How Onramp Solutions Supports Every Aspect of Your Business

June 7, 2018

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are designed to provide their clients with unparalleled visibility into the inner workings of the business. This creates a basis for informed decision making that will naturally accelerate growth and efficiency – but there’s one problem…

Most ERP systems are developed by software engineers and coders. In most cases, these individuals do not understand the practical realities of the manufacturing plant – or a manufacturing business.

So what happens?

There is a disconnect between how the ERP system is programmed to work, and how it should actually work to support the diverse interests of a manufacturing business.

What is the solution?

The best solution would be an ERP software program that is intrinsically developed for manufacturing businesses – by people that understand manufacturing.

This program would understand the diverse needs of a manufacturing business related to quality management, maintenance management, purchasing & shipping, planning & shipping, HR considerations, system administration and integration, delivery notification, statistical process control, EDI solutions, regulatory compliance, permission controlled data security, and much more.

Ultimately, this ERP software program would offer real-time visibility into the entire production process.

The great news is this system exists, and the name is Onramp Solutions.

After years of working with ERP systems that required add-ons, workarounds, and patches, the owners of Mancor Industries invested the time, expertise, and resources needed to create the perfect ERP system for manufacturing businesses.

The outcome was Onramp Solutions, and it is the ERP system of choice for manufacturers because it provides a seamless integration, the program is scalable, and Onramp Solutions caters to every aspect of a manufacturing business. Here’s how:

SUPPORTING THE FINANCE TEAM:

There are still a variety of companies that use accounting programs that are separate from their manufacturing processes. When these two systems are tied together, the finance team is offered visibility across the company as a whole.

For companies using a traditional, and separate, accounting program, the typical process may look something like this:

Purchasing issues a purchase order out of the manufacturing software… The invoice is sent to accounts payable… it is then inputted into the accounting software.

“Everything is visible in one tidy dashboard with full integration between accounting and the shop room floor”

Alternatively with Onramp Solutions, the purchase order is connected to the vendor invoice, and everything is located and visible in one tidy dashboard will full integration between accounting and the shop room floor. Onramp Solutions also offers a system for checks and balances to verify transactions.

This includes ensuring the quantity of what was received matching the vendor invoice. Purchase prices all match up – so everything you buy, sell, and ship is matched up and tracked. This ensures you do not have inventory in one system, and customer invoices in a separate system.

Perhaps most importantly, Onramp Solutions is paperless! So all the financial information related to packing slips, invoices, bills of lading from both the customer and vendor side are digitized in one manageable dashboard. This creates creates organizational efficiencies.

SUPPORTING COMPANY-WIDE INTEGRATION:

When developing the Onramp Solutions ERP, one of the primary goals was to eliminate spreadsheets. Creating a closed loop of digitized information creates major efficiencies across the entire business.

While most ERP systems arrive with cumbersome integrations and the need for add-ons and workarounds – Onramp Solutions is different.

“We built the Onramp Solutions ERP with the implementation model in mind.”

“We built the Onramp Solutions system with the implementation model in mind. Systems go wrong in the implementation phase, so we have a data model and a cyclical process of restarting the data each day. But the system has to be built with that in mind – and that’s exactly what we did,” says Onramp Solutions CEO Art Church.

This offers integration across the entire business.

“Delivery notification for warehousing, creation of work orders, business planning tools, work centre cost models, document storage retrieval, statistical process control, nesting information, EDI integration. I could go on – but it’s all integrated,” Church says.

Oftentimes, businesses don’t see a need for ERP software, but then they grow and it’s something they desperately need, but it’s much more difficult to implement once the business grows beyond its processes and resources. So the trick is to be proactive in understanding the needs of your growing businesses, and to put a foundation in place to provide scalability.

SUPPORTING INVENTORY MANAGEMENT:

Every manufacturing business has inventory and material costs. It is very important to understand and manage these costs to maintain the health of your business. On that note, here’s a scenario…

The system says you have 100 widgets, but there are only 50 on the floor. What do you do?

Do you question your vendors? Perhaps this is an oversight with shipping and receiving? Was it human error? There are a variety of reasons why this issue may have occurred, and it will take time figure out the issue – time that could be better spent elsewhere.

