functions and offers other advantages:

• Collaboration – Tranquil ERP facilitates improved collaboration and communication between departments, empowering teams with information needed to close deals and take decisions to benefit the business
• Visibility – You get a comprehensive and in-depth view of all your business data, giving you actionable insights for more informed, effective decision-making.
• Demand Forecasting – Accurate forecasts of demand that help in more effective planning. Historical data, current trends, and customer behavior are some of the factors considered.

ALSO READ: Different Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

• Time Saving – It increases operational efficiency across the organization, saving time, and benefitting all stakeholders.
• Customer Service – Enables you to deliver enhanced customer service, helping you improve customer satisfaction, retain customers, and tap into new markets.
• Cloud-based – Tranquil is driven by the cloud, and that grants you a great deal of security, and reduces your expense as you don’t need to invest in any additional hardware. It also means that you can view information whenever you need it, regardless of where you are, without waiting to get to your workplace.
• Mobility – With our mobile app available for both Android and iOS platforms, your teams can access critical information on the go, on their mobile devices, whenever they need to.

ALSO READ:  Benefits of Mobile ERP

• Scalable – Our solution is designed to scale so that when your business grows and you add more products, employees, locations, or currencies, it will handle the load with ease.
• Affordable – Though Tranquil ERP provides all the features that leading ERP software provides, it is economically priced, making it affordable for small and medium businesses too.
• User-friendly – We believe in keeping things simple. Our software is user-friendly and you don’t need to be a tech wizard to learn how to use it.
• Training – Our team will help your employees with training in the form of videos, webinars, documentation, online lectures, and in-person training sessions.

Modules

These are the ERP Modules that Tranquil BS Provides:

HR

With Tranquil, you can automate and streamline all HR functions from hiring to firing and everything in, between, calculate wages accurately, track appraisals, leaves, performance issues, and more.

Project Management

You can easily break down the project into manageable chunks, and allocate the requisite resources to each task and job.

By setting deadlines and milestones, you can track the progress, and ensure that the project is completed on time.

Expense management is simplified, and you can easily budget each project, each phase, and each task within each phase.

ALSO READ: Future Trends of ERP System

Accounting

Finance is the lifeblood of any business; and it’s imperative that it is managed properly.

Our Finance and Accounting module helps you analyze financial data, set and maintain budgets, forecast demand, track transactions and expenses, and anything else that is related to financial accounting.

You can ensure comply with financial and taxation regulations, keep track of your profits, and manage your funds and cash flow efficiently.

Inventory

Ensures optimal inventory holding so that there are no stockouts, production stoppages or delayed shipments, or overstocking which causes dead stock and high carrying costs.

Define reorder levels and set alerts to notify you when stocks reach those levels to place orders for replenishment.

Asset Management

Tranquil ERP allows you to monitor and track all assets throughout their life cycle.

You can schedule maintenance, and maintain records of their purchase, servicing, disposal, repairs, and so on.

You can also track your assets as you transfer them between projects, departments, or locations.

Procurement

This module helps you to streamline your procurement strategy and operations, and make sure that you buy the right material or product from the right vendor at the right time and at the right price.

Sales and Distribution

Tranquil optimizes the supply chain and ensures availability of goods.

It also lowers inventory, and carrying costs, and helps you craft smart strategies to boost sales.

You can service customers quicker, boosting their satisfaction and loyalty.

Thanks to fast inventory turnover, you need lesser storage space.

Tranquil inventory and distribution management application allows wholesale companies to sell directly to the end customers through route and van sales.

Other Features of Tranquil

Tranquil ERP is widely used by businesses in the following industries: manufacturing, construction, general trading, contracting, manpower supply, finance, distribution, rental companies, retail, logistics, oil and gas, chemical, automobile, and power.

Small and medium businesses, enterprises, and government agencies prefer ERP and other business solutions from Tranquil.

Service-providing businesses can especially benefit from Tranquil with the features of automated scheduling and assigning of tasks, eliminating delays in customer service.

Tracking timesheets and expenses are super easy with Tranquil, and helps in preparing and presenting invoices efficiently and accurately.

