The Operational Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A Case Study on Food Processing and Manufacturing Companies in Jordan
Dr. Ziad Moh'd. Ali Smadi

Abstract
Enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems are very vital tools in today’s world competitive business environment. This research study presents the importance of the operational benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in food processing and manufacturing companies in Jordan. A review of recent research studies on ERP systems in the relevant literature was carried out. The researcher tried to identify the main benefits of ERP systems implementation in cost reduction, production cycling, continuous improvement, data quality improvement and customers’ service improvement. A questionnaire was designed and developed with the help of recent research studies related to ERP implementation, the questionnaires was distributed to officials who occupy managerial positions in those processing and manufacturing companies. The study result revealed that the implementation of ERP helped food-manufacturing companies mostly in reducing the communication cost, meeting cost, delivery cost and traveling cost. It also improves the production process, as well as the stock procurement process, so it reduces production cycling. In addition, ERP leads to restructuring of job functions, reducing of order cancellation, increasing of employee satisfaction, benefiting from continuous improvement, reducing risk of price miscalculation, Improving of data accuracy, thereby improving data quality and improving customer satisfaction by enhancing customer services. The result revealed that many manufacturing companies have enjoyed numerous benefits from the systems having been brought to them, while some others have faced challenges in the implementation of ERP as benefits were not noticed immediately, but can be noticed in the future. The researcher noticed that implementation of ERP is not only successful when designed for large organizations. Small- and medium- sized organization can also have the same benefits from ERP implementation.

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