By Mike Hart
Selecting a manufacturing software package is the easy part. For a small business, the tricky part is getting the software implemented. While you are implementing the system, you still have to operate the business and keep your customers satisfied.
My company, DBA Software Inc., has been a developer of manufacturing software for small businesses since 1992. The majority of our customers implement our software package, DBA Manufacturing, on their own, while some get outside help from consultants.
In our experience, by far the best way to implement a manufacturing software package is to prepare for a system “startup day”, which is a day when you cease using your old system altogether and you start operating exclusively in the new system. We believe this principle applies not only to DBA Manufacturing, but to any manufacturing software package.
The alternative to a startup day is to go with an “incremental” or “rolling” start where various functions or modules are implemented one at a time. On the surface, this seems like a sensible approach that would be easier for an organization to absorb compared to implementing all at once. In the early years of our company, we were advocates of incremental implementation.
Over the years, it became clear to us that incremental implementation is not easier to absorb and is actually counterproductive. Incremental implementation is difficult, if not impossible, to manage efficiently, it puts a tremendous strain on employees and customers, and often results in failure.
Inventory is the biggest factor that works against incremental implementation. A manufacturing system is totally driven by inventory – knowing exactly what’s on hand, what’s on order, and what’s in process.
All your core functions – bills of material, sales orders, MRP, jobs, and purchasing – affect inventory. You cannot implement any of these functions in isolation. If you mix and match these functions across two systems, the resulting chaos can severely impact your ability to service your customers.
A far more efficient way to implement a manufacturing system is for your users to “rehearse” the functions in the new system prior to a startup day. Rehearsal should include dry runs using your own data so that you can make sure that all processes, forms, labels, and any workarounds are in place and ready to go.
Do not perform dry runs on your live system. Most systems enable you to copy your data to a temporary company for training purposes.
Until you are fully confident that users are fully trained and all processes are in place, do not proceed with startup day. When in doubt, postpone startup day. The cost of delay is far less than the cost of rushing into things without being fully prepared.
On the day prior to startup day, your users will import on hand stock quantities, enter open sales orders, jobs, and purchase orders, and enter open receivables and payables, and general ledger account balances. The next day, you start operating exclusively in the new system.
Implementing in one fell swoop will not be without glitches, of course. But by doing it all at once, you get over the glitch period quickly. Compared to the prolonged chaos of incremental implementation, where the glitch period can last many months, doing it all at once is the way to go.
Mike Hart is the co-founder and President of DBA Software Inc., a leading provider of manufacturing software for small businesses.
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