From simple installations to the construction of complex projects, Tranquil can make life easy for you with it’s wide functionality and application.

ALSO READ: Guide on How Do ERP Systems Work 

As Tranquil ERP is widely used in the GCC region, it supports both Arabic and English languages.

We have a presence in over eight countries including India.

At Tranquil, we provide round-the-clock live tech support to our customers via phone, email, and live as well.

The platforms supported are Android, iOS, SaaS, and on-premise.

Tranquil ERP integrates with many third-party applications to make it easy for your business.

The chief integrations possible are Azure Industrial IoT, WooCommerce, and Azure App Service.

Every software provider offers a free demo – and so do we, but we go one step further, and offer a free trial as well.

This allows you to see it working and actually experience the benefits.

We are sure that once you actually understand how it improves your business functions, you will be eager to implement Tranquil ERP in your business!

We have an experienced team of professionals who can make the necessary tweaks in the software to include functionality that is essential for your business.

While we don’t recommend over-customization, Tranquil is flexible enough to undergo minor changes to suit your unique business needs.

Tranquil ERP can help you achieve your goals faster and in a more efficient manner.

In fact, by implementing this solution, you can radically transform your business and make it leaner, simpler, and more profitable.

Our ERP solution is futuristic; meaning it is designed to endure, and to handle business requirements in the near future as well, and not merely for today.

It is extremely secure, and uses multiple security protocols and layers to ensure that only authorized personnel get to access sensitive business information.

Access is granted based on roles and responsibilities after multi-factor authentication.

ALSO READ: Factors for a Successful ERP Implementation

Artificial intelligence is embedded in the software, and it helps in data analysis and accurate forecasting that help you make more informed business decisions, to accelerate your growth and profitability, gain a competitive edge, and become a major market player.

Flexible pricing options allow you to pay only for what you use, so that you have adequate funds for critical activities like research and development, and can innovate to stay ahead of the competition.

As it is deployed in the cloud, it offers multiple advantages of not requiring additional hardware, lower expense, more security, and getting updates and bug fixes quickly and seamlessly.

We are sure you are inclined to believe us no when we say that Tranquil is one of the most trusted providers of ERP software in the entire GCC region. You can also check what our customers are saying about us here. Don’t you think there are plenty of reasons to trust Tranquil ERP? Well, as we mentioned earlier, we provide a free demo as well as a free trial. They say that the proof of the pudding lies in eating it. So, don’t just take us at our word, see our solution in action!

Ask for your free demo, and we will be happy to explain in detail how it all works. If you’re still not convinced, we will give you a free trial as well. Our representatives will be on hand to answer your queries.

 

The metal fabrication industry is based on precision; to fulfil consumer demands, the skills of the workforce, production schedules, and availability of materials have got to align properly.

While this itself is daunting, there are more hurdles that businesses in the industry face.

Prices of raw materials rise constantly, demand fluctuates widely, and there is an acute shortage of skilled labor.

Combined together, all these make operating a fabrication business profitably is very challenging; margins are coming down, and operational performance is being scrutinized like never before.

Obviously, you cannot control external forces that push down your margins, but you certainly can improve your operations, streamlining them and making them more efficient and profitable.

Thanks to ERP software for metal fabrication, manufacturers can do all this through better planning, implementing solutions efficiently, shortening their time to market, decreasing wastage, and cutting costs.

ALSO READ: Benefits of ERP for Steel Industry

What Is a Metal Fabrication ERP?

Where margins are tight and specifications are very specific, you have to pay careful attention to detail.

ERP for fabrication industry helps to handle and optimize everyday operations, by leveraging data to get insights that will ensure output that is consistent and of good quality.

You can see a plethora of generic ERP solutions in the market with standardized features, but industry-specific ERP software for fabricators is designed to meet your unique needs.

The inbuilt features facilitate capacity management, supply chain strengthening, and the streamlining of shop floor operations.

Often in metal fabrication, you may be required to go back and forth between measurement units to reduce wastage while fulfilling customer needs.

This calculation can be performed automatically when you choose metal fabrication ERP; it helps you to make the most of your resources.

