NEWS RELEASE: Nearly Half of Electrical-Equipment Manufacturers Use “Gut Feel” for Project Tracking: Cincom Report
CINCINNATI ― Nearly 50% of electrical-equipment manufacturers use manual tracking and “gut feel” to track project reporting, including project cost and profit. That’s 14% more when compared to a composite benchmark of comparable industries.
When asked “How is profit performance, cost and/or project reporting tracked, managed and communicated?” nearly 50% of electrical-equipment manufacturers said they used manual tracking and “gut feel.”
This is according to a 2009 research report by software maker Cincom Systems (http://www.cincomerp.com) based on a national survey to sales and IT executives that sheds light on how these electrical-equipment manufacturing organizations are managing their businesses for increased efficiency and effectiveness.
One of the reasons for the large lack of formal project tracking may be the lack of project-management integration. A full 50% of electrical-equipment manufacturers have no project-management integration with accounting, finance or customer-management systems. This creates a large gap between rapidly advancing manufacturers that are creating profit and loss statements per project and those that lack insight into the profitability by project on an ongoing basis.
“Without integrated project management, the company is blind to projects hemorrhaging quietly in their respective silos and equally unaware when projects are running ahead of schedule and under budget,” said Lou Washington, co-author of the report. “The end result is the same: assets mismanaged and resources wasted.”
ERP SYSTEMS CREATE FREQUENT WORKAROUNDS
Most electrical-equipment manufacturers surveyed report that their ERP systems provide valuable information. However, 86% of those surveyed stated their ERP systems also require frequent workarounds and customized data extracts. Slightly less than 50% of the composite benchmark had similar problems.
When asked “What is the state of your current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system??” 86% of electrical-equipment manufacturers stated their ERP systems require frequent workarounds and customized data extracts.
“Manufacturers with hybrid sales channels should consider a project-based approach to defining processes with ERP,” said Washington. “Traditional ERP lacks the flexibility and responsiveness needed to support hybrid sales channels and project-management-based businesses.”
For a copy of Cincom’s “2009 Electrical Equipment Industry Survey Report,” visit http://www.cincom.com/electric.
ABOUT CINCOM SYSTEMS
For over 40 years, Cincom’s problem-solving software, services and people have helped thousands of companies all over the world grow and manage their businesses. For more information about Cincom’s products and services, contact Cincom at 1-800-2CINCOM (USA only), send an e-mail to info@cincom.com or visit the company’s website at www.cincom.com.
RELATED LINKS:
Cincom Systems website
http://www.cincom.com
Cincom Acquire™ manufacturing website
http://www.cincomacquire.com
Cincom Enterprise manufacturing website
http://www.cincomerp.com
2009 Electrical Equipment Industry Survey Report
http://www.cincom.com/electric
Media Contact:
Donna Hedge Burns
Corporate Public Relations
Cincom Systems
dburns@cincom.com
513-612-2305
October 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
[...] Software company Cincom has posted a study that it says shows the majority of electrical equipment manufacturers have insufficient integration among their software systems to properly track projects. Cincom release [...]