Manufacturing companies overwhelmingly rely on an ERP system to keep their businesses running smoothly. More than simply a system of record for transactions, effective ERP solutions encompass every aspect of the business. In fact, the more business processes the company’s ERP system covers, the more likely the company is to be a leader.

Research shows that companies that use ERP most effectively have higher margins, deliver more orders on time and have more accurate inventories than their less effective competitors. While it sounds simple enough, many companies don’t know what steps to take to improve their ERP effectiveness. Here are a few ideas.

Know What You Own

Sometimes companies turn on only the bare minimum of necessary features when they implement new systems because they want to go live in a short time period. They often rationalize that they can go back and turn on the rest of the system later, but for most companies, later never comes.

It’s a well-known fact that people only retain a small percentage of what they learn, and that memory deteriorates over time. In addition, employee turnover further erodes the collective knowledge. If it’s been a while since you bought your ERP system, it’s quite likely that very few people in your organization actually know what the ERP system is capable of. It might be time to reevaluate your systems capabilities.

If you haven’t upgraded your existing software to the latest release, there’s a good chance what you’re running is far less functional than your vendor’s current version.

Learn About Your System’s Capabilities

If any of these scenarios strike a chord, ask your vendor to come in for a few days of consulting or a demo of the latest release. You may find the experience eye opening as you learn about the functionality you already have that you don’t use. There very well may be a solution to your most pressing business problems that can be solved by using the ERP system you already own. Or you may discover available new modules that round out your solution and let you expand usage of your existing system into new areas —instead of undertaking the hassle of finding and integrating third party applications to provide coverage.

Tune Up Your ERP Knowledge

By working with the consulting team from your vendor, you may find better ways of accomplishing tasks that improve productivity or uncover forgotten features that were never implemented. In any case, a day of vendor consulting is like getting a tune up for your car. Things just run better afterwards, and you prevent potential problems.

You might also consider sending a few employees through system training so they gain a greater understanding of what you already have. Training is one of the strongest predictors of ERP success, so you should make regular training a part of your budget each year.

You probably have a continuous improvement program in your shop floor to uncover and eliminate problems and wasted resources. You should consider a similar program for your ERP system. By putting in the effort to learn what you own and the most effective ways to use your ERP software, you will be better positioned to join the ranks of industry leaders.