Why Software Selection Should Be the LAST Decision in ERP
Selecting software should be the last decision in an ERP project, not the first. That disappoints owners who ask which system I recommend, because my honest answer is usually I don't know yet.
I wrote up why for Manufacturing Tomorrow.
https://lnkd.in/dm2HtB8p
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Documentation Debt: When Process Knowledge Lives in Operator Heads
The process wasn't documented. It was being spit into the vat.
Early in my career I took night classes in supply chain. A lot of them were taught by working professionals, right inside their own plants.
One class was at a factory that built…
The Hidden Cost of Keeping Dead Systems Alive
We paid developers for six years to keep a dead system alive.
Support for our business system had ended. Couldn't upgrade — we'd customized it so heavily the vendor's own updates wouldn't take. So we did what a lot of companies do: kept paying…
I Walked Into a $200M Manufacturer That Was Drowning
I walked into a $200M manufacturer that was drowning. Inventory accuracy was a disaster. Expediting charges bleeding money every month. Quarter after quarter, massive PPV swings tanking the bottom line.
Everyone assumed the system was the problem.…
Do You Have the People to Own Your ERP System?
The question that usually doesn't get asked before picking an ERP: do you actually have the people to own it? Not the people to use it. The people to keep it standing.
Eleven years ago we learned this the hard way. Our design engineer pitched…
Why System Users Create Shadow Systems: The Notebook in the Drawer
Three months after the new system went live, I caught a buyer keeping his real numbers in a notebook in his desk drawer.
Not because the system was broken. Because nobody asked him what he actually needed before they built it.
I've watched this…
Operational Debt: Why Month-End Cleanup Is Costing You More
Every month-end, three departments sit in a room and fix the same thing by hand.
Engineering. Purchasing. Cost accounting. Same numbers, same cleanup. Fourth month running.
The company is doing great, by the way. Grew several times over in a…