What Are the Benefits of Using Metal Fabrication Software?

There are numerous steps involved in metal fabrication, which means that there are several stages at which problems and challenges can crop up; with margins already low, this can prove extremely frustrating.

With metal fabrication ERP, manufacturers can combine and automate important processes end to end: from quotes through inventory management to production.

Here are the main benefits it offers:

• Boosting output by pushing projects from initiation and quoting phases up to the production line so that the finished product can be delivered to the customer speedily.
• Precise quote generation that facilitates making delivery commitments to customers
• Eliminates redundant processes and siloed operations to speed up time to market
• Offers thorough visibility into business operations and data in real-time to all relevant employees, boosting agility.
• Minimizes machinery downtime and groups jobs based on tooling and nesting requirements to improve the efficiency of equipment
• Helps avoid delays through minimizing disruptions in supply chain by studying the impact of material lead times and availability on production schedules
• Ensures holding of optimal inventory to avoid stockouts and overstocking, eliminating the possibility of dead stock or cessation of production
• Automates repetitive tasks and freeing employees to concentrate on executing value-adding tasks instead
• Enables quality control and compliance with regulations through dedicated traceability throughout the supply chain, production, and distribution in case there are product recalls
• Helps you meet differing consumer demands over how finished products are built and delivered, especially if there are custom orders that evolve in the course of production.

Features To Look for in Metal Fabrication ERP

ERP software has multifarious and far-reaching benefits, but a generic ERP may not have everything that you really need.

When shopping for ERP for your metal fabrication business, check for these features:

1. Enquiry, Estimations & Quotations

It would be ideal if your ERP can take care of these pre-sales activities; allow you to record enquiries, create estimates of bills of materials for each enquiry, and draw up detailed quotations based on the estimates.

This will save you significant time that is otherwise taken to manually draw up quotes and estimates.

Some systems will allow you to save historical records of lost quotations along with reasons for studying them in the future.

2. Order Management

Your ERP solution should be able to manage all activities related to orders and optimize the entire process.

You should be able to track orders, and activities related to production, supply, and delivery in a centralized order management system.

A reliable ERP system should allow you to create categories for orders, handle delivery schedules, maintain details of shipments, make sure documentation is correct, and record terms and conditions for payments centrally.

3. Bill of Materials

You need this feature if you give work out on sub-contracts to other companies.

Inbuilt BOM software enables you to describe the materials, components, and subassemblies for all products to employees, vendors, and other stakeholders.

ALSO READ: Guide on How Do ERP Systems Work

4. Engineering Change Management

Customers may request changes in design; there could be some changes in the bill of materials in a current manufacturing order; to accommodate these changes, you need change management.

A reliable fabrication ERP will be able to identify areas where change management is needed and offer features to manage this process efficiently.

BOM revisions, procurement and manufacturing processes should be integrated and configured to reject items, or rework components that are changed.

5. Third-Party Nesting Solutions Integration

While not absolutely essential it would be good to be able to integrate your fabrication ERP with third-party nesting software.

This software helps in fitting several patterns in one sheet and minimize wastage.

ALSO READ: Critical Factors for a Successful ERP Implementation

6. Routing & Activity Planning

Fabrication orders are likely to have separate routes and activity needs as they are mostly customized.

Reliable fabrication ERP helps to describe the route and activity at the level of BOM.

Each order is likely to have a separate requirement, and ERP software can help define the labor, time, input, and output required for different activities depending on the specific requirement.

7. Workload Scheduling

This feature will help you in planning production depending on the capacity of your equipment and availability of raw materials in real-time.

It will help you to adapt your schedule in case some changes happen in the course of production.

ALSO READ: Important ERP Modules and Functions 

8. Raw Materials

Usually raw materials a company procures are measured in tons or kilograms; but in the fabrication industry materials are consumed in tiny quantities – milligrams or millimeters, making unit conversion crucial.

Track material consumption of each project, stock details per weight or length x breadth, managing scrap, and so on.

9. Material Resource Planning

This feature helps in the calculation of the exact material requirements for wastage reduction and expense management.

