Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Business Process Innovation Management in a Manufacturing SME

摘要

Globalisation and information technology (IT) have transformed the manufacturing industry, increasing the demands on companies to lower costs, improve quality, increase variety and time-to-market through effective and efficient coordination of production and distribution activities. In this era of IT, data has become a valuable and insightful source of technological innovation for businesses. In view of the fact that companies in the same industry sectors apply similar technology to their activities, there is a need for technology innovation management. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are IT tools that provide a means for companies to successfully coordinate and integrate their business activities locally and across the globe. They provide access to real time business information that can be used discerningly by businesses to harness critical information. With a case study example, a methodology for identifying critical business data from an ERP system's database to achieve business process innovation is investigated in this paper.