A generic ERP knows how to handle invoices and stock. What it almost never knows is what it costs to make your part. And in a metal workshop, that is the question that matters.
What is genuinely metal-specific
Quotes come from geometry
A distribution ERP quotes from a catalogue. You quote parts that did not exist until the DXF arrived. If the system cannot read geometry, somebody will calculate by hand and the ERP will only be used to type the result in.
Traceability is by heat number, not by unit
When an automotive or aerospace customer asks which heat a part delivered eight months ago came from, "I think the March batch" is not an answer. Goods-in, batch, production consumption and delivery note must be chained together.
Machines have parameters, not just capacity
A machining centre and a 6 kW fibre laser are not planned the same way, and above all they do not cost the same per hour. Speeds per material and thickness, consumables, gas, depreciation.
Offcuts are stock
Very few ERPs understand that a leftover 800×400 piece of sheet is an asset. If you do not register it, you buy it twice.
What they will sell you and you probably do not need
Modules for everything — if you will not use the CRM or the project module, do not pay for them. Nine-month implementations — if nobody can show you the system running on your data within two weeks, you are carrying the risk. Custom fields everywhere — each one is a future upgrade that hurts.
The three questions I would ask
- "Show me with one of my DXFs." Not the pretty demo: your weirdest part.
- "What happens when the steel price changes?" If it means editing a hundred records by hand, it was not designed for a workshop.
- "Can I export my data?" The right answer is yes, in an open format, without asking permission.
An ERP will not make you a better workshop. What it does is take the non-value work off your plate, so the people who know how to manufacture spend their time manufacturing.