RPA for SMB Manufacturers

May 3, 2021

RPA, SMB Manufacturing & Reservoir Dogs

SMB Manufacturers

In a previous post, I noted that while enterprise companies are looking at "100 Ways to Automate Your Enterprise with RPA", the SMB market has been stuck inside an over-engineered, overly complicated, and excessively expensive AP Automation solution trap.
The chance for SMB manufacturing companies to expand the use of RPA technology in their organization is the most significant opportunity to increase the productivity of business and production processes since the invention of fire. Before you look for the comment section below to disagree, be ready to defend such advances in ERP software productivity as the mouse, Windows, and the browser.
Go ahead; I'll wait.

RPA for SMB Manufacturers

Unfortunately, in my experience, new technology has historically created a Catch-22 situation for mid-market companies.
Let me explain by breaking the market into four segments that roughly align with their progression through their software phases as they mature:

The Startup or QuickBooks Phase:

new technology thoughts are in the distant future. Growing the business at this stage is the primary goal.

The Small or Medium-Sized Business (SMB) Phase Part 1:

companies are torturing QuickBooks and planning the move to a "real" ERP solution. This is the Acumatica, Sage, Microfot Dynamics, or NetSuite phase. This phase is where we digest a more sophisticated ERP solution and move from primarily accounting to adding inventory and production capabilities. At this stage, a new ERP platform can take years to digest, and "new" technology is a distant thought.

The Small or Medium-Sized Business (SMB) Phase Part 2:

the SMB ERP solution has been fully digested after the three-year six-month implementation is complete. Companies are looking to maximize their investment at this stage.
Move to an Enterprise level ERP solution: at this stage, salespeople from Oracle and SAP with unlimited expense accounts become your best friends and resources for new technology enter the realm of the possible.
This ERP lifecycle has the typical mid-market manufacturing company stuck in the middle between two painful choices when it comes to adopting new technology:
  • Do nothing because it is too expensive.
  • Gamble significant resources.

These extreme options remind me of the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" while it plays in Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs. The scene in which the character of Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) taunts and tortures a bound police officer.
It's a great song but not a pretty position to find oneself in.
The question is, how can a mid-market manufacturing company take advantage of the productivity gains possible with properly implemented RPA solutions without breaking the bank?
These are my initial thoughts:
  • Focus on the positive, not the negative, by looking for high-value processes to automate.
  • Use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer approach.
  • Think of where RPA can be an equalizer against more prominent competitors.
  • Think agile, be a PT Boat, not an oil tanker in responding to market opportunities that
  • require you to zig and zag.
  • Caution, shameless, self-serving plug ahead! Implement an RPA platform, not multiple
  • overblown point solutions.

Also, avoid Mr. Blonde in abandoned warehouses. 

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