12 warning signs that your ERP system has become a bottleneck
An ERP system does not have to stop working to start slowing the business down. In manufacturing companies, the problems often first appear as manual routines, Excel solutions, uncertain delivery dates, and a growing reliance on specific individuals. Here are 12 signs that may be worth watching for.
12 warning signs to watch for
Do you recognise any of the points below? Review them and count how many apply to your business.
1. Production planning takes place outside the ERP system
Planning is done wholly or partly in Excel, on whiteboards, or through manual check-ins because the ERP system does not provide sufficient support for day-to-day production planning.
Ask yourselves: Can the person who needs the information see the current production plan directly in the system?
2. Delivery dates are based more on experience than on current data
You cannot fully rely on the system’s delivery confirmations. Instead, experience and manual checks of, for example, capacity, materials, and work in progress are required before the customer can be given a realistic date.
Ask yourselves: Can you provide a reliable delivery date without first checking with several people?
3. Material shortages are discovered too late
A shortage of materials or components only becomes apparent when a production order is approaching production start—or when it should already have started.
Ask yourselves: Do purchasing and production receive information about upcoming material shortages in sufficient time to act?
4. You have inventory but still lack materials
The inventory value may be significant, while production repeatedly lacks the item or component needed at the time.
Ask yourselves: Does the system provide a sufficiently solid basis for managing what you actually need to purchase and keep in stock?
5. The post-calculation comes too late
You can see how profitable an order or product was—but often only when the information can no longer be used to influence the next quote, cost estimate, or production decision.
Ask yourselves: How quickly can you compare estimated and actual costs and use that information in the next deal?
6. Reporting requires Excel
The data is in the ERP system, but to analyse it, the information must be exported, processed, and compiled manually.
Ask yourselves: Can those responsible produce the KPIs they need themselves, or does it require Excel and specialist knowledge?
7. Only a few people know how the system really works
Important reports, routines, or functions depend on individual employees’ knowledge. When they are not available, certain tasks become difficult or time-consuming to carry out.
Ask yourselves: What happens to critical processes if the right person is ill, leaves, or retires?
8. The same information is entered in multiple places
Data needs to be transferred manually between the ERP system, Excel, other systems, or documents. This creates duplicate work and increases the risk that different versions of the same information are used.
Ask yourselves: How often does someone enter information that already exists digitally elsewhere?
9. Manual special routines have become part of everyday work
Employees have found workable ways to get around the system’s limitations. The problem is that, over time, these special routines have become so taken for granted that they are hardly seen as workaround solutions anymore.
Ask yourselves: Which tasks do you do “this way because the system can’t…”?
10. Integrations limit development
Older or custom-built integrations make changes complicated. A seemingly simple replacement or addition risks affecting several other parts of the system environment.
Ask yourselves: Do you refrain from improvements because you are unsure what will happen to existing integrations?
11. Small changes become major projects
New reports, ways of working, or functions take a long time to implement and require specialist expertise. This means the business’s needs change faster than the system does.
Ask yourselves: How long does it take from identifying a new need until the support is actually in place?
12. You make decisions based on gut feeling even though the data exists
The ERP system contains large amounts of information, but it is difficult to retrieve, compile, or trust. As a result, decisions are still largely based on experience and manual checks.
Ask yourselves: Do you have access to the right information when the decision needs to be made, or only afterwards?
Self-assessment: how many warning signs do you recognise?
This is not an exact diagnosis of your ERP system. However, the number of signs can indicate how much the business needs to compensate for the system’s limitations.
0–2 signs: The system appears to largely support the business
Occasional manual steps or special solutions do not necessarily have to be a problem. All businesses have exceptions and processes that do not fit perfectly into a standard system.
Still, take a closer look at the points you recognise. Are they isolated irritations, or do they affect important parts of the business?
3–5 signs: There is reason to take a closer look
Several parts of the business appear to need to compensate for things the ERP system does not handle well enough.
This does not automatically mean you need to replace the system. However, there are reasons to map where the problems arise, how much time they take, and what consequences they have for production, delivery capability, and profitability.
6–8 signs: The system’s limitations are likely affecting the way you work
When many manual solutions, uncertainties, and dependencies occur at the same time, there is a risk that the business has, in practice, begun to organise itself around the ERP system’s limitations.
In this case, it is wise to carry out a more structured current-state analysis and prioritise which bottlenecks have the greatest business impact.
9–12 signs: Time to challenge the status quo
If most of the signs feel familiar, the issue is bigger than individual Excel files or manual routines.
This still does not mean that a complete system replacement is the only solution. However, there are good reasons to evaluate whether today’s system environment provides the right conditions for continued development.
Starting to recognise yourselves? Do not start with the question of replacing the system
Recognising several of the warning signs does not automatically mean the existing ERP system needs to be replaced.
The more important question is:
Where do today’s system, data, and ways of working slow the business down the most?
This may relate to production planning. Material planning. Costing. The flow of information between departments. Reporting. Or a number of smaller issues that together create unnecessary administration.
Starting there also makes it easier to distinguish between what can be improved within the existing system environment and what requires a larger change.
Find out where your bottlenecks are
At Prosmart, we work with ERP systems for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. We also know that the starting point differs from one business to another.
Therefore, the first step does not have to be deciding which system you should have in the future. It can begin with creating a clearer picture of how you work today, where the problems are, and which changes would make the biggest difference.