This data can be then integrated with data like the capacity of the machine, availability of employees, etc. so that your operations can be seamless.

ALSO READ: What is Employee Turnover?

10. Work Order & Job Cards

Another desirable feature in metal fabrication ERP is provision of job cards and work orders for activities related to production.

This helps in laying out the resources, materials, and processes required, and the timelines available to execute jobs.

They can be assigned to your own employees or contracted workers as well.

Job cards are invaluable in controlling the consumption of materials and for accurate processing of contractors’ bills.

11. Production Reporting & Inspection

This feature helps is tracking the actual production on the shop floor and may offer choices of keeping either detailed records or summaries of inspection and production activities.

It helps in identifying the present status of the production, hurdles if any, and identify the problematic areas.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Implementing ERP for Oil and Gas Industry

12. Dispatch & Invoicing

Your metal fabrication ERP should help you streamline dispatch and invoicing activities, like the generation of packing lists, getting checklists ready for dispatch documentation, preparing invoices, and so on.

Finding the Right Metal Fabrication Software for Your Business

When you select ERP software capable of handling specific metal fabrication business activities, you will be able to run your business much more efficiently.

While it is good to zero in on ERP designed specifically for metal fabrication business, you must consider a few other factors before you make your final decision.

You have to reflect if the solution is future-ready; is it scalable and capable of handling the needs of a growing business?

Think about how you will use the software on a daily basis to improve efficiency and productivity.

ALSO READ: Advantages of ERP to Automotive Businesses

Suppose you have businesses at multiple sites, remote workers, sub-contractors, partners, and so on, a cloud-based solution like Tranquil will be ideal for you.

Your teams will be able to access the data and features whenever they have a need to.

Moreover, a cloud-based ERP is quicker and less expensive as you don’t require extra hardware to be installed.

Another factor to consider is whether your software provider understands what you are doing – your business goals, requirements, your products, what you want to achieve, and more.

Check their track record in general, then specifically manufacturing and metal fabrication, and read or listen to reviews left by earlier customers regarding the efficiency of their software and the quality of tech support – also, how quickly they respond.

Verify if the ERP solution can be implemented as is, or necessitates complicated and expensive customization, and how well it can be integrated with some of your necessary systems.

You must also ensure that the software is easily accessible for your team but robust enough to keep delivering value.

ALSO READ: ERP Trends 

Conclusion

At Tranquil, we have in-depth industry knowledge and experience, and can help you to extract maximum value in the way you implement and utilize the ERP system.

We can give you company-wide visibility and improved control over your business, and increase efficiency across the company.

It helps you plan better, and have a greater understanding of costs and profits for specific jobs, achieving maximum ROI.

Tranquil has a proven track record working with all kinds of businesses and manufacturers, helping them streamline operations, reduce costs, save time, and boost profitability significantly. It’s a cloud-based ERP solution that delivers everything you need to operate your business smoothly. It is flexible, affordable, and user-friendly. Do book a demo to know more about how our software can help your metal fabrication business. Our representatives will walk you through the solution, explaining each feature in detail, and will be happy to answer any query you may have.

 

No matter how efficient and capable supply chain managers are, they all need to spend some time in revamping their strategies as the business expands and the environment transitions.

Customers have become especially discerning and demanding now, and want ultra-quick service.

This means that every element, every cog in the supply chain wheel has to be evaluated, monitored, and optimized to ensure that products reach the market quickly and efficiently.

Supply chain improvement ideas need not necessarily cause a great deal of effort of spending.

Simply being focused and future-ready, and training your team properly can often get you better results – more efficiency and speed.

ALSO READ: Different Ways to Improve the Procurement Process

So, let’s take a look at some ideas that can help:

Ways to Improve Supply Chain

1. Set Goals

For employees to work harmoniously and cohesively with one another, it’s essential that all employees know their roles and responsibilities, and what’s expected of them.

It’s a good idea to have a quick meeting daily, prior to starting work, for this purpose.

Team supervisors should convey the plan for the day and interact with the team to ensure that they have understood.

