The benefits of cloud computing in manufacturing are endless, from lowering the cost of production to encouraging innovation.
The Rise of the Manufacturing Cloud
In a 2017 report, the IDC noted that "Cloud computing is transforming virtually every facet of modern manufacturing — from how companies operate to how they integrate into supply chains and how they design and fabricate products."
With the recent announcement of Salesforce's new Manufacturing Cloud product, the future has arrived — and it's a bright one.
The benefits of cloud computing in manufacturing are endless. From lowering the cost of production to encouraging innovation, manufacturers have already benefited from the many advantages of these growing technologies.
But the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud takes everything to the next level. From the supply chain to the shop floor, from distributors to end customers — the Manufacturing Cloud platform offers unprecedented insight into your business and offers a chance to better connect with players across the value chain.
Learn more about what the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud platform has to offer
Cloud Manufacturing: Benefits and Features
Cloud computing for manufacturing makes sense and is receiving such widespread adoption — including a major investment from Salesforce — because it offers many key strategic advantages for organizations.
Integrated Systems: ERP meets CRM
Migrating and integrating the various systems of record and engagement associated with the manufacturing process provides unprecedented insight into your business processes. Cloud ERP, CRM, marketing automation, supply chain management, product lifecycle development, and customer service systems can now all be unified within a single manufacturing platform.
With Rootstock Cloud ERP built directly on the Salesforce platform, Salesforce has become a powerful tool allowing manufacturers to run their entire business in one place.
Now, Salesforce's Manufacturing Cloud product offers an even more holistic and seamless integration strategy. Core Salesforce products coupled with new product features like Lightning Order Management and key acquisitions (like Mulesoft and Tableau), have removed nearly all obstacles for manufacturing customers looking to bridge the gap between the front and back office.
See also: Digital Transformation in Manufacturing: 10 Best Practices
Improved Management Capabilities
Accurately measuring employee productivity has long been one of the most challenging aspects of management within the manufacturing industry. By utilizing labor management applications that track and respond to each step in a manufacturing process, management is able to visualize where production is bottle-necking, and respond in a way that increases output. Francis Li, vice president of Information Technology at Softchoice explains that these applications help production leaders by “revealing employee patterns and offering new solutions to process hiccups.” Cloud technology in this area is not only making it easier to measure employee productivity, it is also providing new insights as to where more employee training on a specific skillset would be beneficial to workflow.
Again, the Salesforce ecosystem is a step ahead. New solutions like Parsable, available on the Salesforce AppExchange, allow companies to harness the power of the connected worker. Using data from workers' experiences, companies can now use predictive analytics and intelligence to optimize and scale shop floor best practices.
PaaS Simplifies Development & Encourages Innovation
PaaS (Platform as a Service) allows businesses to build custom software on top of a technology platform, simplifying application development, deployment, and encouraging innovation. And this is where the Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud truly shines. The value of a flexible platform cannot be overstated as it provides companies a location to create, host, and deploy applications without requiring the energy and expertise to navigate complex servers and databases. Because of this, PaaS eliminates the overhead costs of managing the IT resources necessary for application development. In addition, PaaS speeds up application development and allows companies to focus on creating and utilizing the application itself.
As manufacturers continue on the path of digital transformation, the use of cloud computing systems including Cloud ERP and cloud-based manufacturing platforms is allowing businesses to build and manage custom applications that ultimately provide new insights and lead to an increase in production.
Related resources
Manufacturing Cloud Integrations
- Podcast episode: Manufacturing Cloud Integrations and APIs
- Article: The Big Picture: Gaining a 360-Degree View of your Company
- Infographic: Shop Floor 360
- Webinar: Mining Your Mountain of Data
Rootstock Cloud ERP
- Podcast episode: Avoiding 'FrankenCloud"
- Video: How to Get Started with Cloud ERP
- Video: Instead of 'Systems of Record,' Think 'Systems of Engagement'
- Demo: Cloud ERP Mobile App
- Video: Digging into the Rootstock Customer Service Console
Shop Floor 360
- Podcast episode: 5 Ways AI is Revolutionizing the Manufacturing Industry
- Infographic: Shop Floor 360
- Podcast episode: The Connected Worker: Experience Data
- Demo: Cloud ERP Mobile App
- Case Study: The Digital Transformation of Matouk
Customer 360
- Article: Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Pardot? Which is best for Manufacturing?
- Video: Digging into the Rootstock Customer Service Console
- Video: Marketing Automation for Manufacturers
- Video: Salesforce Service Cloud Integrations
- Demo: Managing Channel Partners with Salesforce
- Video: You Can Probably Do More with Your CRM
- Demo: A Self-Service Portal for B2B Customers
- Demo: Field Service Lightning
- Podcast episode: 3 Ways Manufacturers Can Use Data to Increase Profits
Supply Chain 360
- Podcast episode: Leverage your logistics data to improve your supply chain
- Podcast episode: 5 Ways AI is Revolutionizing the Manufacturing Industry
- Article: Big Data Impacting the Warehouse and Distribution Center
Quote to Cash
- Article: Launching a Product Configurator: 5 Best Practices
- Webinar: Stop the Blame Game in Engineer to Order
- Video: Learn How One Company Saved Their Sales Team's Sanity
- Video: Configuring Salesforce CPQ for Manufacturing Companies
Data, Analytics and Business Intelligence
- Guide: Put Your Data to Work
- Video: Data Drives Manufacturing
- Podcast episode: The Connected Worker
- Article: 5 Stages of Analytical Maturity for Manufacturers
- Article: Managing Data in Salesforce: Key Terms and Processes
- Article: Connecting Business Data to Business Goals
- Article: Gaining a 360-Degree View of Your Company
- Article: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Effective Dashboards
- Infographic: Shop Floor 360