6 ERP manufacturing software features to manage repairs and warranties

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released statistics showing that there were 803 vehicle recalls over the last 10 years across the world involving 63.9 million vehicles, including two of the largest vehicle recalls in history.

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Unfortunately, recalls are becoming the norm rather than the exception. This trend is also impacting transportation equipment manufacturers, and is most likely due in large part to the globalization of the supply chain and consolidation of trailer part suppliers.

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Road safety is non-negotiable. In fact, assuring the quality of trailers created from scratch (fabricated-to-order) or assembled from parts (assembled-to-order) is a legal obligation in order to comply with the NHTSA and federal motor vehicle safety standards.

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The good news is that there are features that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) manufacturing software system can provide to help trailer manufacturers establish and maintain an efficient process to manage product recalls and warranties.

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1. CAD design integration

When an ERP software integrates with your CAD design software, it makes it not only much easier for your engineers to share their design information with your manufacturing ERP software, it also reduces the amount of errors in the bill of manufacturing (BOM).

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2. Engineering change control

This feature allows your team to more easily and efficiently manage engineering additions or modifications, ensuring shop-floor employees work with the most accurate information.

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3. Document management

It’s important to control both the content of documents and access to the information. A reliable document management feature avoids unauthorized access, as well as easier and more organized access for those who need to review the documents.

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4. Vehicle information number (VIN) and parts tracking

It goes without saying that you need to always be able to trace where and how a part was used. An ERP manufacturing software designed specifically for transportation equipment manufacturers will include this important feature, giving you greater control in fabrication, maintenance or distribution of parts.

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5. Supplier ratings

In transportation equipment manufacturing, a good practice for reducing recalls and repairs is to implement a supplier rating process to evaluate and approve potential suppliers by quantitative assessment of the number of faulty parts delivered. This feature for custom trailer manufacturers will help build a solid portfolio of key strategic partners, as well as manage risk exposure.

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6. Quality monitoring tools

Another good practice is to identify emergent trends indicating a number of increasing faulty parts within your manufacturing process, measuring tools and lab equipment before the end-product is released on the market. The right ERP system for the trailer manufacturing industry can help do this as well.