Managing a manufacturing supply chain is complex. When workflows aren’t defined, orders fall through the cracks, lead times balloon, and costs spiral out of control. The good news is that structured, automated supply chain workflows eliminate those gaps. This post covers what a manufacturing supply chain workflow is, why it matters, and the steps to build one that keeps your operations running smoothly, from raw materials to finished goods delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TL;DR<\/p>\n
Our first manufacturing workflow tip is on how to manage your supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you look at the material shortages of 2026, it’s clear that having multiple vendors is a smart approach to supply chain management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From nurturing business relationships with multiple suppliers to planning alternative materials to use during shortages, a diverse supply chain ensures that you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this allows you to get high-quality products out the door and into the hands of your customers faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the wake of COVID-19, it’s clear that manufacturers need to be able to pivot to remote work quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trouble is, much of your work takes place on the factory floor producing goods or in the distribution center organizing and shipping products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With smart manufacturing<\/a>, however, this is changing as many manufacturing supply chain workflows become digital \u2014 including inventory management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cloud solutions like SOS Inventory<\/a> are a great way to remotely: <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of which allows you to have an accurate understanding of your stock, even when you’re not on-site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An early but critical stage of your manufacturing supply chain workflow is how you receive and fulfill orders. The approach most manufacturers take is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenges with this are two-fold, as this process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Automated order fulfillment, on the other hand, helps you drive a better bottom line by cutting down on labor hours and costs. Here are a few examples of manufacturing supply chain workflows you can easily automate within your order process: <\/p>\n\n\n\n By automating these manufacturing supply chain workflows, your order processing time goes from hours to minutes<\/a> like it did for Khalid Shehady. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “We had a reduction in total hours of 55% for our workflows. This translates to approximately 243 hours a month. We were able to allocate these now “free” hours into more productive tasks like sales, activity tracking, and analytics” <\/p>\n– Eric Crescioni, Director of Information Technology of Reliable Trading <\/cite>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The first step in automating your order management process is to select the right technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To start, you want to look for solutions that are cloud based. This is your best bet as cloud software ensures your order information instantly updates and can be accessed by everyone who needs it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your order management process is particularly unique to your business, it’s also smart to look for software that you can easily customize<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a purchase order in hand, it’s hard to know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A solution to this common manufacturing supply chain workflow challenge is to shorten your sales process<\/a> by enabling your sales reps to create estimates<\/a> on-the-go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And thankfully, it’s easy to make this happen with Method CRM<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With Method CRM, your sales reps can capitalize on customer interest by getting an estimate to them instantly. Not only does this take pressure off your finance team but it also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To boost efficiency and automate your workflows, consider integrating with Method CRM. See how Method<\/a> helped a shipping container company’s revenue double in just three years below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
3. Automate your order processing <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How to automate order management<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4. Empower your team to create estimates on-the-go<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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