High Tech, Electronics and Electrical Components
The high tech and electronics industry is a fast pasted, constantly changing environment that requires discrete manufacturing software functionality that is also supported by strong inventory management and a fully integrated warehouse management system. The high tech nature of electrical components drives the need for tightly integrated product lifecycle management with full revision support and online engineering change notice processing. These frequent ECN’s and the fear of obsolete parts force low inventory levels and lean production techniques so the electronic parts and equipment remain at the current specification level and available for use or sale.
While these functionality requirements are not completely unique to this industry, they do force high tech manufacturers and distributors to pay careful attention to their ERP software requirements and the potential ERP solutions they review.
High Tech, Electronics and Electrical Components Software Requirements
- Seasonal forecasting
- Production scheduling with strong material requirements planning (MRP)
- Lean manufacturing and shop floor control
- Cost accounting
- Engineering and CAD integration
- Product lifecycle management
- Multi-level bill of materials
- Revision management
- Engineering change notices (ECN’s)
- Lot and serial number traceability
- Recall management
- Electronic data integration transmissions (EDI)
- Warehouse management systems
As we have discovered in our experience with more than 150 ERP solutions, each ERP software package has its strengths and weaknesses. We track our extensive ERP selection and implementation experience with various enterprise systems in our proprietary ERP Solutions Database. Below is a summary of a small sub-set of data from that database, which our project teams use to help clients select the right ERP software for their organizations.
This table identifies the generalized industry strengths of each of the listed ERP solutions. Our selection process leverages more detailed information from our database to conduct a more thorough assessment of software fit with each client’s business requirements.
ERP Software Packages for High Tech, Electronics, and Electrical Components
| ERP Software Functionality for High Tech, Electronics, and Electrical Components | Epicor | Sage Adonix/X3 | Oracle EBS | SAP | Harris Data | Microsoft Dynamics NAV | Lawson |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Accounting (GL, AP, AR, Chart-of-Accounts) | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Reporting (ad-Hoc and Periodic) | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| HRIS | High | Low | High | High | High | High | High |
| MRP | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Security | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| High Volume Order Processing | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Sales and Customer Care | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Planning, Purchasin, and Forecasting | High | Medium | High | High | High | High | High |
| Quality Assurance and Quality Control | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Support EDI, ANSI, and Web Invoice | High | High | High | Medium | High | High | High |
| Accrual | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Interface with Outside Collections Agencies | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| Order Scheduling | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Ability to Handle Granular Statuses | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| FIFO Inventory and Stock Management | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| BOM and Basic Routing | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Manage Multiple Warehouses within One System | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| RMA Process | High | High | High | High | Medium | High | High |
| Cycle Counting | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Serialization | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Physical Inventory Management and Replenishment | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Integrated Freight Management | High | High | High | High | Low | High | Medium |
| Handheld Scanning and Barcoding | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
| Track Inventory Status During the Assembly and Manufacturing Process | High | High | High | High | High | High | High |
