The Role of ERP in Supply Chain Management to Enhance Visibility and Tracking

Your business is growing, and the demands of your administrative tasks continue to escalate costing you money, time, and effort when someone suggests you use a logistic ERP system as a solution. Now you are wondering, is it really what you need? can it improve supply chain processes? Benefits of ERP in supply chain management?

The short answer is YES!  

ERP software Implementation can help you save time and effort while taking supply chain management to another level, and here is how.

Role of ERP System in Supply Chain Management

Centralization and Integration

In a business, various departments, such as procurement, production, inventory management, and distribution, frequently utilize distinct software systems or even manual processes. This can result in data silos, where vital information is isolated within the tools of each department. 

Cloud-based ERP solutions provide a central database for all departments to store and access data in real-time. With a central database, the system allows all departments quick access to up-to-date data at any moment. This not only reduces time and effort of communications but also decreases the errors and mistakes.  

After ensuring the availability of data, ERP software links applications of different departments with each other internally with automated processes to streamline supply chain management. Automation is used to take action in specific cases especially when there are secondary processes interlinked to another process. 

When a customer places an order, for instance, an integrated ERP system can trigger actions across multiple departments: the procurement department can assess inventory levels and initiate purchase orders, if necessary, the production team can schedule production based on demand, and the distribution team can ensure timely shipping.

This integration ensures that all relevant parties have access to the same information in real-time, thereby minimizing miscommunication, errors, and delays.

Analytics, Visibility and Control

While monitoring inventory quantities, locations, and movements can be a complex and time-consuming manual process, ERP can achieve the same outcomes with less effort and in less time.

Using ERP system in supply chain management provides real-time visibility into these factors, and you will be able to view the data in reports, convert them to infographics, and view them for the entire organization or just one of its branches. 

This means that at any given time, all stakeholders have access to accurate and current information regarding available inventory, its location, and its movement through the supply chain.

Forecasting and Demand Prediction

In business, there are always ups and downs, it is completely normal to generate over 200 thousand in one month, and barely gain 80 thousand next month. Can you change that and maintain 200 thousand monthly revenues? you might with Odoo ERP systems analytics tools. 

Data Analysis

ERP systems collect and preserve historical data on sales, orders, and consumer activity. The system then identifies demand patterns, trends, and seasonality by analyzing this data. For instance, it may determine that certain products are in greater demand during certain months or seasons, and using this information you can focus on products with higher demand. 

Market Trends

ERP systems can be connected to external data sources, such as market trends, economic indicators, and competitor activities. ERP and supply chain management systems can obtain a comprehensive understanding of demand drivers and fluctuations by combining internal historical data with external insights.

Suppliers and Customers Relationship Management

Supply chain management processes rely heavily on the relationship between your business and suppliers from one side, and your business and customers from the other end. The goal of any business is to reduce the costs of supply and increase the revenues from customers.

You may think that costs here only mean prices, but no. You have to consider other costs as well such as the cost of time and effort spent on each of them. To reduce these costs, enterprise resource planning software should make communication easier which can be done in multiple ways:

Supply Chain Management Module in ERP

Customer and Supplier Portals

Give them both faster and easier access to supply chain data through a portal which they can access via an app or a website. You can grant them access to vital information to them such as invoices, schedules, order history, etc.

When such information is easily accessible, direct communication only takes place for important tasks, therefore, the sales or customer service team will have more time to focus on other cases that can increase the revenues for the business. 

Order Placement and Tracking

Odoo ERP system can help you ensure efficient supply chain management with simple automation orders. It is possible to trigger an action to send requests for quotations for a supplier or multiple suppliers when the inventory level goes below a specific line. 

Let us say that you need plastic cups in your business, and you only have 200 left in your warehouse, the warehouse management system can send an alert to your purchase manager, and a request for prices from the suppliers. This way ERP systems can improve supply chain operations because you will only have to follow up with the supplier instead of finding out about it later and getting in trouble.  

Advantages of ERP in Supply Chain Management

In more complicated operations, supply chain management ERP software can improve real-time visibility and tracking by enabling you to track the status of shipments faster. It is also possible to set trigger notifications to alert you when the status changes.

• Gain real-time insights into orders, inventory levels, shipments, and procurements.
• Identify bottlenecks and get to know the opportunities for improvement across the entire supply chain.
• Inventory discrepancies can be avoided by regularly monitoring and updating stock levels.
• Improved customer satisfaction.
• Streamlines supply chain processes and automate inventory control with barcodes, RFID, and other technologies.
• Manage warehouse operations effectively and efficiently.
• Increased customer satisfaction through quick deliveries, minimal errors, and improved internal communication.
• Growth-ready solutions with supply chain management erp software that scale with your success.

Benefits of ERP in Supply Chain Management and Logistics Operations

Improved efficiency

It is now clear how ERP systems can improve the efficiency of logistics management and supply chain operations by automating manual tasks and providing better tools for communication and collaboration. Improved inventory management efficiency can help businesses double revenues and profits with the same effort and spending.

Increased Customer Retention

Cloud-based ERP systems implementation results in better customer service, hence, it is logical to have more satisfied clients than before. 

Reduced Costs

When businesses optimize their supply chain with ERP systems, they reduce many expenses such as storage, insurance, and depreciation. 

Enhanced Collaboration

ERP systems improve supply chain process management due to enhanced collaboration. Employees won’t have to wait to get data from other departments or worry about getting outdated data because all information is stored in a single database accessible by all users.   

Improved Reporting

ERP systems help businesses optimize their performance with a set of advanced reporting tools. Businesses can use analytics and reporting tools to understand how their strategies are performing and find flows in them. ERP reporting kits and dashboards allow logistics companies to make informed decisions.

Mobility 

Modern ERP systems and supply chain Solutions such as Odoo ERP come with mobile access. The ability to access the system from any mobile enables managers to monitor and track operations throughout the supply chain anytime anywhere. 

In case, you are looking for a trusted ERP Software Development Company in UAE, Rely on Odooerp.ae for Custom ERP software that meets your needs. Achieve your business goals with Odooerp.ae’s best-in-class ERP development expert team.