Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Excel, ERP or Industry Software for a Manufacturing Business
Excel suits a unit with one product and no outside job work. A ready production system suits machine shops, fabricators and panel makers. A larger ERP suits plants with staff to run it. GullySystem’s Manufacturing Production Management Software sits in the middle, and some trades need work built to order.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
What Excel does well in a small unit
A single product, a few machines and no work sent outside can run from a register. The owner knows every order, and the sheet only has to confirm it.
Excel struggles once the same part returns in a new revision, stages multiply or two people edit one bill of materials. Nothing in a sheet reserves material, so a shortage appears in the middle of an order.
What a ready production system covers
A ready system holds enquiries, quotations, orders, drawing revisions, a bill of materials with stages, work orders, job cards, material stock, job work challans and dispatch. Machine shops, fabricators, panel builders and component makers fit it closely.
It does not schedule machines on its own. The lots queued on each machine are visible, and a planner sequences the batches. Costing sits at the quotation stage.
- The drawing revision held on the order
- Job cards with quantity passed, rejected and held
- Job work sent and received against each challan
- Material issued only against a work order
When a larger ERP is the better fit
A large plant with its own IT staff, several locations and continuous process control may be better served by an established ERP. A bigger chemical plant may also suit a ready process ERP.
The cost of that route is set-up effort and a team to run it. A smaller unit may use only a few of the modules.
Where a trade needs work built to order
Some trades do not match a standard production system. Their records follow a different unit, a different price driver or a long tail after dispatch.
In those cases the production base is kept and the missing records are built around the way the business works.
- Apparel: pieces by size and colour at each fabricator
- Packaging: box costing against the kraft rate, and wastage per job
- Automation firms: FAT, commissioning and retention
- Machinery and lighting: installed base, serial numbers and warranty returns
A short test for choosing
Ask four questions of any option. Does a drawing revision reach the shop floor? Can job work be reconciled against the challan? Is rejection counted by stage? Is the tail after dispatch visible?
Whichever tool answers those with the least retyping suits the size of the unit. Accounts can stay in Tally either way.
Excel, ERP or industry software comparison sheet
Draw a table with a column for each option and a row each for revisions, job work, rejection, stock and dispatch. Mark where an option answers the row and where staff would still retype. Count the retyped rows before you choose.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do we need an ERP for a unit with two machines?
Perhaps not yet. With one product and no outside job work, a register may still do. A free technology audit can say so plainly.
Will a production system schedule our machines?
No. It shows the lots queued on each machine and stage, and a planner sequences them. The system keeps the record and does not choose the order.
Does it replace Tally?
No. Accounts and GST stay in Tally. Sales, purchase and stock figures can be read in GullySystem, and an export is quoted separately.
Can machines send their counts straight in?
Not on its own. Operators mark job cards from a phone or tablet. Where a controller shares its data, the monitoring dashboard can read run hours and downtime.