The cost of doing nothing or the challenges of deploying the right ERP for your business - Choose your Adventure.

ERP DEPLYMENT PARTNER - MANUFACTURING DESIGN

Choosing and deploying the right ERP is one of the most consequential decisions a small-to-medium Australian business can make. Done well, it streamlines operations, improves decision-making, and reduces costs. Done poorly, it creates disruption, hidden costs, and lost opportunity.

Below  we outline common pitfalls, how to manage change and adoption effectively, and a conservative cost-savings example showing the value of bringing the right partner in to support your ERP deployment:

Common mistakes and issues

• Starting with technology instead of process: Selecting an ERP before mapping and optimising your core processes leads to costly customisations or forcing teams to work around the system.

• Underestimating scope and integration complexity: SMEs often miss upstream/downstream dependencies (shop floor systems, payroll, inventory scanning, third-party logistics), resulting in delays and rework.

• Choosing the wrong implementation partner: A partner without manufacturing/operational experience can deliver a technically correct system that misses practical, day-to-day requirements.

• Weak change management: Failing to involve end users early, provide adequate training, or address cultural resistance leads to poor adoption and shadow systems.

• Scope creep and unrealistic timelines: Adding features mid-project increases cost and risk; rushing go-live without sufficient testing invites process breakdowns.

• Ignoring data quality: Migrating poor-quality master data creates ongoing operational headaches and undermines trust in reports.

  
  

How to manage change and drive adoption

• Start with process: Conduct a short, focused process-mapping workshop with key stakeholders from production, procurement, finance and sales. Standardise where it adds value.

• Involve end users early: Use super-users from each team, co-design key screens and workflows, and run pilot tasks before organisation-wide roll-out.

• Phased roll-out: Deploy core modules first (finance, inventory, shop-floor capture) then add advanced modules. This reduces risk and builds confidence.

• Train for outcomes, not features: Practical, role-based training with real-life scenarios improves retention. Offer quick reference guides and short refresher sessions.

• Measure adoption: Track system usage, transaction completion rates, cycle times and exceptions. Use these KPIs to guide follow-up training and process fixes.

• Executive sponsorship and governance: A small steering committee with weekly checkpoints keeps scope and timelines in check.

Conservative cost-savings example: why the right partner pays for itself Scenario: A

 50-person Australian manufacturing SME (annual revenue $10M) implementing an ERP.

Assumptions:

• Average fully loaded employee cost: $90,000/year.

• Productivity loss from poor ERP adoption / rework: 10% of employee time for 6 months (conservative).

• Cost of project overruns, rework, and consulting from a poor implementation: $150k.

• Ongoing efficiency gains with a well-implemented ERP: 5% of payroll annually after stabilization.

Calculations:

1. Lost productivity (poor implementation):

2. 50 employees $90,000 10% * 0.5 years = $225,000 (six months of 10% productivity loss)

3. Project rework/overrun:

4. Poor partner extra cost = $150,000

Total avoidable cost with a poor implementation = $225,000 + $150,000 = $375,000

3. Cost of a competent implementation:

4. HunterStone-style partner fee = $120,000 (includes manufacturing expertise, process work, adoption focus)

5. Net immediate savings by engaging the right partner:

6. $375,000 - $120,000 = $255,000

7. Ongoing annual efficiency gain:

8. 5% of payroll = 50 $90,000 5% = $225,000/year ongoing improvement

Even using conservative figures, engaging the right partner avoids hundreds of thousands in short-term losses and delivers substantial ongoing productivity gains. For smaller teams or lower-cost payroll scenarios, the proportional benefits scale down but remain significant.

Why manufacturing and operations expertise matters Technical ERP skills are important, but the real value comes from understanding production realities: scheduling constraints, work order flows, inventory turns, quality hold points and supplier variability. Partners with shop-floor experience can:

• Design practical workflows that people will follow

• Choose the right integrations and automation points

• Anticipate and prevent common pitfalls that drive rework and downtime

About HunterStone Consulting HunterStone brings a team of experienced manufacturing and operational specialists who focus on pragmatic ERP rollouts for Australian SMEs. We combine process mapping, change management and hands-on implementation to reduce risk, improve adoption and deliver measurable benefits fast.

Next step If you’re planning an ERP project, start with a short discovery review (process, integrations, adoption risk). HunterStone can run a tailored 1-2 day workshop to quantify risks and savings for your business and propose a phased implementation plan.

Contact HunterStone at www.hunterstone.au to schedule a discovery.