Do you need Production Control Software?

What is Production Control Software? Production control systems come in many different shapes and sizes, and choosing the right one for your business can be a big investment. At first, it might seem unnecessary to adopt a software package to replace your current processes. Eventually though, you may realise you need something more.You may have become accustomed to your current solutions, maybe you think you can work through the issues that these methods raise. After all, nobody likes change, and why fix what isn’t broken? On the other hand, it might be of greater benefit to you to invest in production control software sooner rather than later. We will now address five signs that suggest you’re in need of a new system. 1. You operate using a variety of different software for different processes. Is your orderbook a number of decentralised Access databases, with no integration to your accounting system? Maybe your quotes are produced within Word and Excel documents, or you might even be raising handwritten purchase orders using triplicate books. If your current methods lack integration, it prevents you from having transparency between teams. Your company departments need to share data seamlessly, but using a range of systems often entails certain data being owned by individuals. It also doubles up work, requiring the same information to be input into multiple systems rather than one software package. With a single solution, information can be easily located by anyone with the required permissions. In addition, it means that data only needs to be entered once, saving time for your staff and increasing efficiency. 2. You miss deadlines. Scheduling your production processes is vitally important if you are to meet agreed deadlines. This includes ensuring that you have the necessary resources and materials on hand to complete the task. These issues cause delays in operations as time is needed to acquire the right supplies. As a consequence, your customers may begin to lose trust in you, diminishing your competitive edge. Production Control software helps meet deadlines By adopting a production control system, you are able to schedule and prioritise tasks to allow sufficient time to complete them. You also have visibility of your inventory and current purchase orders, ensuring you will have the adequate amounts of resources at the correct stage. 3. Your business information is difficult to access. There are times that you need to find information instantly,whether it’s for compliance reasons or for a customer, and wasting time filtering through reams of paperwork or different software is not ideal. With a production control system, you are able to locate specific data at any time, easily and quickly. This allows your department workers to get on with their tasks without delay, with the information required. 4. Your customers’ experience is suffering. When a customer enquires about the progress of their order,you should be able to tell them immediately whether work has begun or not, if it’s on its way, or if it has been delivered. If your tracking capability is limited, you may begin to gain a reputation of unreliability and poor customer service. The benefit of a production control system is that staff can access the same up-to-date information at any given time. Details of a customer’s order can be supplied without the need to consult other departments or checking a range of data sources. 5. You want to grow your business. Out of date and manual methods of managing your production restricts your business from growing. As your customer base and workforce size increases, the ease of handling the production, invoicing and reporting lessens dramatically. Physical documents can get lost, invoices may not be sent out,and ultimately your customers will be unhappy. With production control software, keeping track of orders,costs and income is always up-to-date and accurate. This offers opportunity to grow and expand your business while maintaining effective processes and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the availability of accurate job costings will allow you to identify jobs that make you profits, as well as those restricting your ability to grow. To learn more about how production control software can improve your business, call 03301 200050. Our team would be happy to discuss your options and advise you of the best solution for you. For more helpful articles like this one, sign up using the form below to receive updates as soon as one goes live.

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