Who Should Use ERP?
Industries, manufacturing models, and company sizes that benefit most from using ERP Software
ERP software will offer a high rate of return for any company that implements it, regardless of their manufacturing model or industry. Have you noticed companies in your industry that seem to have noticeably streamlined processes, are able to get orders out faster, consistently satisfy their customers, and generally excel against the competition? Their secret is likely their ERP implementation.
It doesn’t matter what manufacturing model or models your organization has employed. The right ERP software will scale to fit different manufacturing models and different size companies, enabling you to grow and succeed as your needs change over time.
For those of you still thinking, “but my manufacturing company is too small to use ERP. We don’t need it yet…”
What size company benefits the most from ERP?
Larger, more complex operations certainly have the most to gain from (and probably can not function without) having an ERP system in place. But it’s not just about the size or complexity of your organization right now, it’s where you want/expect your organization to be in the future that determines your need for ERP and the benefits you stand to gain by implementing ERP.
A lot of smaller manufacturing companies don’t think ERP is a reasonable option based on their size, but if your company plans to grow, ERP is a necessity. Your manufacturing company might be fine without ERP now… but don’t expect to grow without proactively adjusting your business processes to scale. Companies that are used to managing production and material planning manually can’t realistically expect to continue to operate that way as they expand their product line or build their customer base. Any manufacturing company expecting demand to increase will need to ramp up their processes for much larger scale production, and thus serve to benefit the most by being proactive and implementing ERP before they are “hurting for it.”
