Manufacturers are under pressure to make superior products, faster and with less waste. However, they face numerous challenges, including skills shortages, supply chain disruptions, and the need to understand the environmental impact of their end-to-end operations.

As a result, we’ve seen a big rise in demand for the business intelligence and low-code capabilities of Microsoft Power Platform to enhance our manufacturing clients’ existing SAP ERP platforms. This powerful suite of tools enables your teams to manipulate and visualize SAP data to enable better decision-making and enhance automation to boost productivity. With the Power Platform Manufacturers can:

• Code custom applications using a user-friendly interface (Power Apps)
• Automate workflows between existing IT applications and services (Power Automate)
• Visualize key performance metrics and set alerts (Power BI)
• Build mobile apps and websites for internal and external use (Power Pages)
• Create virtual assistants and chatbots to unlock insights in data across multiple systems (Copilot Studio)

Avanade has developed numerous accelerators to help manufacturers drive rapid value creation with Power Platform. In addition, our School of AI program helps employees to rapidly acquire the advanced prompt engineering skills they need to get the most out of Copilot. This is benefitting a diversity of business functions, including:

Supply chain management
1. Forecast supply needs: Easily monitor real-time data and create alerts for stock levels.
2. Automate procurement: Standardize in-app flows for ordering consumables.
3. AI-enabled control towers: Use AI for simulations and planning tasks.

Production management
4. Track production: Use apps for scanning and monitoring production processes.
5. Streamline material swaps: Allow last-minute material substitutions to reduce the impact of supply chain disruptions.
6. Boost quality control: Manage defect rates and detect anomalies.

Performance management
7. Enhance ESG reporting: Monitor data to reduce waste (scrap, energy, water, CO2 emissions) and manage your environmental impact.
8. Accelerate inspections and audits: Create checklists and dashboards to drive greater transparency and accountability in near real-time.
9. Deliver better field services: Equip field engineers with comprehensive data on their work orders and tasks.

People Management
10. Better employee onboarding: Automate data capture and workflow approvals.
11. Optimize shift management: Schedule shifts, taking into account employee availability and skills, and provide real-time visibility and flexibility to the workforce.
12. Empower frontline workers: Digitally capture and prioritize continuous improvement suggestions using AI.

Real-world success stories
We’ve worked with many clients around the world:

• Beverage bottler and distributor: Avanade has automated order processing and reduced the time required to process urgent orders from hours to seconds.
• Electrical infrastructure manufacturer: We streamlined helpdesk support with a smart chatbot, improving service for over 1.6 million customers.
• Tire manufacturer: With digitized inventory checks, the firm was able to improve the accuracy of quarterly and annual audits and reduce manual errors.
• Volvo Cars: A new Facilities Environmental Sustainability Tool gathers data from approximately 200 facilities, 2,500 retailers, and factories in its journey towards becoming a carbon-neutral company.
• Lean/Kaizen: Continuous improvement ideas are digitally captured and prioritized, reducing the time from idea to implementation.

Talk to us about how we can help you
There are already over 33 million monthly active Microsoft Power Platform users globally and this figure is growing daily. According to a 2024 Forrester Total Economic Impact report, firms have been able to drive a 224% return on investment with $82 million in net-present value (NPV), and a payback period of under six months. These benefits stem from reduced development timelines and IT costs, time savings for users, and faster revenue growth from quicker solution deployment. It’s no wonder that IDC forecasts that over 90% of G2000 firms will augment operational roles with automation by 2026 to boost employee efficiency by 30%.

Microsoft Power Platform offers an economical approach to democratizing software creation and access to data intelligence. It fosters organizational agility while maintaining governance and control through IT oversight. As manufacturers navigate the challenges of the modern ERP landscapes, low-code tools are vital to enable them to be more agile, innovative, and competitive. Please get in touch to discuss how we can help you.

Read our quick guide Get more out of SAP with Power Platform in manufacturing and download our eBook for a rapid recap of recent client projects .