Enterprise Resource Planning solutions help synchronize business operations and assist employees in working more efficiently and productivity. These systems are growing in popularity because they're allowing employees to make more accurate, faster high-level business decisions. The ERP market is set to hit nearly $33 billion this year.

Yet, despite this upsurge in ERP usage, some businesses – particularly small, manufacturing ones – are struggling to adopt and integrate the software into their existing business model.

And this is concerning, especially considering how much ERPs can unite different areas of their business, shoring up loose ends and driving revenue growth.

Here are a few things manufacturing companies must consider when trying to mold their systems into their current business model:

1. Employees don't like change
In fact, according to a study, employees hate change. In a report published by Root, a mere 30 percent of 1,000 U.S. employees strongly agreed with the following statement: "If my company was undergoing a major change, I would trust my managers(s) to provide me with all of the information I need to know."

This is a telling statement that indicates that managers are beginning their software integration at a disadvantage. No matter how helpful the ERP solution may be, employees are skeptical. This hesitancy can cause integration to stall, costing the company more money in the form of increased training time and poor job output.

2. Companies struggle to fully implement ERP systems
Do employees have reasons to distrust upper management? Possibly. Panorama Consulting noted that 52 percent of organizations experienced "material operational disruption" as soon as the ERP solution was implemented. Many of these "disruptions" dragged on for 1 to 2 months, or more.

Problems occur for many reasons, but we're confident in saying that many of them are rooted in poor planning and organization. Wowed by the prospect of using a brand new shiny system (that will work), managers forget that ERP solutions are one critical component of their entire business model.

How do we solve this problem? Let's address that in the next segment.

3. Organizations must solve these issues prior to adoption
The best way to solve this problem is just to avoid it completely by developing a transition strategy. While this plan is company-dependent, it should address:

• Employee concerns such as how it'll affect their jobs.
• Future growth and stability at the department and organizational level.
• Past problems that caused management to adopt an ERP solution (or at better one) in the first place.

After creating the strategy, the next step is to introduce it to your workforce weeks – or even better, months – ahead of time. Give them time to prepare for change, adjust to new environments and processes, and ask questions to make them feel more comfortable with the process. Transparency will go a long way toward ensuring trust levels increase, which we noted was a major concern earlier in this article.

Roll out the ERP solution slowly and offer employees training classes and support during the process.

Finally, analyze the results during and after implementation. The worst thing you can do is integrate and forget, assuming your solution (or your original assimilation plan) will work. Again, we're talking about trust, and the more support you provide employees before, during and after installing an ERP, the better.

Where do small businesses stand?
Small manufacturing businesses that don't have the same level of automation as larger businesses can particularly struggle with ERP adoption. Many times they don't have the necessary resources (from a dollar or employee standpoint) in place to offer the level of support needed that we've suggested.

In this case, our best advice is to implement slowly. Do not rush.

Manufacturing ERP solutions will fuse together a whole range of processes ranging from product life cycle management and automated data collection to scheduling and quality management. The benefits are there for small businesses that don't have the financial capabilities to hire more employees to support additional processes. ERP can take the stress off of companies by, as we noted, uniting and streamline procedures.

However, in order for these small businesses to enjoy an ERP's advantages, it must address potential implementation problems including, but not limited to, mistrust and disorganized integration approaches.