One of the complications of keeping the shop floor operating at maximum efficiency is the sheer number of cogs that need to keep turning. It stresses the importance of automation, which has become somewhat of a buzzword over the last few years. By automating production processes, a metal fabricator, metals service center, plate processor, and any other company in the steel and metals sector can greatly streamline their operations, reducing costs, improving accuracy, and shortening lead times as a result.
That’s where enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions come in. This state-of-the-art software solution is changing the game for metals service centers and steel companies—here’s how:
The Role of ERP in Automation and Streamlining
ERP systems are software suites that integrate various solutions into a single, comprehensive system that covers all departments and processes. For a company in the steel and metals industry, that can include aspects such as:
- Plate processing
- Coil processing
- Cut-to-length
- Sheeting and leveling
- Multi-line processing
How ERP Systems Can Streamline a Metal Business
Dynamic workforce scheduling is a useful tool in streamlining operations without sacrificing quality. It’s a process that assigns employees to the most suitable tasks, ensuring their time is optimized, and their tasks are clearly stated. If an employee finishes ahead of schedule, they can be assigned alternative tasks; if they fall behind, other tasks are reassigned.
Employees spend less time waiting around and working on tasks that are not suitable for their skills, which improves efficiency and productivity across the shop floor.
Dynamic workforce schedule gives production managers complete visibility of the shop floor at all times, allowing them to see ongoing and upcoming tasks in real-time.
Processes That Can Be Automated Using ERP
Dynamic workforce scheduling works by analyzing all data relating to employees, tasks, machinery, and processes, and then finding the most suitable workers for the job at any given time. However, this is just one aspect that ERP systems can automate. There are numerous others:
Inventory Management
High-tech steel optimization software helps to organize and control steel industries, greatly reducing man hours, employee costs, and mistakes. Inventory management solutions constantly track of all the raw materials coming into the warehouses, as well as all of the products going out.
If stock is running low, the software can issue the necessary orders to acquire more, keeping the cycle ticking over. Rather than sending employees around warehouses with pens and clipboards, you can leave everything to a highly efficient system that works quickly, provides real-time monitoring, and never makes a mistake.
Not only does inventory management help with streamlining, but it also reduces the risk of being caught short with too little stock or overbuying and carrying the burden of additional costs and reduced space.
Order Processing
As soon as a customer places an order, ERP systems can validate the details while calculating the cost of the materials, the profit margin, and the cost of processing and shipping. Inventory is allocated as needed, and the software can also generate all of the picking details, packing slips, and shipping labels needed to process and ship the order.
Human Resources
Customers and upper management aren’t the only ones who can benefit from ERP automation. All of those shop floor employees can also interact with HR systems designed to make their lives easier and reduce micromanagement.
Employees can use HR systems to request time off, plan vacation days, update their personal information, and access any information provided to them by the HR department.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
In ERP systems, CRM is responsible for automating the customer-facing side of the business. It tracks customers on their journey with the company, from the moment that they first interact with the business online through to conversations with sales teams, orders, and more. CRM can be used to send quotes and create invoices while also processing orders and ensuring they get to the right place.
All of this information is then sent through to the shop floor, where employees can produce the necessary product and prepare it for shipping.
Use ERP Software to Control Your Shop Floor
Not only do ERP solutions reduce resource drain and expedite the production process, but they also perform basic functions to a much higher degree of accuracy than the average employee. Humans make mistakes. They input the wrong information—a missing comma here, a typo there—and in a business that deals with high volumes of resources coming one way and many customer orders going the other way, those mistakes can be incredibly costly.
ERP is a system that doesn’t need to be closely monitored or regularly checked, one that will get the job done every time with the highest degree of accuracy.
Fully Integrated ERP Solutions with RealSTEEL
The shop floor is the beating heart of any metal business. This is where all the action is—the blood of broken machines, the sweat of hard work, and the glory of a successfully completed project. If that heart stops beating, the rest of the body will suffer—it doesn’t matter how great your sales team is at selling a product if that product is inferior.
ERP solutions improve automation, efficiency and efficacy, which in turn boosts the bottom line. To discover how your company can benefit from a steel ERP integration, contact RealSTEEL. We work with companies across the metals and steel industry, providing customer solutions that account for the specific needs of this industry, including systems with accounting, CRM, HR, supply chain management, and inventory management solutions, as well as ones that can integrate with existing software, such as:
- Metal fabrication software
- Steel service center software
- Steel nesting software
- Metal framing software
- Metals nesting software
- Pipe and tube software
- Metals optimization software
- Steel optimization software
Get in touch today and take your first step toward a more streamlined shop floor.
