Why do production confirmations reach the ERP late?
The flow from the floor to the ERP, what delay does to the plan, and how to fix it.
What a confirmation does
A confirmation reports the work done on the floor to the ERP: quantity produced, scrap, times and often goods movements. The ERP’s picture of stock, capacity and cost rests on it.
Common causes of delay
Delay usually comes from the flow, not the people:
- Paper forms are entered in bulk in the office at shift end.
- The ERP screen is too complex to use on the floor.
- Order, operation and material are matched by hand.
- Wrong entries wait to be corrected later.
What it does to the plan
When confirmations lag, the system falls behind reality. Finished work looks open, capacity looks full and stock is wrong. Planners stop trusting the system and go back to the phone and Excel, and the gap between the plan and the floor grows.
How to shorten it
The core of the fix is capturing the record where and when the work happens:
- A simple terminal on the floor: pick the order, enter the count, report downtime.
- Automatic counting from machine signals where possible.
- Recorded data flowing to the ERP by itself.
- Errors waiting in a visible list with a clear owner.
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