A changing marketplace is forcing major transformations for metal service centers. It’s not enough to just bridge the gap between global suppliers and local manufacturers. Metal service centers are adding processing services to breathe new life into thinning profit margins. Traditional software just doesn’t work to support an increase in complex processing services. Download The Rules Have Changed: How Metal Service Centers Must Adapt to Survive to learn how you can build profits, control costs and make data-driven decisions in today’s fast-paced marketplace.
6 Ways to Thrive in a Changing Marketplace
You may have noticed a shift in responsibilities for metal service centers. Customer demands are changing, inventory is changing and operational needs are changing. While you may be used to having added pressure on margins, it’s certainly not getting any easier to protect the bottom line. Making the transformation from distributor to manufacturer is a giant leap for traditional metal service centers. However, this change is necessary to adapt and succeed in a changing marketplace.
Download the eBook to learn how to adapt to the new rules and compete profitably in this digital age. The underlying foundation to success begins and ends with the right business management system. It’s not enough to rely on spreadsheets and manual processes. Deploy the right metal industry ERP software and you’ll not only survive, but thrive as a business. Here are six ways to thrive in a changing marketplace:
- Strengthen sales: Scrambling to make complicated calculations, check inventory and prepare proposals isn’t going to win bids. You need to act faster than competitors to provide accurate quotes and promise dates. Modern manufacturing software will calculate nesting, costing and pricing at the line item, calculate production time and costs, populate customer-specific information and email quotes directly to customers.
- Optimize scheduling: Meeting customer deadlines is the quintessential indicator of success for metal service centers. Managing labor, inventory and production resources efficiently is necessary to ensure customer deadlines are met, in addition to profit goals. Manufacturing software will synchronize all production operations, including machines and operators, to meet order commitments.
- Streamline production: Successful metal service centers rely on powerful MES (manufacturing execution systems) to control materials and machine capacity, and to reduce waste. Centralizing data in a single, integrated manufacturing system will deliver actual production data including scrap, sheer and break weights and determine whether additional cuts or materials will be required due to scrap. Optimizing resources throughout the production process will save time and money.
- Improve shipping: Shipping costs are constantly changing and customers don’t want to repeat their preferences with each job. Today’s manufacturing software will automatically populate customer specifications, coordinate deliveries and pickups to preserve fuel, and provide managers with route capacity in both weight and cubic space.
- Control finance: Gain a 360-degree view of operations by consolidating data within a single, integrated manufacturing system. By connecting data, you’ll gain valuable insights into true costs and profitability, including labor, equipment, inventory and other data on a line-by-line basis. In addition, key performance indicators will provide measurable data you can monitor and use to further improve operations, productivity and profitability.
- Utilize BI to your advantage: Simply put – data drives profits. Your managers need accurate, current data to make informed decisions. Built-in business intelligence (BI) features will deliver the information needed to track margins, line-by-line, for every order and activity that takes place between a customer order and the final delivery.
Metal Service Centers Thrive with Modern Software
A changing market is forcing metal service centers to adapt to the new rules of the game. Providing more complex processing services is making it harder to have control over manufacturing operations and insight into profits. Optimize all the variables and gain the upper hand over thinning profit margins by replacing your outdated software.
Learn more about your options by downloading the eBook and contacting The Wolcott Group. You’ll find a team of experts who understand your industry’s processes and how today’s technology will deliver unprecedented control of your business.
