Standardize, Analyze, Allocate: The Pillars of Successful Multi-Site Manufacturers

Building a multi-site manufacturing operation is a compelling goal for many shops. The ability to offer a wider range of complementary processes under one trusted brand attracts buyers who seek reliable and comprehensive solutions.

However, managing multiple sites with different ERP systems, pricing strategies, workflows, and material naming conventions presents significant challenges. Transitioning to a unified system can take years, and shops need immediate solutions to leverage the synergies of owning multiple sites without the headaches, risks, and manual efforts involved in synchronizing diverse processes.

So where should you begin? Here are three crucial best practices to keep in mind when growing your shop through acquisition:

1. Standardization

Without standardization, manufacturers miss out on the synergies of multi-site ownership. Standardizing your quoting data across multiple sites is critical for ensuring consistency and efficiency, even with different ERP systems in place. However, different ERPs do not have the same underlying architecture (like different character limitations) making it difficult to drive standardization.

Paperless Parts enables manufacturers to standardize their quoting data across multiple sites, regardless of the different systems in place. Robust integration and API capabilities built into the software translate various naming conventions into a consistent format.

For instance, the same 144”x2” Aluminum-6061 rod named “123” in one system and “XYZ” in another can be standardized to “Aluminum 6061 Rod | 144.0 x 2.” This consistency streamlines operations and maintains a unified approach across all sites, allowing manufacturers to operate smoothly and effectively.

2. Advanced Analytics

You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Understanding how different business units are performing based on standardized KPIs is essential for making data-driven decisions. Depending on different business units quote and store RFQ history, calculations and outputs can be apples to oranges.

Paperless Parts provides built-in advanced analytics that consolidate key performance indicators (KPIs), such as:

• Number of quotes and orders for a period of time
• Win rate by turnaround time, customers, work centers, material, even part dimensions
• Turnaround time
• Total outstanding quote volume weighted for likelihood to win (for forecasting)

Having all of your quoting activities centralized in one location gives you data at your fingertips that helps you better manage capacity, understand market trends, and allocate resources effectively. Gaining a comprehensive view helps shops remain agile and improve enterprise and site-wide performance.

3. Properly Allocating Opportunities

Arguably the most important asset to any successful multi-site organization is having the ability to strategically and seamlessly allocate work across various sites. The ability to capitalize on more opportunities with greater resource efficiency helps shops drive revenue and strengthen their market position.

Paperless Parts enables shops to create a standard and repeatable framework for quoting different manufacturing processes. This empowers a shop to work quickly and collaboratively across sites to quote jobs, regardless of where the job will ultimately be manufacturered. For instance, if a job seems most ideal for Site A, Paperless Parts allows estimating teams to quickly assess the RFQ and tag in Site A to cost or confirm pricing. Even though the work was outsourced to a different site, the buyer receives a timely and accurate quote from the business they submitted it to, avoiding confusion and strengthening their trust in your brand.

From Complexity to Clarity

Building a multi-site organization is complex, which is why the most successful multi-site organizations prioritize viewing the business both as a whole and in its individual parts.

Paperless Parts equips you with the necessary tools to manage multi-site operations efficiently and profitably. Visit our website to learn how we can support your unique growth goals.

 

Estephen Saliba leads our Strategic Accounts division at Paperless Parts. He works closely with our multi-site customers to architect, implement, and enhance their sales and estimating function across their portfolio sites.