Custom engineer-to-order (ETO) is a great way to increase sales and improve margins for many companies. It is also a business reality for those in industries that demand products that fit into a customer's environment.

ETO manufacturers have a unique lifecycle process — as the manufacturing company grows, the processes in place become more and more complex and difficult to handle with traditional forms of communication. The bottleneck this issue creates can quickly stifle growth. Businesses tend to hire more staff to offset the issue, ignoring end-to-end software solutions because they feel their manufacturing process is too distinctive for ERP to handle.

The truth is manufacturing business software like enterprise resource planning (ERP) can offer a great solution for these specialized problems, ensuring that all steps in the manufacturing process are consistent and completed. Here are a few things to look out for when selecting ERP for your custom ETO environment:

Functionality: A good ERP software will have the capacity to continually add detail to the bill of manufacturing of a project.

Integration: If you have already invested in CAD software it is important to find out whether your chosen ERP solution will be able to integrate with the program.

Tracking: Many ERP solutions only allow tracking of time within the walls of your company. For custom ETO manufacturers it is important to have the ability to track time and expenses for delivery and installation at customer sites too.

Specialized: ERP often begins as accounting or distribution software, to which more modules are added overtime. Instead of this traditional system, try to find a solution that has been developed from the beginning for manufacturers.

When you decide it is time to employ an effective ERP system to your manufacturing process, give Accent Software a call. We have years of industry expertise and will help you best implement your new software.