The Onramp ERP has the solution for this problem.

“You can find out exactly what is going on without leaving your desk.”

For many manufacturing companies, a receiving error leads to a manual review. But with Onramp, you can find out exactly what is going on without leaving your desk.

So if there is an issue, you can see who cycle counted something out, the value of it, and the reason for it. Basically, the Onramp Solutions ERP will save huge amounts of time by allowing you to get to the root of the problem without human intervention.

This allows your management team to focus on the business while swiftly identifying areas that require immediate attention.

SUPPORTING MANPOWER PLANNING:

Onramp Solutions helps its clients run an efficient workforce – and the savings are real.

Standardizing process is never as complicated or expensive as you think. Once you have the system working – you will never turn back.

“(We) get the program firing on all cylinders, and then our clients forget how hard it used to be.”

“What surprises our clients is how simple it is. They can’t believe they used to do it the hard way – without access to valid data that informs smart decision making. We work with our clients to get the program firing on all cylinders, and then our clients forget how hard it used to be,” says implementation Manager Ian Church.

So what is the alternative? From an HR perspective, it is reactive hiring and scheduling practises. It is also building schedules around the perceived workload – rather than the actual amount of work that needs to be completed based on data and facts.

Onramp will allow its clients to predict the work that needs to be completed in advance, and this will inform the HR department in terms of hiring, scheduling, and understanding how to leverage the existing workforce effectively.

“Imagine trying to do your job without email? It is so important to every business now. Similarly, the Onramp ERP brings the same level of management and efficiency to your operation.”

“The Onramp Solutions ERP naturally allows our clients to save and generate money through the efficiencies found in the program. Watching our clients think in a more organized fashion is huge. Their thought processes become more data driven, relying on valid data to inform their decisions instead of hearsay, and tribal knowledge,” Ian Church says.

Ultimately, the Onramp ERP will identify an efficiency and then repeat that behavior thousands of times throughout the year. So that is real money being saved – and this allows HR Managers and business owners to maximize the value of their workforce.

“I have seen a plant save thousands in a week simply from knowing the work that is in front of them – so there are big savings to be had. Imagine trying to do your job without email? It is so important to every business now. Similarly, the Onramp Solutions ERP brings the same level of management and efficiency to your operation,” Ian Church says.

SUPPORTING PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE:

Manufacturing businesses rely on the ability of their people and machines to get the job done. When a machine breaks down, or there is a shortage in staff, major problems occur. This is why the Onramp Solutions ERP assessing the maintenance schedule of your manufacturing machines in real time.

“We have a shop monitoring product so that every machine is counting up time, down time, communicating schedules, and understanding when maintenance may be required,” Art Church says.

This feature allows manufacturers to be proactive in understanding when a machine may need maintenance, and scheduling that maintenance work at a time that is convenient for overall production.

At the end of the day, these preventative maintenance measures not only save on down time, but there is also a ripple effect into other areas of the business.

“When the up time of each machine is maximized, you have parts completed on time, you ship on time, and this provides freight and delivery consolidation,” Ian Church says.

With detailed capacity planning and preventative maintenance modules built into the Onramp Solutions ERP, the time of your people and machines will be maximized for efficiency.

If you work in manufacturing, it’s time to understand the difference provided by Onramp Solutions.

This feature allows manufacturers to be proactive in understanding when a machine may need maintenance, and scheduling that maintenance work at a time that is convenient for overall production.

At the end of the day, these preventative maintenance measures not only save on down time, but there is also a ripple effect into other areas of the business.

When the up time of each machine is maximized, you have parts completed on time, you ship on time, and this provides freight and delivery consolidation,” Ian Church says.

With detailed capacity planning and preventative maintenance modules built into the Onramp Solutions ERP, the time of your people and machines will be maximized for efficiency.

If you work in manufacturing, it’s time to understand the difference provided by Onramp Solutions.

NEXT STEPS:

The Onramp Solutions team of ERP experts are currently offering free demos. To book a consultation:

Please contact Onramp Solutions today!