Companies that manufacture and sell products for personal consumption by individuals fall under the consumer products or consumer goods industry. This thriving industry sector is heavily regulated and faces many challenges amid economic crises and global disturbances. Thankfully, such companies can meet these challenges and ensure growth with the help of an ERP for consumer products industry.
In this article, we are going to see the types of ERP for consumer products and their benefits from the perspective of the SAP Business One (SAP B1) solution.
Let’s start from scratch.
What is Consumer Products ERP?
Consumer Product ERP is a tailored solution that enables manufacturers or owners of companies to streamline processes, save big on costs, and increase productivity. Consumer product manufacturers face many challenges amid rapidly changing customer demands and dynamic regulations. An agile ERP consumer products industry can help them address these challenges and understand market trends.
What are the Types of ERP for Consumer Products Industry?
There are several types of ERP systems available for the consumer products industry, each offering specific features and functionalities tailored to the needs of businesses in this sector.
Here are some common types of ERP solutions for the consumer products industry:
Standard ERP
It is a comprehensive solution that offers a wide range of functionalities for various business processes across the industry. They typically include modules for supply chain management, production planning, inventory management, CRM, financial management, and analytics.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) ERP
These ERP systems focus on optimizing supply chain processes in the consumer products industry. They provide advanced functionalities for demand planning, inventory optimization, logistics management, supplier management, and distribution network planning.
Warehouse Management System (WMS) ERP
As the name suggests, these ERP solutions specifically target warehouse operations. They provide features for inventory tracking, stock location management, order picking and packing, shipment verification, and automated data capture.
E-commerce ERP
These systems are integrated with online selling platforms and support companies to sell their products globally. These solutions facilitate inventory synchronization between online stores and physical inventory, manage online orders, track shipments, and provide real-time visibility.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) ERP
As a highly useful ERP for consumer products industry, PLM, ERP focuses on managing the entire lifecycle of consumer products, from ideation and design to manufacturing and distribution. They offer features for data management, document & version control, quality management, etc.
Trade Promotion Management (TPM) ERP
These ERP systems are specifically designed to manage trade promotions and marketing activities. They have features for planning, executing, and analysing trade promotions, including pricing strategies, promotional campaigns, trade spend management, and funds tracking.
These are some of the common types of ERP systems available for the consumer products industry. It is better to consider SAP B1 for consumer products as an all-in-one solution. It can align with the unique needs, objectives, and processes of consumer products industries.
Top Five Challenges Faced by Consumer Products Industry
The consumer products industry sector consists of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Consumer Durable Goods, and Food & Beverages (F&B) industries. These industries have to follow various restrictions and regulations. Here we mention five challenges that are prevalent in the industry-
Changing Consumer Demands
Consumer products companies need to be consumer-focused, and consumer preferences have altered greatly in recent years. As the consumer’s demand shifts toward healthier and sustainable options, the company needs to have capabilities for New Product Introduction (NPI) and time-to-market.
Reducing Operating Margins
With intensifying competition, companies have to deal with changing global price points. This creates additional pressure, as manufacturers need to ensure the delivery of high-quality products while finding innovative ways to reduce costs. Companies also need to remain ready for fluctuations in various factors.
Compliance and Regulatory Pressures
Consumer product companies have to comply with both domestic and international regulatory environments. Other challenges are mitigating operational risk and managing nonconformances, which create additional pressure on the company. Also, the dynamic nature of regulations brings hurdles in operations at times.
Globalization and Localization
Companies need to maintain a subtle balance between global and local markets. Along with this, it is necessary to manage the local and international networks of suppliers effectively to maintain the supply chain. Consumer product companies can never compromise on quality and product safety.
Data Management and Visibility
As data access and sharing become more vulnerable to breaches, consumer products companies need strong data granularity and management systems. It is necessary to protect the confidential data of consumers and suppliers alike. Also, companies need to keep the visibility of data high for ensuring its seamless access.
A feature-rich and tailored ERP for consumer products industry can help companies meet these challenges effectively while offering many other benefits. Let’s have a look at some major benefits of ERP for consumer products from the perspective of SAP Business One.
How does SAP B1 bring business benefits to consumer product companies?
As a robust and reliable ERP for consumer products, SAP Business One (SAP B1) offers many benefits to the industry.
Here are some key benefits of SAP for consumer product companies.
Streamlined Operations
SAP Business One helps streamline and automate key business processes in the consumer product industry, such as inventory management, order processing, and production planning. Also, effective supply chain management enables companies to optimize operations.
Effective Inventory Management
Effective inventory management is crucial for consumer product companies. SAP Business One provides real-time visibility into inventory levels, allowing these companies to track stock levels accurately, reduce carrying costs, and avoid stockouts or overstocks.
Improved Sales and Customer Relationship Management
SAP ERP offers robust sales and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. It helps manage the sales cycle, track customer interactions, and analyze sales performance. The SAP B1 also enables consumer product industries to generate quotes, process orders, etc.
Better Financial Management
As an accurate and reliable ERP for consumer products, SAP B1 has financial management features to provide comprehensive accounting functionality. It includes general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and banking capabilities.
Real-time Reporting and Analytics
SAP Business One has built-in reporting and analytics tools that provide companies with real-time insights into key performance indicators (KPIs). It enables the generation of customized reports, dashboards, and visualizations, helping management make informed decisions based on accurate and actionable insights.
Compliance and Regulatory Support:
The consumer product industry is subject to various regulations and compliance requirements. SAP Business One helps this sector maintain compliance by providing features like batch tracking, lot control, and traceability. It also helps manage quality control processes, ensuring adherence to industry standards and regulations
Simply put, SAP B1 for consumer products is a must-have for your company for increasing efficiency, productivity, and capability to meet the ever-changing demands of customers. All you need to find the official partner for SAP Business One solution in Ahmedabad.
Solutions you need to know about SAP for consumer products industry
The consumer products industry is unique in a way that it combines both manufacturing and sales of goods. Therefore, it is essential to build ERP solutions that integrate the features of both production and sales.
Here are some SAP solutions for the consumer products industry.
Capabilities ranging from product line management to supply chain management
Engineering capabilities, including Docs, BOM, Parts, CAD, and change management
Calendar/Scheduler, merchandise and line plan management with workflow processes
Migration capabilities for consolidating different brands and acquisitions
Capabilities to manage variations and specifications of different products
An Overview of the consumer products industry ERP Concluding Lines
Better supply chain management, production planning, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), inventory control, and real-time reporting are some of the key business benefits of ERP for consumer products industry. It ensures growth while reducing various costs and offering assistance in streamlining processes. You can get the top-notch ERP solution in Ahmedabad for your company by choosing the right development partner.
SAP Silvertouch Technologies Ltd is a renowned SAP Business One Partner in India. It is your go-to destination for developing a custom ERP software solution in Ahmedabad. Our experienced professionals can build necessary add-ons for SAP Business One for consumer products and other core industry sectors. Do you want to schedule a free demo on how SAP ERP solutions can help your consumer product industry? Simply drop us a line at sap@silvertouch.com and we will get back to you soon!
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