LIGHT ERP FOR A WORKSHOP OR A SMALL MANUFACTURER: CUSTOM VERSUS LICENCES
Off-the-shelf ERPs are designed for companies of a hundred people. A five-person workshop needs batches, stock, shipments and invoices, not a hundred modules. What a dedicated tool changes.
By Arnaud Poirier, freelance web & software developer, Antibes
- Off-the-shelf ERPs are made for a hundred people; a five-person workshop needs batches, stock, shipments, invoices.
- A dedicated tool follows the workshop's gestures: no three-day training.
- First release from €6,000, operations from €90 per month.
I run an ERP written for a processing workshop: batch reception, lab results, stock, orders, shipments, invoicing. One person uses it all day. Here is why it replaced three programs and a spreadsheet.
The problem with off-the-shelf ERPs
They do everything, for everyone. Result: weeks of configuration, screens nobody uses, a licence per user, and your way of working bent to fit the software. For five people, it is disproportionate.
What a workshop really needs
- Reception : a batch arrives, with its documents (analysis, certificate), it enters stock with its number.
- Traceability : which batch this finished product comes from, where it went.
- Orders : trade and retail customers, different prices, preparation, multi-parcel.
- Shipments : carrier labels, tracking, delivery notes, no re-typing.
- Invoicing : automatic, compliant, sent to the accounting.
- A dashboard : what is to be done today, what is missing, what is blocked.
What custom changes
Every screen matches a gesture of the workshop. No three-day training: the tool does what the team already did, better. The specific rules (a product consumed directly without going through stock, a quarantine if the analysis exceeds a threshold) are coded, not worked around.
What it costs
A first useful release in a few weeks, from €6,000. Then monthly operations (hosting, backups, monitoring, evolutions) from €90. Compared to an ERP licence per user per month, plus configuration, the gap runs to tens of thousands of euros over three years. The full case is on Workshop ERP.
Frequently asked questions
What is a light ERP?+
Can it handle batch traceability?+
How does the cost compare to an ERP licence?+
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