Foundry ERP: order cycles cut from 9 days to 3 without stopping the furnace

A furnace that sits idle costs money. A mould that runs short on alloy mid-pour costs more. This foundry had both problems — regularly.

Production planning was done by a senior supervisor whose knowledge lived in his head and in printed registers updated twice a day at most. When order volumes picked up, the gaps showed immediately. Purchase orders for pig iron, alloys, and sand were raised on estimates with no link between confirmed sales and actual store levels.

On at least four occasions in the previous year, a heat batch had to be paused mid-process because an alloy had run out. Each stoppage cost between two and four hours of furnace time.

Finished castings sat in the yard for days because the logistics team had no visibility into which orders had cleared quality inspection. Customers were calling for updates nobody could confidently give. The foundry was profitable — but leaving significant efficiency on the table.

• Production schedules created manually with no link to confirmed sales, causing recurring overloads on specific furnace shifts
• Raw material purchases based on rough estimates, not BOM-driven calculations — leading to mid-batch shortages
• Quality inspection outcomes recorded on paper and invisible to dispatch until physically handed over
• No heat batch traceability — tracing a quality complaint to source alloy and pour date took days
• Mould and tooling inventory tracked informally, causing delays when items needed for a new job were unavailable

• Manufacturing. Heat batch work orders linked to sales orders with live furnace shift capacity view
• Inventory Management. Real-time stock of alloys, consumables, and tooling updated on every transaction
• Purchase Management. Auto-triggered purchase requisitions from BOM when stock drops below reorder levels
• Quality Management. Inspection checklists linked to each batch; dispatch sees clearance status in real time
• Delivery and Dispatch. Logistics plans pickups based on live finished goods readiness — no follow-up calls

1. Discovery and Process Mapping (Weeks 1–3). We documented every existing workflow — shift registers, purchase indent formats, inspection checklists, and dispatch logs. Item codes, alloy grades, and BOM structures were mapped before any configuration began.
2. ERPNext Configuration and Data Migration (Weeks 4–8). Item master, supplier records, BOM for each casting type, and opening stock were migrated and validated. Furnace capacity rules, quality inspection steps, and reorder logic were configured to reflect actual foundry practice — not a textbook template.
3. Pilot with Live Batches (Weeks 9–12). Real production orders ran through the new system alongside the existing process. This surfaced a sequencing issue in how inspection outcomes linked to dispatch — resolved before full cutover.
4. Full Cutover and On-Site Training (Weeks 13–14). All departments moved to ERPNext as the single system of record. Training was delivered shift-by-shift to avoid disrupting production. A 30-day hyper-care period followed with same-day support for any issues raised by floor staff.