Two-thirds of manufacturers say their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) selections are based primarily on functionality, but on average they use only 27.6 percent of the available features and function, even though broader use of functionality is directly linked with derived business value. In a newly published report, "The ERP in Manufacturing Benchmark," Aberdeen Group found best-in-class ERP implementations produce 17 percent better improvements in selected Key Performance Indicators.
Among survey respondents, Lawson customers utilized the greatest percent of functionality. SAP users implemented more modules than customers of chief rival Oracle, but use less of the available features. Aging implementations, based on outdated technology, were found to be limiting factors in terms of rolling out more functionality across enterprises. Findings indicated a larger percentage of QAD and Infor users with newer, fresher implementations and a full two-thirds of Plexus Online implementations less than 5 years old.
"The chief ERP implementation challenges were associated with the alignment of business processes with software capabilities. Companies struggle to balance customization related issues with business process re-design amidst costs associated with upgrades, replacements, consolidation and latent integration costs," said Cindy Jutras, vice president of manufacturing & ERP research at the Aberdeen Group.
Jutras offers manufacturers recommendations for ERP strategies:
More than 1000 companies participated in the study, including Kraft Foods, Johnson Controls,
To obtain a free copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/RA_ERP_CJ_3361.asp.