From 11-Day Order Cycles to 4 Days Without Adding a Single Person
A mid-size automotive parts maker connected sales, production, and dispatch on one ERPNext system and cut its order cycle by 64% in the first quarter.
Three departments. Three spreadsheets. No one talking to each other.
This automotive parts manufacturer had been running on spreadsheets and phone calls for years. Sales logged orders in one file. Production tracked work orders in another. Dispatch managed shipments in a third. None of these files talked to each other, and none were updated in real time.
Every morning, the operations manager would spend the first two hours of the day calling each department head to piece together where things stood. By the time that picture was assembled, it was already out of date. Orders that looked on track were delayed. Parts that appeared to be in stock had already been used in another batch.
Customer complaints were increasing. One large buyer had already warned that they would move their account if lead times did not improve. The business needed a solution that could connect the whole operation without disrupting daily production.
Diagnosing the Root Cause Before Writing a Line of Code
- Sales confirmed orders without checking production capacity, causing last-minute overloads and missed dates
- Inventory was counted manually once a week, so day-to-day stock levels were always guesswork
- Work orders were created in a separate file from purchase orders, so raw material shortages were caught too late
- Dispatch could not confirm shipment readiness until production physically handed over finished goods
- Over 200 SKUs were tracked across multiple files with no single source of truth, leading to regular overstock of slow parts
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🏭ManufacturingWork orders linked directly to confirmed sales orders, with live capacity view
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📦Inventory ManagementReal-time stock levels updated on every transaction across all 200+ SKUs
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🛒Purchase ManagementAuto-generated purchase orders triggered when stock falls below reorder points
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💼Sales Order ManagementSales team books orders against live stock and confirmed production slots
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🚚Delivery and DispatchDispatch team sees finished goods readiness without calling the floor
Live in 16 Weeks. No Production Downtime.
The rollout was phased so that production continued uninterrupted throughout. Each phase built on the previous one, with staff trained in real workflows using their own data.
We audited all existing spreadsheets, mapped item codes and BOMs, and identified the exact handoff points between sales, production, and dispatch where delays were occurring.
Item master, BOM, supplier records, and opening stock were migrated and validated. Manufacturing workflows, reorder rules, and approval flows were configured to match actual factory practice.
A batch of real orders ran through the new system in parallel with the old process. This surfaced edge cases in dispatch sequencing which were resolved before full cutover.
All departments moved to ERPNext as the single system of record. Role-specific training was delivered on-site. A 30-day hyper-care period followed with same-day support for any issues.
Numbers Measured in the First Quarter After Go-live
Before, I spent my mornings chasing updates. Now I open the dashboard and the whole picture is there. We have not missed a customer delivery date since we went live.
Your Factory Could See Results Like This
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