Manufacturing Software Acronyms to Know
By Katie Foley
Whether you are a seasoned veteran in the manufacturing industry or new to this world, these are the most important acronyms in the manufacturing software industry you should know
ERP
ERP is the acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is the suite of software that businesses use to manage daily business activities such as accounting, engineering, inventory control, purchasing, CRM (defined below), and MRP (defined below) to name a few.
CRM
This stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM is a platform for managing your company’s relationships with both existing customers and potential customers. You will often find this built into the ERP system as one of the modules, however there are software companies out there that only provide CRM systems for businesses that don’t need the full suite of software offered by an ERP solution.
WMS
Warehouse Management System. WMS is a software application designed to support warehouse functionality. Visibility offers WMS as an add-on to our ERP solution. WMS assists with shop floor transactions in real time using hand-held devices on the shop floor.
MRP
MRP is short for Material Requirements Planning. Visibility offers MRP as one of the core modules of its ERP solution. MRP is a production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. It is the heart of every manufacturing ERP system and, therefore, manufacturers should look for an ERP vendor with deep functionality in this area.
APS
APS stands for Advanced Planning and Scheduling. In the manufacturing world, an APS solution is able to plan and schedule production based upon available materials, labor, and plant capacity.
BI
Last but not least is BI or Business Intelligence. BI is often offered as an add-on to the ERP solution, but there are many vendors out there who just provide a BI solution. BI is a tool or set of tools that allows unrelated, detailed data to be analyzed and transformed into meaningful, business focused intelligence.
Conclusion
All the terms laid out above are simply the most important acronyms for manufacturing professionals to know. There are many more to discover, however, so go and take a deeper dive further into manufacturing jargon. Happy exploring!
