ERP Sustains Manufacturing during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed manufacturers to rapidly shift gears, from addressing work-from-home policies to managing extreme swings in demand and uncertain supply chains. In the process, it has highlighted an aspect of manufacturing ERP that is not as visible in more normal times— business continuity.

It’s not that an ERP system’s ability to mitigate abrupt business changes hasn’t been noted in the past. For instance, it plays a central role during a change of ownership or a local event, such as a fire or flood. However, the extensive reliance on ERP solutions to maintain widespread, fundamental business continuity, as we are seeing today, has never been experienced on such a large scale.

Today, during the COVID-19 response, ERP is keeping entire industries in operation with its ability to sustain business operations through remote access, automated reporting, electronic data exchange, and real-time factory controls. Never in the history of ERP have we seen it play a bigger role in the continuance of manufacturing operations around the world.

Knowing that, let’s take a deeper look at how manufacturers are capitalizing on DELMIAwork’s ERP software functionality to maintain business continuity by addressing some of the COVID-19 impacts we are seeing today:

• Empowering employees working from home
• Keeping production at the facility on track
• Managing shifts in demand patterns

Empowering Employees to Work at Home

Businesses across all spectrums are minimizing the number of people coming into their plants and offices and maximizing the number working from home. In a manufacturing environment, it’s typically front office personnel who work from home, such as those in administrative, planning, and design roles.

For companies with a DELMIAworks ERP system in place, the shift to front office personnel working from home, driven by COVID-19 prevention measures, has not caused major business disruptions. Their front-office teams are able to access their ERP system at home and run the business from there. They maintain full visibility of the business and can continue to interact with customers and suppliers.

A good example is Mar-Bal Inc., a leading manufacturer headquartered near Cleveland, OH. Mar-Bal’s teams can access their DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system anywhere from their mobile phones, tablets, or laptops to see which jobs are running, determine the inventory stock Mar-Bal has on hand, or check on order status and completion progress within seconds. This has helped Mar-Bal to become indispensable to its customers who rely on the manufacturer for timely updates and delivery. In the midst of COVID-19, Mar-Bal facilities are up and running.

Modern ERP solutions have even minimized the need to have IT professionals onsite since many of today’s solutions are hosted or managed in the cloud. As a result, the systems can be maintained from any remote location, creating yet another group of employees that can do their jobs away from the factory.

A case in point is Ventura Manufacturing, an award-winning company that serves a range of markets globally. Headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, it has multiple local plants, as well as facilities in China, Hungary, and Mexico. Using the DELMIAworks Hosted Managed Service, the company has minimized the need for local ERP system support. Additionally, the corporate office can remotely run daily global reports with updates from all of its facilities while cutting the time to run reports by up to 50%. Despite COVID-19, Ventura’s global facilities are operational.

Keeping Production on Track

Having front-office personnel work from home is one thing. But, running a factory floor from home is an entirely different challenge. Some small number of factories can run nearly lights out, but many must be staffed with operators and material handlers. In these factories, it becomes a question of how few people are required to be at work at any one time.

Manufacturing ERP systems minimize the number of onsite shop floor staff by precisely scheduling work; dispositioning materials, and monitoring equipment for output; quality and maintenance issues in real-time. In other words, manufacturers are managing the shop floor by exception rather than rote supervision.

Real-time production monitoring is usually held out as an example of the ultimate in manufacturing control. Today it stands out as a critical tool for production continuity with a minimum of onsite workers.

One company of note is Eldon James, a world-class manufacturer of medical connection solutions. Today, the company is running lights-out manufacturing shifts across 27 injection molding machines, greatly reducing the need for onsite, shop floor employees. Eldon James has accomplished this by combining real-time production monitoring with its manufacturing execution system (MES) and quality management functionality. Throughout COVID-19, Eldon James’ customer service, operations, and logistics are continuing without disruption.

Similarly, Mar-Bal relies on real-time remote access and production monitoring to keep production on track and inform its production, sales, and service teams on order status, shipping, delivery and service updates. Having an immediate view enables Mar-Bal to excel at being responsive and helpful to its customers.

Managing Shifts in Demand

Certainly, one impact of COVID -19 for many manufacturers has been a sudden shift in demand patterns.

While some have seen a drop-off, many others are seeing spikes in demand. One such manufacturer is Core Technology Molding of Greensboro, North Carolina, which has strategically invested in multiple industries. While automotive orders have slowed, the company is using insights from its DELMIAworks ERP system to adjust production and meet the rising demand among its medical product and pharmaceutical customers as they respond to COVID-19 healthcare needs.

Another manufacturer is Monoflo of Winchester, Virginia, a producer of reusable packaging. Many food and drug retailers, as well as online retailers, use its containers in their logistics operations. Several of these customers have moved up orders previously slated for later in the year to accommodate current demand. Even as Monoflo has faced staffing restraints related to COVID-19, the automation provided by its DELMIAworks ERP system is enabling the manufacturer to meet the increased demand.

The demand fluctuations have greatly shifted the production inertia of many businesses. Raw materials supplies must be adapted; schedules and tooling changes are required, and different personnel are needed at different times. At the same time, off-shore factory closures have impacted the availability of materials and components from some suppliers.

Manually compensating and planning for sudden shifts or new suppliers could be weeks-long efforts—leading to delays that manufacturers can’t afford. By contrast, with today’s manufacturing ERP systems, re-planning, re-scheduling, and re-provisioning are nearly instantaneous. And just as importantly, these functions can be accomplished from remote locations.

A northwestern Pennsylvania-based manufacturer, serving many of the world’s largest mass merchandisers, is a good example of using manufacturing ERP software to rapidly respond to changing patterns in demand. In the wake of COVID-19 disrupting some of its suppliers’ operations, it has turned to alternate suppliers. The company uses DELMIAworks manufacturing ERP system for demand pattern analysis and demand planning as it works with its network of suppliers and negotiates new buying agreements. The manufacturer is also addressing the challenge by aggregating purchasing with members of its supplier network and purchasing components immediately, while also working to keep costs under control.

Looking Ahead

After this period of disruption, factories and their workforces will return to a more normal operating profile. But, they will forever be strengthened by the lessons learned during a period when we were required to work remotely and use our business technology to the fullest extent possible.

How manufacturers think about their ERP systems will be forever changed as well. In addition to their well-understood values of maximizing profitably, ensuring top-notch customer service, and delivering quality products, ERP solutions will now be known for their unique ability to maintain business continuity in the face of sudden change. ERP software is now recognized as an essential business safety net to respond to and overcome unforeseen events.