Manufacturing Software Industry Focus: Chemical Products ERP
Based on our experience with chemical products companies, this industry has unique needs that are not effectively addressed by all enterprise software vendors. Units of measure, lot traceability, and shipping in multiple forms (e.g. liquid vs. gas) are just a few of the challenges that make the chemicals and process manufacturing industry unique.
Below are some of the factors we tend to focus on when evaluating ERP, MRP, and other enterprise software for our clients in the chemical products manufacturing industry.
Key Factors for Chemical Manufacturing and ERP Software
- Laboratory management
- Formulations and recipes
- Scalable batches
- Strong inventory management
- Certificate of analysis (COA) generation
- Bi-directional lot tracking
- Expiration date tracking
- Recall management
- Audit trails and reporting
Not all enterprise software solutions are able to handle these complex requirements, so it is important to conduct an enterprise software evaluation that objectively compares potential vendors’ ability to meet these needs. Companies that fail to select software that can handle some of these complexities often end up spending significant amounts of money on software customization, manual process workarounds, and sub-optimized business benefits.
To better understand potential options of enterprise software solutions in the space, you may be interested in viewing our comparison list of leading enterprise and ERP software solutions for the chemical products industry. Our 2008 ERP Report also outlines leading ERP solutions and implementation results for manufacturers and distributors, including those in chemicals and process manufacturing.
Finding the enterprise software that best fits your unique needs is the first step toward an effective ERP initiative with a strong return on investment.
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About Eric Kimberling
After 15 years of ERP consulting at large firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers and SchlumbergerSema, Eric realized the need for an independent consulting firm that really understands ERP. He began his career as an ERP organizational change management consultant and eventually broadened his background to include implementation project management and software selection. Eric’s background includes extensive ERP software selection, ERP organizational change, and ERP implementation project management experience. Throughout his career, Eric has helped dozens of high-profile and global companies with their ERP initiatives, including Kodak, Samsonite, Coors, Duke Energy, and Lucent Technologies to name a few. In addition to extensive ERP experience, Eric has also helped clients with business process re-engineering, merger and acquisition integration, strategic planning, and six sigma. Eric holds an MBA from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
Good summary. I have 2 comments:
- Reach Compliance must be another key factor in the list.
- Ross ERP from CDC Software must be in the comparaison chart
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