COVID-19 has impacted almost all the industries and still the situation prevails this year also. The pandemic has affected every business operations most importantly the supply chain, disrupting the travel of goods and materials. This caused a great impact from small to large scale Manufacturing Sectors. It is a hard time for everyone to adapt to this unpredictable situation. Now in this article lets see the problems faced by Manufacturing Industries and their solutions.
1. Increase in demand :
Amidst the Global Pandemic, there may occur a sudden rise in demand for certain goods or products. Hence an increase in capacity is required. But we know this won’t be a constant increase as the situation may change in future. So it is important to plan before you start the productivity in large numbers. To meet huge demands, you have to increase your machine capacity by adding more machine hours and increasing it gradually with precautions.
2. Efficient Inventory Management :
You might think, why should anyone care more about materials that are just lying in their stores. But those aren’t just the materials but money in other forms. Many companies are not fully aware that inventory management is equally important to productivity happening on the shop floor. When you have a clear idea on “What you have ? What are you going to do with that ? What do you need to purchase to meet your demands ? ”.. you will be able to see profit out of this. Using a Software can help you keep information handy. This could greatly avoid unnecessary spending on buying new materials.
3. Consumer Trends :
With the evolution of the internet, people are now aware of identifying good quality products. They are interested to know how their products are made and if the quality standards are met. Also they are keen on saving more on purchase. Hence you should stay ahead of them in understanding the market trends. This will help you in building trustworthy brands, environmentally friendly products and improve customer satisfaction.
4. Getting Quality Leads :
In today’s competitive world, every company is striving hard to build their brand among others. Not only the quality products matters, but also the reach of your brand name among users. To achieve this you need a team of members to handle promotional and other marketing activities on full focus.
5. Selling Directly to Customers :
Again with the evolution of smartphones and e-commerce platforms, customers show more interest in buying directly through online. Those were the days where there was a middle man between the manufacturers and buyers but now everything is made simple. You can directly reach out to your customers for delivery and feedback. But the problem is the business requires more operations to be done, like supply chain, accepting and delivering orders, collecting feedback etc. The Manufacturers have to adapt to these new operations. Considering a software to handle the direct sales can make it easier to avoid any gaps between the buyer and user.
6. Scaling your Business :
This is the biggest challenge to any company to decide when to plan for a business scaling. Too early or too late decisions can be dangerous for your business. Hence to make a wise choice you should do research on how your product performs in the market. Make sure you are delivering a good Eco-friendly product to the customers. If all this is positive then it is the right time for scaling up. But when the product does not perform well, then it would be the time to change your product.
7. Increasing Revenue and Sales :
It is the important phase at every stage of the business. Companies that perform well have to look for the next improvements that can be made to further enhance the productivity and sales. Scaling is a response to greater sales and productivity where once it is done the next priority will be doing continuous improvements on the existing process. Following this over a period of time results in enhanced and optimized business operations.
8. Maintenance :
The maintenance problem grows with business growth equally. It is mandatory to set up a regular maintenance survey around the shop floor to keep monitoring the issues. Make sure the equipment and machines are functioning well as well as meet proper quality standards. Take a tour on the shop floor often and look for the process that consumes more time. Thus you can identify the shortest route possible. Doing this yields a result that could save process time, avoid breakdown issues, becomes cost efficient and improves productivity.
9. Software Selection :
All those above listed problems can be solved by opting for the right software for your organization. But the difficulty in choosing the software is another chaos among the companies. There are ‘n’ numbers of software in the market claiming to be problem solving. Hence it is a tough decision to be made. To select the right software you can go with customized and industry specific ones. Most consumers of ERP are Manufacturing Industries and there are n numbers of Manufacturing ERPs. The business development people can help you with free demo or trial versions of the software. The other important thing to notice from your side is how clear the data is. Understanding the process well and having clear data handy before opting for software will ensure the success of the implementation process.
10. Lack of Skilled Labors :
Even with the evolution of automation, replacing the laborers there is still human capabilities required to analyze and rectify the issues. Also with emerging opportunities with major industries, the less people prefer entering into manufacturing. And as older people retire, the labor shortage has become a big threat to manufacturing industries. To overcome this, the recruiters must prefer various online platforms to post jobs.
Conclusion :
These are the major problems faced by Indian Manufacturing Industry. Irrespective of its size, these are common issues they face and can only be overcome with proper planning and choosing the right ERP Software. ERP is a software tool used majorly by manufacturing sectors for its complex business nature. The tool helps you streamline your business process and create a centralized database. It integrates all the departments and its functionalities providing you a clear understanding on day to day activities.