It can be executed as checklists for the whole group at the start of the day and assessing what they got right and what they didn’t at the end of the day so that they can amplify their strengths and work on their weaknesses to rectify failures.

Having a goal-focused attitude enables to have a thriving work environment as it conveys a performance KPI to all employees, allowing them to measure up against team members.

This healthy competition can help improve the accuracy and productivity of employees, leading to overall efficiency.

ALSO READ: Benefits of Having an Employee Self Service System

2. Boost Supply Chain Visibility

This is one of the best ways to improve supply chain.

Supply chain visibility is simply your ability to monitor and follow every component of your product from the time it leaves the vendor till it reaches you.

One way to do this is giving your vendors the ability to check your inventory levels in real-time so that they have a clear understanding of the situation, and can fulfill demand in the future accurately by planning ahead.

Important team members should be allowed to access inventory count details so that they can form their own strategies independently, without having to wait for messages to be relayed up and down the command chain.

ALSO READ: Cost Reduction Strategies in Procurement

3. Optimize Inventory

Always check the inventory levels at hand, and make sure you only stock what is exactly required, and nothing more; this way, you don’t run the risk of over-stocking and obsolete stock, and you won’t incur the high cost of holding inventory either.

Inventory carrying costs if stocked for a year, can make up over 60% of the cost of a product.

Remember, holding too little leads to the risk of stockouts and delayed production and shipments, and you don’t want that either.

You must also do demand planning and forecasts to help optimize inventory.

Robust inventory management software from Tranquil can help you do this effectively.

4. Leverage Outsourcing

It’s not necessary for a business to handle each and every aspect of their business themselves.

Often, outsourcing can bring numerous advantages, and supply chain management is no exception to this.

You can save your internal resources and time, and focus on other more value-adding tasks, instead of being continuously focused on improvement strategies for your supply chain.

This could have a negative impact on your other processes too.

ALSO READ: Accounting Trends for 2023

Third-party logistics and supply chain management service providers take the entire responsibility of these activities and help your company attain steady growth.

They are experts in the field, enabling them to plan well and mitigate potential risks.

You can contact third-party providers for the long run, after considering the various services and levels of service they can provide.

You can outsource either specific parts of your supply chain, or the entire process to them, depending on your business model.

This strategy will be especially beneficial for you if a part of your business necessitates expert supervision in the long term for the economy and improved outcomes.

Today many businesses outsource activities like procurement, customer care (especially call centers), packaging, and shipping.

ALSO READ: How Does Landed Cost Affect the Cost of Inventory?

5. Enhance Distribution Network

Supply chain improvement can also be achieved by improving your distribution network.

You can either do it with a holistic approach or a cluster approach.

The holistic approach involves viewing your distribution network in its entirety, going over the important elements, and getting an understanding of how each element work in the system.

The cluster approach involves clustering or grouping documents like graphs and charts, allowing you to observe the processes for individual functions of the business.

ALSO READ: Supplier Aging vs Customer Aging

6. Automate Key Activities and Manage Them Better

When you deploy automated elements in a warehouse or urge your vendors to do so, it can significantly improve efficiency in a manner that can be measured, and get you the desired results.

It must be remembered that automation may not be effective for every business – but for the majority, it is.

Discuss with top management, warehouse managers, and planning departments if automation and robotics will work for your company.

Discuss the future, and convey what you feel about the feasibility of achieving their goals with the present process.

ALSO READ: Understanding Sales Management in ERP

Moreover, when you do bring in change, you must be diligent to make sure that every automated part is properly managed and maintained.

Of course, this will necessitate more education and training for everyone involved including your vendors.

Supply chain managers are not under obligation to ensure the management of automated elements; however, you can regularly engage with them to ease the transition and make the process more efficient.

7. Engage your IT Department

Unfortunately, the IT team is brought in mainly on two occasions – if something is not working in the present system, or when it’s time to implement new software.

However, if you confer with them at regular intervals about making changes to the software to improve supply chain management, it will be far more effective.

Your IT team has the best understanding of emerging technologies in the field, and are better positioned to advice you on what your organization can do to maintain a competitive edge.

