Manufacturing businesses are constantly up against pressing challenges, but accurate and timely order fulfillment is one of the most essential hurdles to clear. Even with a smooth manufacturing process in place, if you lack the ability to deliver goods on time and in the right quantity, you won’t retain customers.

Successful order fulfillment is a challenging task that requires a coordinated approach across departments. It starts with receiving inventory shipments and flows through various stages including storing inventory, processing orders, shipping and, if needed, processing returns. While some companies utilize a third party for this complex process, others handle this process in-house.

Why does order fulfillment matter?

The need to cater to your customer’s needs quickly and accurately has never been more important. A MetaPack report found that 43% of customers won’t shop with a retailer again for at least a month if they have a negative delivery experience and 38% won’t shop with this retailer again at all.

Order fulfillment starts with putting your manufacturing plan together and ends with fast and efficient order delivery. Unlike manual processes or CRM platforms, online project management software offers a single place to make production plans, manage order fulfillment and track progress. As a result, you’ll deliver value to your customers in a more streamlined and quality-focused manner.

Project management software vs. manual processes

Manual processes that include static spreadsheets or emails might be commonplace in your existing order fulfillment process. But as invoices continue to come through the pipeline, these manual processes can quickly become outdated, inaccurate and difficult to manage by hand.

Take Metalmorphic Laser as an example. This Australian manufacturing company was losing invoices due to limitations surrounding static spreadsheets. When they implemented project management software, Metalmorphic Laser had a better way to track their work.

“The software gave us more visibility. We’re able to track work from start to finish. Every invoice gets paid,” said Dan McKay, director at Metalmorphic Laser.

Project management software such as ProjectManager enables you to create custom production schedules to tie collaboration with essential order fulfillment details. With order notes from the customer and your production schedules in one location, it’s easier to prioritize work and keep customers updated with fast status updates.

Project management software vs. CRM platforms

Many manufacturing companies rely on CRM platforms to track customer interactions and their relationship to the order fulfillment process. But successful order fulfillment also requires building plans and workflows to track and oversee various stages of production. Having an all-in-one solution to track customer orders alongside dynamic dashboards makes it easier to track everything in one place.

Project management software enables you to build the project plan, oversee customer interactions and fulfill orders efficiently, all with one streamlined approach.

“If I get a phone call from a customer who wants to know when the job will be delivered, I open up ProjectManager and can immediately see where the job is in the process and accurately update the customer on its due date,” McKay said.

Stay connected from anywhere with project management software

Whether your team is working from the same location or across manufacturing sites, staying connected is key to ensuring timely and accurate order fulfillment. The ability to collaborate in real-time on project management software is invaluable.

“Before project management software, it felt as if I was treading water, not being able to find what I needed,” McKay said. “ProjectManager gives us transparency to know exactly where to find where everything is in terms of the job and our customers like that.”

While project management software doesn’t need to replace all of your existing solutions, at a minimum, it can be used in combination with your favorite tools. This partnership will make your order fulfillment process that much easier, faster and more accurate.

To learn more about ProjectManager, an award-winning project management software, take a free 30-day trial.