In today’s ERP systems you can capture, store, and trend an assortment of information such as production, quality, shipping, supply chain, financial activity and so on.
Having access to more timely and accurate information, the assumption is that manufacturers use that captured data to take the necessary action to improve business practices. Data helps minimize late shipments, reduce inventory, improve quality, improve customer satisfaction and so on. The goal is to utilize the ERP data to react to change, to maintain better relationships with your supply chain partners and ultimately with your customer base.
The key point is to utilize the data to “take action” and that can only be accomplished if the relevant data makes its way into the hands of those empowered to make improved business decisions.
DATA VISUALIZATION
We often see manufacturers struggle with the overwhelming amounts of data flying from all parts of the organization, which means information and data overload!
This is where we introduce “data visualization” – making that data actionable by visually aggregating the numerous data points into visual displays that use colors, gauges, graphs and other visual tools to display trends, averages, unusual results, and other “actionable” information for both the management and executive teams.
DASHBOARDS
ERP Dashboards are a great way to keep data as close to the action as possible. ERP dashboards are a real-time visualization of data with pre-built performance indicators and they also allow you to customize the display to fit the needs of your company and the interests of the individual users.
ERP dashboards consolidate real time metrics about things such as production, inventory, scrap, shipping/receiving, and purchasing giving users summarized information “at a glance”.
TAKING NECESSARY ACTION
Using the scenario above, users themselves can manage dashboard data with the ability to “drill-down” to successively lower levels of detail. As an example, an initial display reveals scrap for the business, month-by-month. If a particular month is of concern to the user, they can click on that graph and step down to a graph of scrap by cell, person, or manufacturing area for that month to see any outstanding issues or concerns.
The key is that the data is in the hands of the department empowered to take the appropriate corrective actions, not in a silo far away from the appropriate team. By making mission-critical metrics available to the entire organization -in real-time, companies have a much more successful chance to take action about decisions for a more competitive successful business process.
If your organization would like a free no-obligation critique of your metrics, dashboards, and data visualization please contact us today. We will provide you with a visual analysis of our findings, and provide you with solutions to better your process. Contact MCDA CCG Inc. today!