How To Realize Localization Of ERP In Chinese Clothing Enterprises

ERP landed in China for a relatively short time, only 10 years ago.

As it took root in Chinese clothing enterprises, some problems were also thrown out.

For example, a chief executive of a garment enterprise, he pursued the ERP project in 2005.

This column invites ERP senior expert Ji Xiaogang to give directions to China's clothing enterprises on the special points of clothing industry and localization of ERP.

When we go to ERP, we should see the special points of clothing industry.

For garment enterprises, when it comes to the ERP project, they must realize that the clothing industry and other manufacturing industries are

In addition, any enterprise that defines product style, color and size by SKU (inventory unit) is very complex in management, and clothing belongs to this type.

Many garment companies deal with hundreds of thousands of SKU a day.

At the same time, the clothing varieties are abundant, the popularity cycle is short, the price adjustment, the price reduction and the change of warehouse are speeding up, and consignment, discount and refund are frequent.

In this complex production and operation management, accurate fashion forecasting, material procurement, production planning and distribution are particularly important.

Garment enterprises are labor-intensive production enterprises. With the rise of garment processing enterprises in Southeast Asia, China's labor cost advantages are being challenged.

Therefore, every season, many garment enterprises borrow large amounts of operating capital from banks and other financial institutions to expand their scale and increase their output. Of course, they will have to pay a large amount of interest on loans, which will undoubtedly swallow up the profits that have been decreasing.

In order to ensure maximum cash flow and return on investment, financial information from two aspects of products and distribution is needed.

How to innovate in the management mode and the application of information technology has become a problem facing the apparel people.

ERP effective control of market demand and supply chain can help enterprises standardize production processes, monitor cash flow, avoid excessive expansion and underemployment.

However, we should also see that some clothing enterprises blindly assume that ERP has the power of omnipotence, and that a software can solve any difficult problems in enterprise management.

For example, in terms of material coding and order processing, garment enterprises have differentiated and personalized demand, but many enterprises are now trying to make other manufacturers' information management mode hard on the garment industry, resulting in acclimatization.

Therefore, "three points software, seven points selection", enterprises must find the ERP that can meet the color separation and business process characteristics of the clothing industry.

The ERP system will change or replace many links in the original enterprise.

As mentioned earlier by the head of the clothing enterprise, employees may not be able to adapt to the changes brought by the new system.

The best preparation can not guarantee the ideal operation of a system without any mistakes.

However, the following points are very important.

Management must support and participate in the project, preferably in the decision-making level of the ERP working group.

Customers must provide sufficient materials, and more importantly, relevant people must be involved.

These participants must be able to make decisions, such as financial managers.

Choosing a supplier that constantly improves the system is also critical, so as to meet the future development requirements of enterprises and industries.

How can Chinese enterprises achieve localization of ERP?

Traditionally, integrated information technology (IT) does not look at the clothing industry.

Because the installation cost of ERP system is not only very expensive, but also very time-consuming, and the cost of management is even more substantial.

Moreover, the input cost does not guarantee the realization of interests, but depends on the correct installation, training and use.

The foundation of China's industrialization is relatively thin. The standardization and institutionalization of many enterprise management are not perfect, and some are still in the stage of "rule by man".

The core of ERP management is system standardization, which can minimize the artificial management factors.

The owners of Chinese clothing enterprises, which are mainly run by private enterprises, are accustomed to "one person has the final say". His own ideas still remain in the stage of chairman ERP, rather than ERP leading the whole company. Standardization of the system sometimes becomes a castle in the air.

The improvement of management efficiency is the same as the improvement of production efficiency: scale, standardization and unification.

These are very conflicting with many practices in the fast developing stage of Chinese garment enterprises. Many of the original irregularities and various operations must be standardized, and there will be great resistance.

In addition, China's industrial economic operation environment is yet to be standardized. It is very difficult to adapt to the management of enterprises in different stages of development by using a very standardized foreign software. This is also one of the main reasons for the failure of many Chinese clothing enterprises to choose foreign ERP software.

In addition, due to the restriction of intellectual property rights, there are still some problems in the implementation of ERP software in China.

The director of Commerce of a large garment enterprise in Shandong once said: "there is no mature ERP software in the field of domestic clothing. At present, the first category is a company that only designs distribution software. Its advantage is to focus on distribution, but it does not have the functions of manufacturing, finance and so on. The second category is the comprehensive ERP software company, whose characteristics are expansibility, but the distribution function is relatively weak."

In the process of implementing ERP, the company has joined forces with powerful enterprises and developed a ERP suitable for its own business with first-class software vendors.

Therefore, once the project is implemented, the enterprise must decide which team to choose, and choose the closest partner to the business needs of the garment business.

Most importantly, for apparel companies, three problems must be dealt with when putting ERP on top.

First, what is the real business objective? ERP must focus on solving problems.

For example, the speed of sales orders, inventory accuracy, return rate, attrition rate, financial control capability, etc.

It is suggested to choose one or three typical core businesses that can directly benefit daily operations as a breakthrough and expand to other areas after success.

Secondly, who is responsible for the implementation of ERP? ERP is a business management tool, so the responsibility of ERP is the business department.

If the computer management center does not have the responsibility of enterprise process pformation, it can not be the person responsible for the implementation, it can only be regarded as a support person of information technology.

Third, who is the user of ERP and who will benefit from it? If we only think that the ERP user is an operator, it is a big mistake. The system will never succeed.

ERP is an efficient management tool, and is not necessarily a business tool to improve individual operation efficiency.