Five signs your factory has outgrown WhatsApp and notebooks

The five signs

1. You scroll a WhatsApp group to find out which order is late. Orders belong in a list with due dates, not in a chat.
2. You learn about a stock-out when production has already stopped. A low-stock alert a week earlier costs nothing.
3. Only one person knows where a number came from. If that person is ill, the factory is blind.
4. The month’s profit is a question for the accountant. You should see sales and expenses without asking.
5. A new supervisor needs a week to learn your system of notebooks. A shared screen with roles is learned in a day.

What to do about it

If three or more sound familiar, you do not need a big, expensive ERP. You need one place for orders, production and stock, with the right people seeing the right parts.