The globalization of the economy and market has driven manufacturers to be as lean and efficient as possible. The most effective manufactures are constantly trying to identify their weaknesses and improve their processes. Outside of labor, one of the biggest costs incurred by companies involves material. Nesting software packages like ProNest and SigmaNEST® have helped manufacturers dramatically improve their material utilization and reduce waste.

Today’s market has also made ERP systems a software staple of all manufacturers. ERP systems have really helped to bring everything under one roof when it comes to business management. Many companies utilize both an ERP system and a nesting software and run both independently of each other in a vacuum. Really, these are two complimentary processes that should be working together for common goal of your business’s success. The most effective way of making that happen is interfacing the two, so that they are collaborating and not working separately in their own bubbles.

There’s a number of things you see happen when your ERP system and nesting software start working together in a partnership. Here’s some of the benefits to this partnership:

• Increased inventory control
• Improved waste management
• Simpler production management
• Optimized material purchasing
• Improved product estimates
• Increased employee productivity

Inventory Control and Waste Management

Nothing is more frustrating to inventory managers than seeing viable material go to waste. So let your nesting software optimize your material utilization and let your ERP system tell you the material available to complete the job. Getting your ERP’s inventory management and nesting software talking to each other means you’ll not only reduce waste when you run the job, but you’ll know about that material hidden on some back shelf that you can use long before it would otherwise get sent to the scrapyard.

Many companies have “bone yards”. That is to say they have some area in which there is volumes of untracked material remnants. Those days are numbered when your nesting software starts talking with your ERP software. Those “bone yards” transform into highly managed and tracked extensions of your regular inventory. As a company, you reduce your material inventory and only purchase what you truly need.

Simplify Production and Improve Estimates

Getting people on the job and minimizing any downtime are critical in today’s market. When you have your ERP system talking with your nesting software, you have the ability to get jobs to the floor faster and get those jobs onto flexible schedules or cultists. This gets employees on the job and working with just the scan of a barcode or the push of a button.

You can leverage this even further by tying into machine and employee capabilities. This allows you to create a more efficient production schedule. All of this lends itself into helping you create better estimates as you know exactly how long it’s going to take and how much it’s going to cost.

Work as a Team

The world we live in demands the most out of your employees, tools, and machines. The software you use should be no exception. Just as you expect your employees to be part of your team, so should your software. Interfacing your ERP system and nesting package is all about those two things: maximizing what those software do for you and getting them both to work together as part of your company’s team.