Cloud Based Applications Revolutionizing Manufacturing Industry

Although the Manufacturing industry has been around for a while it still face challenges at all levels of operations including inventory management, quality testing and post-production activities.

 

Manufacturers today are constantly trying to improve their accuracy levels, improve upon their process speed and keep a constant tab on the interactions with their suppliers and distributors. The good news is that it is possible to achieve this with the help of cloud based services.

 

Let us take a look at how cloud applications can help revolutionize the manufacturing industry.

 

 

Marketing and Sales Efforts

Cloud-based marketing automation applications can help not only plan and execute various marketing campaigns but also help track their effectiveness. Manufacturing firms can now drive up their customer satisfaction by having its marketing, sales and customer support staff work on the same cloud platform that helps them collaborate better. Tracking and managing indirect and direct sales channel, Automating customer support, common order status inquiries online and order management are some of the activities that can be integrated on a cloud platform to improve overall marketing and sales efforts.

 

Operational Efficiency

A large number of manufacturing firms find it difficult to improve operational efficiency. By going in for a two-tier ERP strategy, the firm can help improve supplier management, material planning and better manage the supply chain. This is particularly helpful for companies with operations in diverse geographic locations, as without intensive programming, cloud-based ERP systems can help with their smaller operational needs in various manufacturing units.

 

Information Processing

Information processing is very lengthy in manufacturing companies. An invoice or purchase order passes through and is reviewed number of times before approval. Cloud based applications make it not only easy to store and manage information but also share it easily. As opposed to traditional IT systems, you don’t have to worry about the server being down or data being lost as the SaaS application ensures your data is protected and is available to you 24 x 7.

 

A thorough supplier management portal with quality management dashboards can help deliver real-time updates on pending orders and forecasts. Manufacturing companies that build-to-order, configure-to-order or engineer-to-order can make use of cloud-based platforms to capture and apply company-wide intelligence through analytics and BI tools. This would not only help the manufacturing firm deliver on-time but also improve their products or services.

 

Collaboration and Decision-Making

Unlike traditional software, cloud applications reflect all the changes real time making communication and collaboration across teams easier and more efficient. It also eliminates miscommunication and saves time spent on emailing, sending files, allotting tasks, maintaining multiple versions etc. This has a huge effect on decision making as well.

 

Clear communication, faster decision making and the ability to meet deadlines all together have revolutionized the way manufacturing companies conduct their business. This also helps in accelerating new product development and introduction since time-to-market constraints make it essential to have greater collaboration during the design phase. Better business decisions are made with the easy availability of critical information at the fingertips.