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36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2024 Feature Article by Timothy McLean TXM LEAN SOLUTIONS PTY. LTD. At some point in the growth cycle of most businesses, they inevitably face "the squeeze"— when increasing complexity starts to over- whelm the business processes and manage- ment systems. e business then gets squeezed by rising overhead costs, falling efficiency, capacity constraints, and cash flow challenges. ese oen combine with poor delivery and quality performance to constrain the growth of the business. When faced with "the squeeze," many manu- facturing businesses make these same five mis- takes, only making their problem worse. 1. Seeing the Solution in Software Recognizing the confusion in their business and frustrated by a lack of clear visibility into what is happening in their markets, many busi- ness leaders seek solutions in soware. Usually, this involves ERP soware, which is oen sold as the "all singing, all dancing" soware solu- tion to everything. In fact, the soware does not fix broken business processes; it just auto- mates them. erefore, if your business pro- Wriggling Out of 'the Squeeze' Figure 1: Software systems such as ERP systems are essential tools in most businesses. However, unless your underlying business processes are under control, implementing software can just make the confusion worse.