How to Choose the Right ERP for Your Factory?

Teo YI Rui | Director of Total Business Solutions Sdn Bhd

This end-to-end process map—from order entry through scheduling, production, quality control and shipping— highlights the core workflows your ERP must support. Use it to pinpoint the modules and integrations you’ll need, such as real-time inventory tracking, flexible production scheduling, QC dashboards and seamless data handoffs between each stage, ensuring you select a solution tailored to your factory’s operational footprint.

1. Assess Your Business Goals & Processes

• Map your end-to-end workflows:
  Order entry → Scheduling → Execution → QC → Shipping → Close. and immediately spot hand-off gaps.


• Prioritize your factory’s pain points:
  WIP bottlenecks, traceability gaps, manual errors.


• Define clear success metrics:
  e.g. 20% lead-time reduction, 6× inventory turns, 15% less downtime.

2. Identify Core Functional Requirements

• Production Planning: Finite vs. infinite scheduling?
• Inventory Management: Real-time updates, batch & serial control.
• Shop-Floor Control: Digital work orders, OEE & downtime logging.
• Quality Management: Inspections, NCRs, SPC integration.
• Finance & Costing: Standard & actual costing, multi-currency.

3. Evaluate Customization & Scalability

Customization of ERP system is crucial for your business. Let system adopt you rather than let user trying to adopt a system. Typically, directly deal with software developer itself is way efficiency while implementing ERP System. Validate performance under realistic data volumes.

4. Verify Vendor Expertise & Support

• Domain experience: Malaysian regulations, SST, shop-floor best practices.
• Track record: Case studies or client references in your sector.
• Training & SLAs: Local trainers, defined response times, escalation paths.

5. Ensure Seamless Integration

• IoT & MES readiness: OPC UA, MQTT, relevant APIs.
• Third-party connectors: CAD/PDM, barcode scanners, payroll, CRM, webhooks.

6. Calculate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

• Licensing: Per-user vs. per-module; subscription vs. perpetual.
• Implementation: Data migration, customization, training fees.
• Infrastructure: On-premise servers vs. cloud hosting.
• Support: Annual maintenance, upgrades, custom-dev blocks.

7. UX & Change Management

• Role-based dashboards for managers, supervisors, finance.
• Mobile support for barcode scanning & work orders.
• Training plan: Power users → train-the-trainer → onboarding → refreshers.

8. Timeline & Risk Mitigation

• Phased rollout: Pilot line → single plant → enterprise-wide.
• Data migration: Early master data cleanse & mapping.
• Governance: Executive sponsor & cross-functional steering committee.