INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ERP)
The adoption of digital technologies is essential to face global competition. The acquisition of an integrated management system (GIS, or in English ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning) should be understood as a strategic decision in the same way as the purchase of automated equipment.
In addition, the acquisition and establishment that was not too long ago overpriced for small and medium-sized businesses is now affordable. Often seen as a computer system, GIS refers to a tool that manages planning and control in a single database. It is designed to meet all logistical needs aimed at optimizing internal and external resources, material and human, in order to meet customer needs and expectations. GIS, which have evolved enormously in recent years, are now able to meet the varied needs of different industries such as manufacturing, distribution or service. For configurable products, it is possible to eliminate human intervention in customizing shop drawings and programming machine tools.
In other words, an ERP is an integrated management system using a single database and allowing to obtain the information necessary for the good management of the company in real time. Such a tool allows the company and the its managers to stop being simple operators (downstream work, short-term vision, analysis of obsolete information and frequent crisis situations) to become strategic operators (upstream work, planning, control and analysis in real time) , which allows them to react quickly to short, medium and long term situations. A GIS contains all the functionalities needed to run a business. It’s important to mention that not many companies will use all of these features. Given the interrelation of the different functions, it is important to perform a needs analysis before purchasing a GIS system.
Some companies decide to take a specialized solution implementation approach. They will then implement several of the best solutions from different management fields (CRM, ATS, etc.), and integrate them into a whole. This approach makes it possible to acquire very advanced solutions in each of the management areas, but requires additional effort to integrate them into a coherent and efficient whole.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI) is a system that aims to intelligently use the data contained in the various systems of a company to contribute to informed decision-making.
The system is made up of data warehousing (data warehouse), data mining (data mining) and decision support systems; this component is presented in the form of a dashboard.
Although this technology has been around for a long time, the advent of Industry 4.0 will bring its share of benefits and complexities. The evolution of connectivity technologies should greatly facilitate the interrogation of different sources of information.
The potential arrival of a multitude of new connected objects, on the other hand, will require a sharp exercise in data structuring.
PRODUCT CONFIGURATOR
A company that tries to differentiate itself from its competitors by offering personalized products needs technological assistance to handle customer requests as efficiently as with standard products. The product configurator is adapted to support this management need.
Like parametric 3D design, this tool aims to take the engineering rules of a product, which usually reside “in the head” of the design or estimation team, to transpose them into a configurator. product.
Thus, a seller can make a quote and automatically generate the sale price to inform the customer.
He will also be able to generate the manufacturing recipe which adjusts the manufacturing range and the nomenclature of the product to be manufactured according to the customer’s choices.
If necessary, it will even be possible to generate a drawing or a photo of the personalized product.
A company that has a good command of its product configurator, and which applies the same rigor to the aspects of computer-aided design and manufacturing, can then process this type of order as efficiently and quickly as for its current products.
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
Several companies use a hybrid, non-integrated system for their management, consisting of accounting software and numerous Excel spreadsheets, developed by and for employees.
This approach meets management needs, but is not suited to real-time information needs, resulting in organizational inefficiency costs. This can put the business at risk due to inadequate service levels, excessively high product costs, or making strategic decisions based on sketchy or erroneous information.
How do you make someone a perfect sandwich without asking them what they want in their sandwich? It’s impossible.
