According to the business publication, the Independent the overall balance of capital investment intentions dropped to minus 8%, down from minus 3% in the final quarter of last year with relation to the manufacturing employers’ association. The Bank of England’s Agents’ summary of business conditions (February update 2016) states that Manufacturing output growth was slightly down year on year with exports declining reflecting a slowdown in world demand.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

All of this brings about high uncertainty about the outlook for investment in global and domestic markets and off course affects investment in the manufacturing environment.

Economic fluctuations, skilled labour shortages as well as Market governance and compliance mandates add to the complexity of the matter and are part and parcel of doing business. How do manufacturers curb themselves against these fluctuations? One way is to ensure that the entire manufacturing process is streamlined and optimized.

Striving to reduce costs and increase profitability while remaining competitive is part of the challenge. One sure way to achieve this, is through Manufacturing Business Management Solution (BMS or previously referred to as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software). Whether the manufacturing process is repetitive, job shop, continuous process, batch process or even as complex as discrete manufacturing the software must meet manufacturing needs and have the ability to anticipate the future needs of today’s agile manufacturing environments.

What will a BMS system such as this bring to your manufacturing environment?

This business management software is a typical suite of integrated applications which will collect, store, manage and interpret the organization’s data from various business activities including planning, scheduling, executing, and monitor your entire manufacturing business from raw materials to the final product.

When the BMS system provides you with constant feedback between the manufacturing process and material optimization, an integrated, accurate view of core business processes often in real-time allows for immediate and actionable decision making. Probably the biggest buzz word in BMS currently is that of cloud computing. This being an ubiquitous, on-demand network access whether on desktop, laptop, or mobile devices. Cloud computing allows organizations to get systems up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance. Having immediate access to systems allows the manufacturing process to be interactive, run more smoothly, lean and empower manufacturers to keep costs down and improve profitability in a less than favourable economic climate.