What We Learned From Conversations With 372 Manufacturers
ERP systems are designed to handle many of the processes manufacturers have in common, but every manufacturer also has processes that are unique to how they operate.
Most companies have their own pricing rules, customer requirements, quality procedures, production workflows and reporting needs. Over time, some of those processes naturally develop around the ERP rather than inside it.
Across 630 interactions with 372 manufacturers, we saw gaps consistently concentrate in five areas.
1. Sales & Complex Quoting
ERP systems handle customers, orders, and standard pricing adequately, but manufacturing quotes often involve configurations, customer-specific pricing, material costs, vendor inputs, revisions and special approval rules.
That complexity frequently moves into Excel or internally developed tools. One specialty manufacturer we spoke with relied on a heavily layered workbook for material, labor, tooling and customer-specific pricing. As complexity grew, so did manual reviews and reliance on a few experienced employees. Eventually, leadership believed slow quote turnaround was costing them opportunities.
The ERP wasn't necessarily the problem. The quoting process had become more specialized than the standard system.
2. Quality & Inspection
Quality leaders described a similar challenge: requirements rarely follow one standard path.
Inspection, calibration, testing, documentation and traceability can vary by customer, product or job. As exceptions accumulate, manufacturers often supplement the ERP with spreadsheets, paper forms or standalone quality systems.
One Quality Manager told us his department was still using Excel, paper and even file cabinets to manage inspection and calibration outside their ERP. He looked at other solutions, but found many were more robust than they needed.
The more customer-specific the process, the harder it becomes to fit into a standardized workflow.
3. Operations & the Shop Floor
The ERP may know what is scheduled to happen. Operations need to know what is happening right now.
Manufacturers described needing greater visibility into labor, downtime, scheduling, routing, work instructions, and production activity. When that detail isn't readily available, teams turn to spreadsheets, paper, whiteboards, or separate production tools.
At one manufacturer, the load-planning process affected operations across the business but still relied on one person preparing it by hand before production.
The gap is often between what the ERP records and what operations need to manage the floor.
4. Reporting & Data Visibility
Manufacturers often have the information they need, but it may be spread across different systems or require extra steps to make it useful. Excel frequently becomes part of that process, whether it's used to organize data, build reports, or move information from one system to another.
One manufacturer we spoke with added a third-party tool to help with its load-planning process. Because it didn't connect with the company's existing system, Excel sheets still had to be uploaded to move the data between the two.
Even when the right systems are in place, moving information between them can still require manual work from employees whose time could be spent on higher-value work.
5. Integration & Data Exchange
Most manufacturers use several systems across the business: ERP, CRM, quality, production, and customer or vendor platforms. The challenge is getting information from one system to another.
One CFO we spoke with exported forecasting data from their ERP, worked with it in Excel, and then manually entered the results back into the ERP. The ERP and spreadsheet both did what they needed to do, but moving the data between them created extra work.
In cases like this, the gap isn't necessarily the system itself. It's the process connecting the systems.
What These Gaps Have in Common
Across all five areas, the pattern was consistent: the processes that develop outside the ERP tend to be the ones most specific to the business. They change, accumulate exceptions, cross systems, and require flexibility.
That may explain another finding from our conversations: 41% of manufacturers referenced Excel or spreadsheets alongside their ERP.
Our findings aren't unusual. A Data Hub study found that 54% of businesses use Excel, with the average office worker spending roughly 20 hours a week, or 38% of their time, working in spreadsheets.
The takeaway isn't that the ERP isn't working. It's that as businesses evolve, some processes become too unique, dynamic, or company-specific to fit neatly within a standardized system.
Spreadsheets often fill those gaps. But when those workarounds become heavily reliant on individual people, manual steps, or disconnected data, they can reveal where the business has outgrown the standard process.
So the better question isn't simply:
“What is our ERP missing?” It's: “Where has our business outgrown the standard process?”
When Is It Time to Improve the Gap?
Not every workaround needs to be replaced. But when a process requires significant manual effort, depends heavily on a few people, makes information difficult to access or begins affecting customers and decisions, it's worth another look.
The answer doesn't have to be replacing the ERP or even eliminating Excel. Ablesoft helps manufacturers improve the processes that fall between standard systems while keeping what already works.
Where has your business outgrown the standard process? Let’s talk.