The stars may have aligned for the manufacturing industry with the recent release of the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Industry Transformation Plan (ITP). Co-created and co-owned by businesses, unions and workers, government, Māori, Pacific peoples and wider stakeholders, the plan sets out to accelerate the growth and transformation of New Zealand’s advanced manufacturing sector. As it happens, among the solutions we provide at Verde is MYOB Advanced Manufacturing, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution designed specifically for this sector.
For those who aren’t yet familiar with it, MYOB Advanced Manufacturing is ideal for managing all aspects of the front end of New Zealand’s factories and production facilities. And while ‘advanced manufacturing’ can mean many things, from shop floor automation to precision robotics, one area where every business can benefit is through improved visibility and control of everything from core financials, through to bill of materials, job costing, supply chain management, inventory, and resource utilisation. This is precisely what MYOB Advanced Manufacturing does.
Before we get into how the software can deliver advantages for your business, let’s take a look at the Advanced Manufacturing ITP (check out the website here and the summary document here).
Government invests in manufacturing
Basically, MBIE says Advanced Manufacturing is prioritised due to its scale and the untapped potential to significantly increase productivity, create higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs and achieve a globally competitive low-emissions sector. That’s a fancy way of saying manufacturing is important today and into the future and can add more to the economy particularly if the activities are sustainable, circular and low emissions. MBIE notes that the sector has a relatively low capital investment in advanced technologies and processes compared to international benchmarks, correlating with relatively low productivity by international standards. It points to a ‘significant opportunity to grow investment and adoption of advanced technologies and innovation to boost…productivity’.
There’s a handy list of priorities for transformation, too, and they are listed as:
- Increasing investment in advanced technologies and processes to lift productivity and wages
- Developing and attracting a diverse high-skilled and high-wage workforce
- Creating a leading sustainable circular net-zero emissions sector
- Improving the understanding and perceptions of advanced manufacturing
- Making innovation, R&D and science work for advanced manufacturing
- Enhancing global connectivity and opportunities
Now we’re going to go out on a limb and suggest that priority number 1 in the list is precisely where better software can, will, and does make a real difference.
Have you got a software problem?
While looking into the shop floor and office operations of every manufacturer across New Zealand is an unlikely prospect, what we do know for relatively certain is that most operators have highly efficient factory operations. Two things give a sense of this: one is the high cost of human resources. The other, related, factor is the difficulty in finding and retaining good people. In combination, this means wherever and whenever possible, manufacturers are using automation and advanced tech like robotics, purely because, well, you must.
But, and again this is a slight limb we’re going out on, we’re going to say your software estate is probably a bit behind the curve.
That’s because time flies, but old software doesn’t. It’s also because, for many manufacturers, software was never the focus; the factory floor was and is. All efforts on efficiency and productivity have focused on the moneymaker, and that’s the systems, processes and people involved in actually making stuff.
The result is inevitably a mess of unnecessary complexity, un-integrated systems, and rudimentary tools like spreadsheets and Word documents, or a mishmash of decent but poorly purposed modern systems like an accounting package and perhaps an inventory management application in the cloud.
What this ends up in is an advanced manufacturing concern with stone age systems. This negatively impacts productivity because your people (and probably you, yourself) spend too much time looking for information. Errors and mistakes become commonplace. Clerical work goes up, and that means fewer hours focused on the important thing of making stuff. Inaccurate pricing, poor inventory management, and botched orders are all risks associated with inadequate or obsolete software systems.
MYOB Advanced Manufacturing to the rescue
Boy, do we have a solution for you. MYOB Advanced Manufacturing is a flexible, integrated, extensible manufacturing platform designed for make-to-stock (MTS), make-to-order (MTO), batch process, configure-to-order (CTO), assemble-to-order (ATO), and project-centric manufacturers.
With an extensive suite of connected manufacturing business applications for production, estimating, engineering, material planning, scheduling, and product configuration, MYOB provides the best business and industry management solution for transforming your manufacturing business and truly making it ‘advanced’ – no matter what you’re producing.
With integrated Financial Management, Distribution Management, Customer Management, and Project Accounting, you get a 360-degree view of operations with complete real-time data for managing your entire production and supply chain operations.
Now, coming back to the ITP. The government has committed $30 million to begin putting the plan into action, with $3.7m for company-specific advice on adopting new technologies, $4 million to upskill workers, and $2.9 million to help companies lower emissions.
We certainly believe adopting new technologies should include looking at better software. After all, we know from experience that better software means a better-running, more productive and more successful operation.
Get in touch to discuss how MYOB Advanced Manufacturing can work for you.
