With rising tariffs, shifting supply chains, and market uncertainty becoming the norm, manufacturers are under more pressure than ever to control costs and optimize workflows. These macroeconomic factors aren’t just headlines—they’re daily realities affecting how you plan, source, produce, and deliver. Manufacturers are under more pressure than ever to control costs and optimize workflows.
If you’re navigating tariff-driven price changes or unstable supplier relationships, inventory management becomes even more critical. In fact, we’ve covered how inventory systems help tackle tariff challenges in this article.
There’s no shortage of advice out there telling manufacturers to “optimize,” “scale,” or “modernize.” Easier said than done when your days are spent putting out fires on the shop floor, managing supplier delays, or manually adjusting inventory levels.
But here’s the truth: you don’t need more advice. You need visibility.
You don’t need to guess what’s slowing down your operations—you need a simple, repeatable way to uncover the real problems hiding in your processes.
This guide walks you through a practical, human-first, data-informed approach to auditing your manufacturing operations so you can make smarter decisions that lead to real results.
Why This Matters for Manufacturing SMBs
In manufacturing, complexity is the silent killer. Small and mid-sized manufacturers often operate with lean teams, tight margins, and legacy systems that were never built to talk to one another. That creates a perfect storm for operational inefficiency—even if things “look fine” on the surface.
If you’re running an SMB, you don’t have time for bloated strategies or expensive consultants. You need quick wins that compound into long-term improvements. Whether it’s a missed shipment, a late order, or excess raw material sitting idle, every inefficiency costs you money, time, and customer trust.
That’s what makes this guide different. It’s not about a massive overhaul or overnight change. It’s about identifying where you’re getting stuck, and taking one smart, practical step at a time to move forward. And to help you take that next step, I’ve included a free bonus at the end: a resource designed to help you take control of your operations with actionable insights and the right tools.
Start with the Right Questions
Before diving into reports or tech, take a beat. Most teams jump to fixing before fully understanding what’s broken. Instead, start by asking questions that help uncover friction points:
- Where are we consistently losing time?
- What processes are dependent on one person or prone to manual errors?
- What tasks feel more painful than they should?
- Where do we hear the most complaints from staff or customers?
These questions reframe your mindset from “we need to fix everything” to “what’s worth fixing first?”
Dig Into Your Inventory & Production Data
You don’t need a PhD in analytics to uncover insights. You just need to know where to look. Your inventory and production data holds the answers to questions like:
- Are we over-ordering or understocking certain materials?
- How often are we adjusting inventory manually?
- What are our lead times really like—not just what’s on paper?
Look at these data points:
- Inventory turnover ratio
- Stockout frequency
- Backorder trends
- Production downtime logs
- Manual adjustment frequency
Tip: If your data lives across spreadsheets, accounting software, and a whiteboard in the warehouse, that’s a problem worth solving on its own. Read here to learn how you can improve that ASAP.
Don’t forget your team is data, too. Walk the shop floor. Ask operators where delays happen and where they see duplicate work. Combine those insights with the numbers to get a clearer picture of where you stand.
Identify Repetitive or Manual Work
Automation doesn’t start with software. It starts with spotting patterns.
Where are your people spending hours each week on tasks that never change? Some common ones include:
- Re-entering data between systems
- Reconciliations and corrections
- Chasing down inventory discrepancies
If a task repeats without variation and doesn’t require judgment, it’s a prime candidate for automation or at least simplification. The time your team spends on busywork is time they’re not spending on production, problem-solving, or innovation. This is where powerful automation software is key.
Example: After implementing Fishbowl Advanced, one Fishbowl customer reported saving 50 hours a week on order entry and an additional 30 hours a week on production workflows.
Compare Against Benchmarks
How do you know if your processes are inefficient? Benchmarks can help.
Use industry reports or internal case studies to compare your metrics:
- Inventory turnover in your sector
- On-time fulfillment rates
- Production-to-shipment cycle time
Benchmarks are helpful—but only when they’re grounded in the real world. Use your own data as the first comparison point, then look to similar manufacturers to see what’s possible. Case studies can be even more useful here.
Example: A Fishbowl customer, Velocity Restorations, cut production delays by 40% by automating part tracking and standardizing their production workflow.
Map the Flow, Not Just the Process
Processes look clean on paper. But actual workflows are messy.
Map how information, materials, and decisions flow through your operation in real life:
- Where does a sales order start and how does it become a shipment?
- Who needs to approve what?
- Where are the handoffs that introduce delays?
This is especially useful when you’re growing. A process that worked with three people can fall apart with 12 if it relies on tribal knowledge or undocumented steps.
Prioritize What to Fix First
Once you’ve identified friction, resist the urge to fix everything at once. Instead, prioritize each problem based on these factors:
- Impact: How much time/money does this issue cost?
- Effort: How easy is it to solve?
- Buy-in: Can we get employees to change this quickly?
Use a simple matrix (Impact vs. Effort) to decide. The sweet spot? High impact, low effort.
Examples of low-effort, high-impact fixes:
- Automating reorder alerts
- Eliminating double data entry between inventory and accounting systems
- Creating a standard intake form for new sales orders
Even small wins build momentum and show your team that change is possible.
Clarity Is Your Competitive Edge
Fixing operational issues doesn’t require a massive transformation. It starts by observing the mess, not judging it. By asking better questions, digging into the data you already have, and mapping how things really work, you can uncover the root causes of complexity—and fix them one step at a time.
And when you fix the right things in the right order, operations don’t just run smoother—they become your growth engine.
And if you’re unsure about taking that first step, know this: Fishbowl offers a satisfaction guarantee. We stand behind our platform’s ability to deliver real results for real manufacturers. If you’re not satisfied, we’ll work with you to make it right.
PS: As promised, here is that free bonus for you. This has even more insights that will help you put the principles we discussed into action in your business!