How to Master Your Manufacturing ERP Implementation | Q&A with David Trout of SolutionsX
Looking to upgrade or get more out of your ERP implementation or integration?
David Trout, President of SolutionsX, recently joined The Integrate Intelligently Podcast, presented by CADTALK, to share more about his 25 years of experience in ERP implementations.
Trout has worked with multiple different ERP packages and currently implements with Infor CloudSuite Industrial/SyteLine at SolutionsX.
However, Trout has advice for any manufacturing company ready to maximize its ERP solution, regardless of platform.
You can find the condensed Q&A with CADTALK CEO Scott Brickler below, or listen to the full podcast episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
The following conversation has been edited for clarity.
Master Your Manufacturing ERP Implementation
How have you seen your ERP solutions benefit the many manufacturing companies you work with?
SolutionsX President David Trout:
The software publisher's preferred answer would be that the ROI for the implementation of the ERP software comes from many areas of the business, depends on what the greatest pains are, what the challenges to growth are. The software brings in some low-hanging fruit, improved inventory accuracy, all the stuff that you might think about a new ERP package would do. And all of that's true.
We have a fantastic product to do that with, Infor CloudSuite Industrial is our favorite. So as you said in your intro, I have actually had the opportunity to work with multiple ERP packages, both as a user and then also to implement them. So I've actually implemented three, four different ERP packages in my career.
How has it helped people? You know, it's helped in doing all the low hanging fruit stuff: improved inventory accuracy, that kind of stuff. But what we really believe at SolutionsX is that if you're given the right implementation team, every company would benefit to some degree just from the process of performing the ERP implementation.
You’re going to say: ‘Hey, here's how we did it before.’ We'll say: ‘Yeah, but you know, you have a new ERP now, so you're going to do it differently.’
And that gives our consultants an opportunity to come in and bring some industry leading practices to your organization, to say: ‘Hey, here's what everybody else is doing or what many of the leaders in your space are doing.’
And so you can take advantage of that stuff. So the, the benefit really comes from looking at it as a strategic type of initiative instead of a tactical one. Companies overlook that fact a lot.
Advantages of ERP Upgrades
Scott Brickler:
What are the major advantages of upgrading your ERP?
David Trout:
I think it's probably new technologies, that’s the biggest advantage.
[Infor] has an enterprise automation group over there that is focusing on things like robotic process automation and augmented intelligence, digital assistance, machine learning, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And you don't get that with your old ERP's or, you know, if you're just on QuickBooks or something like that. So a new ERP implementation brings new technology to the table for you.
Selecting an ERP and moving forward with an ERP implementation is a big deal. It takes a lot. Companies just don't do it willy nilly, and when they do, if you broaden the scope of your project to say: ‘Hey, let's look at all of the technology that we're using today and see how we might be able to improve that,’ I think that's most advantageous for you.
Scott Brickler:
Makes a lot of sense. I know one of the things that, from working a lot on this industry for a long time, is that [implementing an ERP] is a big event. I think the event scares a lot of people.
It’s almost like buying a piece of machinery, right? I'm going to go buy a machine for a bunch of money and then put it in.
Whereas really the way it works is that they get something in place and they kind of refine it a little bit all the time. And that seems to work better. At that's been my experience: that tends to work better than trying to pack it all into one big event and do it all kind of a big bang approach versus an incremental improvement approach. Do you have any thoughts on that?
David Trout:
It's very well said and certainly something that we believe in and why one of the reasons that we created our customer success program at SolutionsX. It really has to do with those months immediately following a go live and then the years after. So one of the things that happens over there in that department is that they're reaching out to all the customers staying in touch and finding out what their digital transformation strategy is as they're moving forward and making sure that we stay relevant in that and kind of push them for continued improvement along those lines.
We're so fortunate to have the Infor Suite of applications available to us. And most of what our customers need, because we focus primarily on manufacturing industry, we have direct access to.
ERP Implementation and Integration Considerations
Scott Brickler:
If someone listening is considering an ERP upgrade or integration, what would you tell them?
David Trout:
I would say for sure that organizations that are mature in their understanding and use of technology, all of those organizations have a huge advantage in every market I can think of, especially in ours through B2B manufacturing, which is where we're at.
So if you really want to be super successful, you need to be mature in your use of technology. And what that means to me anyway is that you have to find the best of breed of some things that are very pointed solutions, if you will.
CADTALK is an excellent example of that, where it's got a itch to scratch. Its integration to CAD has the ability to help design engineers not have to be ERP folks and get their data very cleanly, very quickly, and very accurately into the ERP.
But it's not just CADTALK. There's things like accounts payable automation. A lot of people send out hundreds of purchase orders a day, a week, a month and those purchase orders have to be confirmed by the vendor.
And if you do hundreds of these things a week, you can save a ton of time with an AP automation tool of some kind. so that's where you might decide to leverage something like robotic process automation to do that for you, or you might go out and find a third party tool that is best in breed in what they do.
So integrations need to be a huge part, in my opinion anyway, a huge part of your technology solution because this one ERP, one package is not going to do it all. It's just not. Never will. You don't want it to. You want people to be specific.
If you're looking to go down that path, lean on your technology expert that you go get and you'll find the right one that's going to tell you the right stuff that's important for you.
Find a trusted advisor that can help you through that piece. You do what you do, right? So I'm talking to the manufacturing people now. If you make boats, go make boats. I'll bet you make the best boats. I'll bet you're a great boat maker. But rely on your ERP professionals to help you with your ERP implementation. That's what they do. So let them do what they do really well, and you do what you do really well.
