Manufacturing companies invest millions in Industry 4.0 technology to squeeze every second out of production. Yet 68% still manually enter invoices, taking 17.4 days to process what should take 2. While your production lines run with precision automation, your finance team is drowning in paper.
For many manufacturers, automation starts on the shop floor where CNC machines, robotics, and MES platforms get all the attention. But there’s a quieter kind of inefficiency that eats away at margins every day: the manual workflows behind scheduling, distribution, and finance. From materials planning to invoice approvals, too many processes still rely on disconnected tools and human workarounds, creating costly problems.
This post explores how manufacturers can bring automation beyond production into the CFO's office, building seamless workflows that connect scheduling, distribution, and financial operations. When these functions work in harmony, business agility accelerates across the entire organization.
Let’s start with something nearly every plant manager or operations director has dealt with: a last-minute order throws off your entire production schedule. Your scheduler updates the master production calendar in Excel, cross-checks raw material availability by calling procurement, and sends out three emails to alert the floor. Meanwhile, accounting has no idea there’s a shift, so supplier payments and delivery timelines fall out of sync.
That’s a real-world breakdown. And it happens daily when manufacturing companies rely on siloed systems and manual workflows.
According to a study highlighted in Supply Chain Dive, disruptions due to disconnected teams resulted in higher operating costs (59%), lost revenue (54%), and missed customer deadlines (44%), emphasizing the need for integrated workflows across departments.
Now layer in manual distribution planning: assigning shipments, coordinating carriers, chasing down bills of lading, and reconciling those documents days or weeks later. It’s a mountain of administrative work that slows down fulfillment and cash flow.
In fact, a KPMG report notes that through 2024, 50% of supply chain organizations will invest in applications that support artificial intelligence and advanced analytics capabilities, aiming to enhance efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
It’s easy to think of automation as a shop floor thing. But the truth is, the finance department is just as critical to keeping your operations running smoothly.
Manual accounts payable processes still dominate in many manufacturing environments. Paper invoices, emailed PDFs, and approvals routed through sticky notes or inbox folders create bottlenecks. And when supplier terms are tight or discounts are on the line, delays cost money.
According to Ardent Partners, businesses without automation solutions take an average of 17.4 days to process a single invoice. That includes receiving and routing that invoice, manually reviewing it and matching it to a purchase order, routing for approvals, closing out the invoice, and issuing payment.
Multiply that by thousands of invoices per month, and the cost is staggering.
And those costs aren’t just financial. When invoice approvals lag, supplier relationships suffer. When finance doesn’t have visibility into production changes, payment timing gets misaligned with real activity. And when data lives in separate systems, forecasting and budget planning become guesswork.
McKinsey reports that in 2023, turnover rates in manufacturing hit 36.6%, driving up training costs and making it harder to maintain consistent quality and productivity.
Let’s imagine a different scenario.
Your plant schedules a rush job. Because your scheduling system is connected to procurement and finance workflows, the system automatically checks inventory availability, flags any at-risk materials, and prompts the AP system to prepare early payments for key suppliers.
Meanwhile, your distribution manager sees the schedule update instantly and reroutes logistics accordingly. No emails, no missed steps, just seamless execution across departments.
This isn’t hypothetical. It’s the reality for manufacturers using ERP systems alongside smart automation platforms that integrate scheduling, inventory management, procurement, and AP.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
When these workflows are integrated, the result is faster throughput, lower costs, and fewer errors. Finance, operations, and logistics all speak the same language, finally.
Still not convinced? These are some of the pain points automation helps fix in manufacturing finance:
A 2022 McKinsey report found that automation is expected to make up 25% of industrial companies' capital spending over the next five years. This is a clear sign that manufacturers are doubling down on advanced technologies to stay competitive.
Manufacturing Teams Who Benefit Most from Workflow Automation
This shift to automation isn’t just for the AP manager or the plant scheduler. It touches nearly every finance and operational role in manufacturing:
Everyone benefits, because automation isn’t just about replacing tasks. It’s about giving your people the tools they need to make better decisions, faster.
The manufacturing sector isn’t slowing down, but margins are tighter than ever. Whether you’re navigating labor shortages, rising material costs, or global supply chain disruptions, there’s never been more pressure to do more with less.
That’s why more manufacturers are turning to digital transformation not just on the line, but across the entire organization. According to Deloitte, 78% of manufacturers plan to increase investment in smart factory initiatives, largely to overcome labor shortages and drive productivity.
McKinsey's State of AI report shows that 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, up from 72% earlier in 2024 and 55% the year before. Adoption is moving fast across every industry.
And what’s a smart factory without smart financial workflows behind it?
Every day you delay automation, competitors gain ground. While you're manually processing invoices, they're:
The question isn't whether to automate; it's whether you'll lead the transformation or scramble to catch up.
Download our AP Automation Checklist and discover exactly where your finance processes are bleeding money. Because in manufacturing, efficiency isn't just operational—it's existential.