Throwback Thursday: How to Stay Out of the ERP Trap

Mold manufacturing operations have a number of challenges in the “soft areas” of running their operations.  Back in the day, moldmakers never had to worry about scheduling software and ERP.  Today, the shops that are succeeding are the ones tracking data internally, analyzing it and using it to make decisions in their operations.  This involves implementation of more sophisticated programs to manage production, track data and perform predictive analysis.  All of this technology is allowing moldmakers to understand their business better and sharpen their quoting activities to bring more value to their customers.

Fourteen years ago MMT took a look at ERP because even then it was a concept "simply too compelling to ignore." Mark Bosse of IQMS outined the top 10 things a moldmaker should do to make sure its next ERP purchase is the right one, including setting realistic goals, choosing software to your industry or manufacturing type, choosing a vendor that knows your industry, choosing an ERP that natively integrates the features you need, buy to waht your needs will be in a year and beyond, select an ERP system that is intuitive and easy to use, get a guarantee, have an implementation team in place, invest in training and don't be afraid to ask questions.

You can dig a little deeper into each of these here.