How Automation in Order-to-Manufacturing Workflows Is Helping Metal Cabinet & Machinery Manufacturer?

In today’s manufacturing environment, custom metal cabinet manufacturers face lots of pressure. This happens because they have to offer personalized and high-quality products. The order-to-manufacturing procedure in the past had to rely on disjointed systems, manual input, and even paper-based work. Thus, companies used to face expensive errors, delays in production, and more.

However, nowadays, companies use automation. This can offer a strong solution and even streamline the entire operation from initial order to final production. 

Thus, many custom metal cabinet and machinery manufacturer are now using various types of digital tools to automate their key workflow stages. This automation can help by reducing human errors, along with speeding up production cycles. So, let’s discuss how automation can transform their order-to-manufacturing workflows and satisfy their customers.

The Problem: Why Manual Order-to-Manufacturing Workflows Fail  

In the realm of custom metal cabinet and machinery manufacturing, both precision and timing are very important. Thus, today, all those traditional systems of production will not help anymore. Let’s check how manual order-to-manufacturing workflows are now affecting the working procedures of these companies.

● Order Entry Errors

Entering orders manually is one of the most common weak points in traditional workflows. It can also be quite expensive. Even if it is a typo in an Excel sheet or a misread email, it can create a miscommunication between sales and production teams. Hence, an apparently small error can result in incorrect working procedures. Hence, companies can face problems like delays in production, unhappy clients, etc. 

As orders start growing and becoming more complex, the errors can be more serious and affect the company greatly.

● Production Delays 

Usually, manual workflows are slower than automated procedures. Each step of a manual workflow cannot proceed without human help. This includes steps like processing an order, creating design filers, or even starting production. Thus, the chances of bottlenecks may start to increase. With manual procedures, it becomes more difficult to prioritize urgent tasks. This may lead to production delays as well as missed deadlines. 

● Lack of Real-Time Visibility 

When a company depends on a manual system, managers sometimes receive limited information. They could not know the actual status of an order, the capacity of the floor, or any other important information in real time. This lack of visibility leads to delays in communication, poor forecasting, and even wrong decision-making. Also, with the lack of real-time visibility, your customers won’t get accurate updates and may not trust you anymore. 

● Disconnected Systems 

Many companies have to depend a lot on a patchwork of emails, spreadsheets, etc. These are some disconnected systems, and can’t communicate with each other. Thus, company employees have to re-enter data several times across departments. This may increase the risk of errors. So, to work efficiently companies must go for order to manufacturing automation.

The Solution: Automating Order-to-Production with ERP

For custom metal cabinets and machinery manufacturer, the entire procedure of taking an order to deliver a finished good is filled with multiple variables. Those may be material choices, custom dimensions, lead times, etc. So, the company has to manage all these elements carefully to avoid errors, delays, and inefficiencies. Hence, they can rely on metal cabinet manufacturing automation, along with an efficient ERP system. For example, a modern manufacturing ERP system, like Silent InfoTech’s ShopFloor Control, can help you to:

● Auto-convert orders into work orders

Lots of production errors can happen due to manual data entry. However, you can get rid of this problem just by choosing Silent Infotech’s ShopFloor Control. With this, once the order is placed, it’s converted automatically into a detailed and clear work order. This seamless procedure can make sure that your production team will get to the scope to work with accurate information and specifications.

● Generate accurate BOMs and cut lists

A custom job generally needs accurate and precise BOMs or Bills of Materials. Thus, companies can be able to cut lists tailored to each order. The ShopFloor Control feature of Silent Infotech can dynamically generate these according to the specifications of customers. Whether it is material types, metal cabinet dimensions, or even finished goods, this efficient system will calculate what the company will need. Thus, companies can optimize inventory usage, minimize waste, and ensure a flawless production procedure.

● Real-time machine and labor scheduling

Scheduling is a very important yet difficult part of any custom manufacturing procedure. Here comes the need to rely on the ShopFloor Control feature. It can offer real-time visibility to both labor as well as machine resources. It can allocate tasks automatically depending on the availability of the machine and current workflows. Thus, companies can easily avoid bottlenecks, along with production delays. As a result, they can enjoy faster turnaround, improved efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

● Live job tracking and alerts

It is not so easy to know where a job stands at any moment. Thus, companies trust ShopFloor Control feature. It can allow live job tracking with automatic updates at every stage. Thus, supervisors can easily receive alerts, monitor progress, and make informed decisions really soon. Also, they can offer real-time updates to their customers. 

● Integrated Shipping and Invoicing 

This ShopFloor Control feature can connect with the final stages of the workflow. It can also integrate both shipping as well as invoicing into the system. So, when a job is complete, the system can trigger correct shipping instructions and even generate proper invoices. As a result, it can eliminate paperwork, speed up billing cycles, and ensure consistent cash flow and more.

