ERPNext Manufacturing Case Study: Production Planning That Holds Up

Plans made in spreadsheets, shortages found on the line

Production was scheduled on a spreadsheet that one planner kept. Bills of materials lived in a separate file and were often out of date. A run would start, then halt because a component was short, and the customer heard about the delay after the date had already passed.

• Bills of materials did not match what the floor actually used.
• Material shortages surfaced mid-run instead of before it.
• Purchasing ordered late because demand was never visible early.
• Delivery dates were a guess, so customers stopped trusting them.

One ERPNext plan that knows sales and stock

We set up ERPNext Manufacturing with accurate bills of materials, work orders and a production plan that reads confirmed sales orders and current stock. Material requirements now come out of the plan, not a guess.

• Production plans pull demand straight from confirmed sales orders.
• Material planning flags shortages before a work order starts.
• Subcontracting is tracked, so outsourced steps stay visible.
• Stock, purchase and accounts post from the same records.

Cleaned the bills of materials, then went live in stages

We rebuilt the bills of materials with the production team so the data matched the floor. Then we went live in stages, stock and purchasing first, then manufacturing, so each team learned one piece at a time.

Go-live took twelve weeks, with a TCB lead on site through the first production runs.

Deliveries on time and less stock written off

Late deliveries fell by 44 percent because the plan now sees demand and stock together. Material waste dropped by nearly a third as shortages and over-ordering both eased. Planners spend less time firefighting and more time scheduling.