The Role of ERP in Manufacturing Sustainability

ERP Systems Support Sustainable Manufacturing

In recent years, sustainability has become an increasingly important practice for manufacturers’ economic, social, and environmental efforts. Many manufacturers are turning to more sustainable manufacturing initiatives to increase global competitiveness.

Reducing waste results in saved money, time, and materials, and dramatically cuts environmental waste and energy consumption.

Modern consumers have more options than ever before and are often likely to pay more to support environmentally-conscious organizations. Additionally, adopting sustainable manufacturing practices ensures compliance with local, federal, and global environmental initiatives and contributes to working towards a greener future.

Many contemporary manufacturers tether sustainability to long-term organizational viability. And one way to boost business efficiencies, while also incorporating sustainable practices is by utilizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Implementing ERP solutions, like Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine) or Epicor® ERP, allow your business to nail down your supply chain, improve productivity, eliminate silos, and incorporate sustainable practices.

Outlined below are a few ways ERP software can transform your business into a productive and green enterprise.

Lean Manufacturing

The purpose of lean manufacturing is to cut production costs and maximize efficiency, which increasingly includes eradicating unnecessary waste not adding value to the product. There are eight forms of waste that lean manufacturing attempts to eliminate:

• Defects: Errors in products or services resulting from poor quality control or misunderstood customer needs
• Overproduction: manufacturing too many products that aren’t ready to sell
• Waiting: delays that prevent employees from proceeding with supply chain operations
• Non-Utilized Talent: Employees who aren’t appropriate or fully plugged into a role or process
• Transportation: Unnecessary resources delegated to move materials and products
• Inventory: Unutilized materials and products that are sitting in the warehouse
• Motion: Insufficient workplace layout or machinery that causes employees to spend too much time moving around
• Extra-Processing: Exerting more time and effort than needed to deliver valuable products and services

In short, lean manufacturing looks to streamline quality, cost, and transportation to significantly minimize g waste for environmental benefit.

Supply Chain Optimization

Supply chains are complex and easily disrupted; in turn, waste is generated through the rush to meet on-time delivery requirements and poor communication with trading partners across the globe.

Robust use of an ERP system delivers an unprecedented level of agility, efficiency, and innovation through automation and advanced analytics designed to synchronize production and distribution activities to match demand. By streamlining the supply chain, manufacturers can improve collaboration with suppliers and reduce inventory lifetime miles to reduce their carbon footprint.

Demand Planning

Demand planning empowers manufacturers to accurately recognize how future customer demands will affect the future of the business’s manufacturing demands. An ERP system with agile demand forecasting capabilities can reduce manual planning efforts, smooth the impact of one-off events, and predict evolving customer demands. Therefore, ensuring optimized supply chain performance, accurate material consumption, and ultimately decrease nonessential greenhouse gas emissions.

Wrap Up

Sustainability is continuously growing in importance to customers. By adopting sustainable manufacturing practices, you can not only be an ally to the environment but also increase your profits and competitive advantage.

Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine) is a cutting-edge ERP solution that will improve your business processes and help you become a more sustainable organization; however, implementation is no small feat. Here at Datix, we offer Infor CloudSuite consulting and have successfully conducted hundreds of ERP implementation projects. We are experts in the manufacturing industry and are dedicated to providing our clients with software that is aligned to their business process.

Further, our expert consultants will be with you from the start of your implementation project and will stay with you after your go-live date, should you ever need them. Plus, Datix is a certified Infor partner, and we are a one-stop-shop for all enterprise software.

Ready to transform your business into a trailblazing, sustainable manufacturer? Contact the experts at Datix today to get started!