Case Study: How a Machinery Cut can Lead Times by 40%  

In the realm of custom machinery manufacturing, time is very important. One mid-sized machinery manufacturer that was quite famous for producing precision equipment faced several issues. Those include long lead times, order errors, inconsistent communication between teams, etc. The traditional manual workflow was the main problem that created all these issues. 

The company chose Silent Infotech and its ShopFloor Control system in order to modernize their operations and become successful. 

Previously, they had to take orders through options like phone or email. Then, worked entered them manually into separate systems. Job plans and BOMs are entered in spreadsheets. As a result, the company faced production delays, miscommunication, and even several reworks. 

However, after choosing order to manufacturing automation, the company faced several advantages. For example, employees can convert sales orders into work orders, automatically generate BOMs, optimize capacity through real-time machine and labor scheduling, and more. The employees can also enjoy live job tracking with alerts regarding quality issues or even delays. 

As a result, within several months of using order to manufacturing automation, the company can reduce lead times by 40%.  

How It Works: The Automated Order-to-Manufacturing Flow 

This digital transformation can easily connect each stage of production from the order entry to its final delivery. Let’s check how:  

1. Order Entry

When a customer places an order it comes through an online portal, CRM integration, or an ERP system. This automatic procedure can ensure that the data is captured both in real-time as well as flawlessly. Advanced systems can instantly validate order details and ensure an error-free procedure. This information can easily trigger the entire manufacturing procedure without delay  

2. Engineering & BOM Generation

In this step, engineers take over. Here, CAD integration with Product lifecycle Management tools can create some digital blueprints. These are automatically converted into BOMs. Hence, it can make sure that all important materials and instructions are aligned together to match the specifications of the customers.  

3. Machine & Labor Scheduling

With the BOM, the system can move to scheduling. Only sophisticated scheduling engines can easily analyze several vital terms. Such as availability of machines, operator shifts, maintenance routine, and more. This can prevent bottlenecks and production delays.  

4. Production Tracking

Now, companies use IoT-enabled sensors and machines. All these can offer real-time data about production. Operators can successfully monitor important KPIs, including quality, cycle time, etc on dashboards. Also, if any anomaly happens, alerts are triggered instantly. Thus, companies can identify issues early and ensure continuous improvement.

5. Shipping & Invoicing

After the quality of the finished good is checked, integrated WMS systems start working. It generates packet lists and also assigns courier partners. It even tracks shipment status and also –triggers automatic invoicing. Thus, companies can work without any worry.

Why Now? The ROI of Automating Custom Manufacturing Workflows

So, after knowing about metal cabinet manufacturing automation, you may wonder why now? And what is the ROI for this change, right? So, let’s see the details.

● Faster Production Cycles

With the help of metal cabinet manufacturing automation, companies can reduce their production type a lot. They have automated systems that can easily translate orders into important production data. Thus, companies can deliver quite faster.

● Reduced Labor Costs  

With the help of Order to manufacturing automation, companies can perform all the important tasks automatically. So, they don’t have to waste money on manual labors.

● Better Material Utilization  

Wasted materials may result in wasted money. So, with the help of the ShopFloor Control feature, companies can easily reduce both scrap as well as overstock. This procedure of better material utilization may lead to winning customer trust.

● Improved Customer Experience  

With flawless automation, today, many companies can deliver an experience that is more transparent and consistent. Thus, their customers will feel more valued than before.  

● Scalable Operations

Another interesting advantage is scalability. Here, companies use integrated systems that can ensure the smooth flow of data across teams. So, you can always enjoy scalable operations.

Why Silent Infotech’s ERP Stands Out? 

Here are some qualities that make the ERP system of Silent Infotech stand out. Those are:

1. CAD/CAM Integration 

Silent Infotech’s feature of CAD/CAM integration can streamline workflows just by connecting several design procedures with production. It can help by eliminating scopes for human error, and even reducing production times.

2. RFID & Barcode Tracking 

The ERP of Silent Infotech can leverage both Barcode as well as RFID technology. Hence, it can offer real-time tracking of materials, assets, goods, etc. This automation can easily improve operational efficiency, along with accountability.

3. Custom Reporting 

With Silent Infotech, users can create actionable and real-time reports that are tailored to their business procedures. Thus, companies can enjoy faster and smarter decision-making.

Conclusion 

So, an Order to manufacturing automation can be the ideal catalyst for transforming the working procedures of Custom Metal Cabinet & Machinery Manufacturer. It can help by reducing manual labor, reducing waste, overstocking, offering real-time data, avoiding production delays, and more. So, to work in the best possible way, you can always choose Silent Infotech and its effective ERP system.  

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