In his article Process Manufacturing Software: A Primer, TEC author Joe Strub explains the difference between process and discrete manufacturing with an example:
Once you make a can of soda, you cannot return it back to its basic components such as carbonated water, citric acid, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and other ingredients. You cannot put the juice back into the orange. A car or computer, on the other hand, can be disassembled and the parts, to a large extent, can be returned to stock.
Process manufacturing functionality is not typically included in ERP solutions for discrete manufacturing. Sometimes, the difference between the two types of software is unclear even after you've been running it for a few years! But when organizations attempt to shoehorn discrete ERP software into a process manufacturing environment, users will almost certainly need to resort to workarounds in order to overcome a lack of process functionality, which understandably results in inefficiencies and frustration.
TEC is conducting a research survey to assess ERP user satisfaction among process manufacturers, and we'd like to hear from you. What's your story? Have you ever needed to "work around" your ERP system because it was the wrong type of software?