ALSO READ: Sales Order vs Purchase Order 

ERP software like Tranquil can help you manage your supply chain better in addition to integrating your business processes like finance, HR, procurement, sales, and so on, in a single, centralized location.

It helps boost productivity and efficiency, and assigns accountability as well.

Automated purchases help you stay one step ahead of production schedules and be consistent throughout the process.

ERP can help you bring positive change in your business, giving your better visibility into your entire business process end-to-end, as well as each individual process.

Tranquil is a cloud-based, flexible and scalable solution that is capable of handling the extra workload should you add more plants, warehouses, locations, employees, and more.

ALSO READ:  Common Problems and Solutions in Manufacturing Industry

Here are some more technologies you can leverage:

· Wireless Tech

Free your employees from the maze of cables and enable them to work faster and with much less clutter.

Use mobile printers for warehouses where you pick and pack, and ship out your orders.

It helps boost productivity tremendously, by making scanning and label printing quickly accessible, and easy.

It saves them the time of making several trips to the office – which is an unnecessary waste of time and effort.

ALSO READ: Route and Van Sales – Challenges and Opportunities

· Shipment Tracking Tools

Today we have sophisticated cloud-based tracking tools which have buyer interfaces so that the whole process is transparent, and displays exactly where their package is at a specific time, and the time required to reach their doorstep.

Customers can be kept in the loop from start to finish, even informing them when their package is out for delivery.

This helps to keep customers not just satisfied but happy, and delivers an exceptional customer experience to build brand loyalty.

8. Evaluate Your Training Programs

You may need to introspect and identify where your efficiency is failing – and take a deeper look at your training programs in the company.

You could have meetings with department heads, especially those that have the most employees.

You must also go over your training materials – videos, printed notes, infographics etc., as well as the procedures, to ascertain that they are current and are focused on boosting productivity.

It would be good to evaluate the morale of your supply chain as some undesirable elements may encourage goals that are impossible, and eventually impact hard-working employees very negatively.

ALSO READ: Things to Know About the Order-to-Cash Process

9. Develop Robust Relationships with Vendors

A company’s relationships with its vendors impacts the supply chain and its efficiency.

It is essential to build and sustain strong relationships with your vendors for the long term – even after finalizing deals.

Healthy relationships with vendors can be created with some careful thinking and strategizing; set goals for gauging performance, continuing value, and maintaining resolution of conflicts.

ALSO READ: Ways to Reduce Customer Lead Time in Inventory

10. Evaluate Procedures Regularly

This is an extremely important step.

You must review your procedures and policies periodically to make sure you maintain compliance with changing regulations, and boost efficiency across the supply chain.

It will also help you to steer clear of supply chain hurdles, mitigate the risks of fraud, and streamline your operations.

By regularly reviewing your procedures, you can identify the different risk elements, and assess the impact they have on your finances.

ALSO READ: What is Reverse Factoring?

11. Implement a Good Project Plan

Improving the efficiency of your supply chain is a continuous process that needs periodic evaluations – it’s not enough to just implement a good plan at the outset.

This involves having a thorough project plan to make sure that you working to achieve your stated objectives on an ongoing basis.

A solid project plan functions as a framework that helps you to make strategic investments to enhance the capabilities of your supply chain, develop distribution strategies, set channels for communication, recognize opportunities and threats, as well as facilitate decision-making across functions and projects to improve the supply chain.

When you develop and implement a project plan, it becomes the central point of reference for all plans and projects.

You must make use of it to ensure that all the investments and decisions are aligned with your supply chain objectives and on a wider scale, the corporate vision.

ALSO READ: Debit Note vs Credit Note 

Conclusion

To improve the quality and efficiency of your supply chain, there needs to be extensive and intense cooperation and collaboration among disparate departments and teams – but the end result is definitely worth all the hard work.

With Tranquil Cloud ERP, you can get outstanding visibility into your supply chain, and be guided into making the right investments into tech. You can also improve your training and strategize every element of your supply chain, accelerating your company’s efforts in achieving excellence in operations across the organization, and achieving your goals and vision. Do schedule a demo of Tranquil ERP to know more.