Advancements in ERP Software Maximize Productivity

ERP (enterprise resource planning) shop management software provides a tool to ensure that a shop’s resources are deployed in an efficient and profitable way. These products generally help with such tasks as estimating, scheduling, tracking and maintenance alerts. While much of this functionality, particularly in smaller shops, is often handled through less sophisticated means such as spreadsheets and paperwork, ERP software can be far more efficient and accurate, quickly making the investment worth the price.

Software developers such as Henning Software, in Hudson, Ohio, are constantly looking for ways to enhance their products to assist shops with maximizing productivity and improving profitability. According to President Richard Henning, the company’s Visual EstiTrack software is trending toward better visual shop tools and more personalization of the updating and delivery of information to the employee through the use of mobile devices.

One of the latest developments, a touch scheduling board designed to replace magnetic boards, provides a visual, Kanban-type presentation of operations that is queued up on the work centers in electronic card format. Users can move these cards around via the touchscreen, and the updates are shared across the network, throughout the organization, without the need to report to a single location where a magnetic board would be kept. “This feature helps customer service departments see their priorities and queuing of work and helps shopfloor personnel share data such as status updates and operational notes from one shift to another,” Mr. Henning says.

Another newer feature of the Visual EstiTrack software, called the employee portal, allows the delivery of information down to the individual worker on the floor via portable Android- and iOS-based devices (smart phones and tablets). Shopfloor personnel can have assignments deployed to them, review scheduling, and even clock in and out directly from their hand-held devices. Performance results can be easily displayed so that the workers can see their efficiencies, and additional information such as videos, photos and blueprints can be accessed. The employee portal can be a significant time saver as it eliminates time spent walking back and forth to fixed workstations for information required to do the job.

To see the impact that Visual EstiTrack had when one shop made the decision to move forward with implementation, read “Family Business Finds ERP Software Tailored to its Needs.” For more information about Henning Software, check out “Henning Software Finds Longtime Success through Cost-Effective Software Solutions.”