Mid-Market Manufacturers And The New Landscape For Enterprise Resource Planning

The globalization of discrete manufacturing effectively is obliterating the concept of a small manufacturer, at least in its operational design. Even companies that are considered relatively small in revenue, employment or client base now must act like the largest corporations in structuring and conducting their businesses. They find themselves operating no longer within a geographically delineated niche in the supply chain but rather in a worldwide market place.

Even those manufacturers with just one or two principal customers must be prepared to communicate, deliver and expand in multiple countries, using a variety of currencies, and to relate to a number of different cultures in any of several languages. Separate nationalities often require different translations of everything from the user interface, online help and forms to print-outs, training materials, documentation and prototype tools. Furthermore, manufacturing operations must be localized for compliance with the area's business practices and government requirements. Even within a single international region, such as Asia/Pacific or Eastern Europe, multiple business cultures have emerged to complicate production methods and marketing for mid-market enterprises.

Fortunately, these mid-market manufacturers rapidly are learning to use technology as a competitive weapon that enables them to manage costs by making order processing, production, shipping and communication throughout the company and the supply chain significantly more efficient. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are streamlining and automating processes that small manufacturers would have found cumbersome to carry out on a global basis. This process improvement, in turn, allows these manufacturers to extend their geographic reach at lower costs.