In the last four years, I’ve visited over 50 manufacturers and had the privilege of deep diving into their systems to provide insights on how they can improve their processes. At the core, all of them need to accomplish the same thing and do so by following these steps:

1. Sales: Receive an order for an existing product, or an RFQ for a new one, and create a Sales Order.
2. Job Costing Accounting: Estimate the costs associated with Freight, Labor, Overhead, Outside Services, Other and Material (FLOOOM).
3. Estimating & Quoting: Evaluate if the item can be made according to the specifications, estimate the lead time, and create the Quote.
4. Inventory & Purchasing: Check inventory for product and create Purchase Orders for materials that are not in stock.
5. Planning & Scheduling: Create and distribute Work Orders for the shop floor.
6. Shop Floor Data Collection: Ensure that employees properly receive purchased materials, issue them to the job, and clock into their jobs.
7. Shop Management & Quality Control: Ensure the manufactured inventory goes into finished goods with the correct costs.
8. Shipping: Create a Packing List and other shipping documents then ship the finished product.
9. Accounting: Invoice the customer, collect payment, and pay for the direct materials.
10. Project Management: Review costs and timing to see how well you did as compared to your original estimates.

The above steps require a chain of communication involving all departments, including sales, customer service, engineering, purchasing, operations, scheduling, shipping, receiving and accounting.

Even though ERP systems are designed to make this workflow smooth, in every company that I have visited, there are opportunities for improvement. The way the information is passed along is often cobbled together by individuals who have their preferred communication methods, rather than by using the core manufacturing software as it was designed.

Many manufacturers communicate with paper forms that go from desk to desk, asking each person to sign off as they complete their processes. Then the ERP-generated Sales Order, emails, Purchase Orders and the other forms are printed and attached to more paper forms.

Other manufacturers create email chains or use shared spreadsheets. Some create a custom database separate from their ERP. Each process from RFQ to invoice is handled by individuals within the company limiting process efficiency to the technical knowledge of those individuals. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the necessary software training needed to pull information in real time.

Further, as new employees join the company they are trained in these inefficient processes. Often when I ask manufacturers, “Why do you do it this way?” I am told, “Because that was how I was trained.” or “We’ve always done it this way.” Once, I was talking with a receiving person and his manager was listening in on the audit. The receiver showed me how he meticulously prints, initials, scans and emails the audit trail for his PO receipts sending it to a group email each day. We checked who received the group email and realized the manager was included but had never even opened one of the emails. Why was the receiver doing it this way? Because someone told him to years ago.

So how can manufacturers stop these inefficient processes? Here are five ways they can work more efficiently and improve their workflow.

1. Eliminate free-form emails for workflow communications

Often a customer email begins the workflow, but that doesn’t mean you have to continue the workflow in email. I’ve personally witnessed manufacturers forward emails to groups and make screenshots of their manufacturing software as a means of communication. However, this is not the most efficient way to operate.

As soon as the request comes in, it’s time to put the data in its proper place where it can be accessed by the rest of the team. Enter the request into your ERP immediately upon receiving it and make sure all employees are trained on the software and understand how to access what is entered in real-time. Then scan and attach digital files, such as drawings and emails, into your ERP system.

2. Paper is comforting, but it should not drive workflow

There is a certain comfort in a nice paper form with written steps where everyone initials what they completed and moves the paper to the next desk. However, this is not the most efficient way to track projects. Any step that does not have a digital twin (data entered in the right place) is lost – there is no visibility of how many records exist or any way to sort, filter and prioritize work.

To improve, you must measure. How long does it take to move from one process to the next? What happens when someone is out? How easily can this be picked up and continued? If you have both paper signoffs and data entry, how do you know which record is correct when there is a conflict? You can get the information to evaluate and eliminate confusion when you have one source of the truth – the data in your ERP.

3. Optimize how you use your ERP software

“I don’t have time to learn new things.” Companies pay top dollar to have a consultant like me come onsite and evaluate their opportunities for improvement. It amazes me how often people are unable to provide me with an open mind and undivided attention, even for a short amount of time. I see dedicated individuals who thrive on the challenge of piles of paper, unread emails, phone calls, sticky notes and bringing work home on the weekends.

There is always a better way to operate – with a good ERP and best practices in that ERP system. I encourage these overworked individuals to learn more, and I encourage the organization to distribute the steps of the process to multiple people. Often the company’s greatest “asset” – the employee who knows the most – is also the greatest liability when they become the bottleneck of your process.

4. Use a well-organized shared drive for records

Do you have a good place to store key documents, drawings, packing lists, and other communication from customers and vendors? Or is your “public” drive on a shared network with a confusing list of current employees, former employees, customer names, and ideas on where other files are stored? Worse yet, are these files in individual emails, on desktops, or in personal computer drives? Do you name files the same way consistently?

If any of these sound familiar, I bet you’re spending too much time looking for things and your organization is at an elevated risk of permanently losing key data. Spend the time to create a plan for each type of document you need to save. Think carefully about the importance of little details, such as adding the date YY.MM.DD to a file name so it’s easy to sort. Might the first six digits of a customer name be enough? What about saving all PO’s with just the PO number in one place instead of deep in a file structure? Remember, these are the organization’s files, not an individual’s files. People will come and go, but the files need to be findable forever.

5. Encourage collaboration

This leads me to the next point – how often does your team brainstorm ways to be more efficient? Years ago, I could find a “Suggestion Box” on the wall where people could drop in their ideas. Today we have amazing tools like Microsoft Teams and Company Messaging software in your ERP. Think about how to leverage these tools instead of sending an email that goes into never-never land. I know one company that does this with a required weekly short form report of open-ended questions. This form is online and populates a Smartsheet – which is a nice upgrade from Google sheets or shared spreadsheets. Employees get an automated reminder email every Friday at the same time and can see a report of ideas from their coworkers.

These are just a few practical ways your business can become more efficient. The hardest things to correct are the things you can’t see. This is where an experienced consultant can shed light. When I am on site, I watch, listen, and ask lots of questions to discover inefficiencies. I want to help you design an efficient environment and workflow to reduce lead-times, increase profitability and reduce needless stress for the employees that get things done.

Rose of Sharon DeVos is a Global Shop Solutions Operations Consultant and Process Auditor with in-depth manufacturing and ERP knowledge. As part of the Continuous Improvement Team, Rose of Sharon specializes in assisting customers with training and implementation of more advanced manufacturing products, processes, and procedures.