How to Better Use Your ERP System?
Executives are struggling to keep up with inflationary raw material prices, elevated customer requirements, margin pressures, and the lack of people to fulfill key roles. Thus, they are looking to their ERP system and related supply chain technologies for answers. Given the lack of talent and the cost prohibitive nature of an ERP upgrade, CEOs are choosing to search for alternatives to support profitable growth. Thus, simply better utilizing your ERP system is quite attractive as it will turn an already-existing underutilized asset into a strategic advantage in the marketplace, supporting profitable growth.
How do you benefit from the Use of ERP / Systems?
Manufacturing
Manufacturing leaders will gain visibility into work center, staffing, and the master production schedule so that they can optimize production runs and minimize changeovers and costs. They will also gain insights, improve efficiencies, automate steps, improve quality control processes, and reduce inventory and costs.
Engineering
Engineering leaders will gain visibility into workload requirements to support drawings, customer approvals, and bill of material designs. ERP and related systems such as configure-to-order (CTO) quoting systems, PLM, and 3D drawings will speed up progress, save on engineering time, and improve communications.
Purchasing
Purchasing leaders will gain visibility into material requirements plans (MRP) and outside processing requirements so that they can work with suppliers proactively to meet customer requirements while minimizing cost. They will also gain purchase insights, improve efficiencies and streamline workflows.
Logistics
Logistics leaders will gain visibility into storage, warehousing, handling, picking, packing, shipping, transportation, returns, and equipment requirements so that they can plan accordingly. With WMS, TMS, inventory optimization, ASRS, AR, VR, and digital twins, they will gain efficiencies, improve quality & increase safety.
Finance
Finance leaders will gain visibility into sales forecasts, staffing plans, and inventory projections. Thus, they will have revenue, cost, profitability, and cash flow projections, and they will gain insights into customer and product profitability, improved processing efficiencies and business analysis and scorecard capabilities.
Sales & Marketing
Sales and Marketing leaders will gain visibility into their sales forecasts, quotes, and order backlog. They will also gain high levels of service for their customers with on-time-in-full (OTIF) levels, shorter lead-times, and high ratings on customer scorecards. They also will gain greater responsiveness and customer value.
Planning
Planning leaders will gain visibility into the demand plan, sales orders, quotes, replenishment orders, and work order status so that they can develop the best master production schedule (MPS) to optimize customer service, operational efficiency and working capital. They will gain high service levels and increased margins.
Blog posts for Better Use of ERP
Advanced military manufacturing is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of national security and economic resilience. Manufacturing capability has become a strategic advantage — and advanced technologies such as AI, automation, robotics, 3D printing, and hyperscale digital manufacturing are reshaping the future of the defense industrial base.
In this Supply Chain Byte, Lisa Anderson reflects on how supply chains have evolved – the move from spreadsheets to connected technologies, the Amazon Effect becoming an everyday customer expectation and the growing importance of predictability and planning in a world of uncertainty and global risk.
Reshaping Supply Chains with Technology is ASCM Inland Empire’s 2026 webinar series focused on helping supply chain, manufacturing and logistics professionals understand what’s changing — and how to respond.
