An ERP system can support the core areas of a manufacturing company’s operations, but it does not always address every need that arises in day-to-day work. Alongside core systems, there are often processes specific to a particular plant, ranging from production order management and documentation to quality control, employee qualification management, and transport coordination.
These are often the areas where additional spreadsheets, emails, forms, and manually exchanged information come into play. Process automation in manufacturing can help streamline these activities without the need to move every process into the ERP system.
In this article, we explore which processes are worth digitalizing outside the ERP system, where to look for the greatest automation potential, and what to consider when selecting the first process to automate.
Key takeaways
- Not every process in a manufacturing company needs to be handled directly within the ERP system.
- Automation opportunities are often found where teams rely on additional spreadsheets, emails, forms, manual approvals, and information passed between employees.
- Processes that can be digitalized outside ERP include production order management and documentation, quality management, incident and non-conformance reporting, HR processes, logistics, and administrative workflows.
- No-code applications can complement the existing IT environment and address needs specific to a particular plant or business process.
Why doesn’t every process in a manufacturing company belong in the ERP system?
Not every process needs to be handled within an ERP system. Some are specific to a particular organization, change frequently, or require a simple workflow that would be unnecessarily complex to implement in the core system.
ERP remains the backbone of the IT environment in many manufacturing companies, supporting critical data and core business processes. However, day-to-day operations often involve needs that fall outside its standard scope. This could be a process requiring several approval steps, a solution used only by a specific team, or a workflow involving employees across multiple departments.
As a result, some of these processes start to operate alongside the core system, using spreadsheets, forms, emails, or additional databases. Over time, solutions originally introduced as temporary workarounds can become a permanent part of day-to-day operations.
In such cases, a dedicated business application can be an alternative to extending the ERP system. It can be tailored to a specific process, including its business rules and approval paths, while also exchanging data with the ERP or other systems used across the organization where needed.
Which manufacturing processes can be digitalized outside the ERP system?
The opportunities are not limited to a single stage of production. Manufacturing process automation can cover activities ranging from production order preparation and management to documentation, quality control, workforce-related processes, and logistics.
Based on our experience with projects delivered on the Qalcwise platform, manufacturing companies use additional applications for areas such as:
- production planning and production order management,
- order costing,
- production documentation management,
- production recipe management,
- quality control,
- non-conformance and equipment failure reporting,
- complaint management,
- employee qualification and certification management,
- transport process management.
The goal is not to move processes that already work well within the ERP system into yet another application. Instead, it is worth focusing on the gaps – activities that currently require additional tools, manual work, or communication outside the core system.
How can production order management, documentation, and quality processes be automated?
A good example of a process that often spans multiple systems and teams is production order management. Depending on the organization, a production order may go through costing, approval, documentation preparation, execution, and several stages of control.
When each of these steps is handled in a different place, employees have to manually pass information between teams, update statuses, and keep track of the next steps.
A workflow application can bring these stages together into a single process. The production order is routed to the right person, follows a predefined workflow, and its current status and history are available in one place.
The same approach can be applied to production documentation and recipes. Instead of exchanging multiple versions of files, companies can define standardized forms, user roles, required data, and approval steps within a single workflow.
How can equipment failures, non-conformances, and quality issues be managed?
Quality management is another area where an efficient flow of information is essential.
Employees can report a non-conformance or equipment failure directly through an application. The report is assigned the appropriate status, routed to the responsible person or team, and tracked in the system until the issue is resolved.
Companies using Qalcwise have developed applications for production quality control, non-conformance and equipment failure reporting, as well as complaint management. In one case, the platform was also used to formalize the process for disposing of excise goods.
This gives processes that may previously have relied on emails, documents, or verbal reports a clearly defined workflow and a complete history of actions taken.
Which processes supporting manufacturing are also worth automating?
The distinction between “production” and “non-production” processes is not always relevant from the perspective of a plant’s day-to-day operations. After all, efficient production also depends on having appropriately qualified employees available, well-organized logistics, and effective purchasing processes.
A good example is managing the qualifications and certifications of production employees. For some roles, assigning an employee to a particular position is not enough. Companies also need to ensure that required certifications remain valid, for example, a forklift operator’s license.
An application can store information about employee qualifications and their expiry dates and support the renewal process. Instead of manually tracking dates in a spreadsheet, the organization has a single place to check the current status of employee certifications.
Beyond production itself, applications can also support:
- transport coordination related to plant operations,
- invoice workflows and expense management,
- non-production purchasing,
- business travel management and vehicle reservations,
- contract management,
- other HR and administrative processes.
It is therefore worth taking a broader view of process automation in manufacturing, extending beyond the production floor itself.
When is it better to build an additional application rather than extend the ERP system?
There is no single answer that applies to every process. If a particular area is already effectively supported by the ERP system, there is little value in creating a parallel solution.
An additional application may be worth considering when the process:
- is specific to the way a particular organization operates,
- requires its own workflow, forms, or approval paths,
- involves employees from multiple departments,
- currently takes place partly outside existing systems,
- changes frequently and requires flexible adjustments,
- requires data or activities from different areas to be connected.
In such cases, no-code technology makes it possible to build an application tailored to a specific process. Through integrations, the application can also remain connected to the organization’s broader IT environment.
Where should a manufacturing company start with process automation?
Not with choosing the technology. The first step is to identify a process that genuinely needs improvement. A good indicator is when employees create their own spreadsheets, send documents by email, enter the same data multiple times, or regularly have to ask others for updates on the status of a task or request.
It is particularly worth looking at processes where:
- manually passing information takes up significant time,
- a document or task needs to pass through multiple people,
- repetitive tasks and approvals are common,
- deadlines need to be tracked manually,
- it is difficult to determine the current status of a request or task.
Simply moving such a process into an application should not be the goal. Before automating it, it is worth identifying which steps are actually necessary, what can be simplified, and only then designing the target workflow.
How does Qalcwise complement the systems used by manufacturing companies?
Qalcwise is a no-code platform for building and automating business applications. In manufacturing companies, it can be used to support processes that require solutions tailored to the organization’s specific needs without necessarily becoming another module within the core ERP system.
The platform can be used to build applications directly related to manufacturing, such as production order management, production recipes, quality management, and non-conformance reporting, as well as solutions for logistics, HR, finance, sales, and administration.
This allows companies to digitalize processes step by step while keeping their existing systems in place and complementing them wherever new or specific business needs arise.
