Why Complex Manufacturing Needs More Than Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are incredibly useful in manufacturing. They’re familiar, flexible and can be adapted quickly to suit the way a business operates.

For a smaller manufacturer producing relatively straightforward products, a spreadsheet may be perfectly adequate for maintaining a bill of materials (BOM).

But as the business grows, products become more complex and manufacturing involves more people, operations and sub-assemblies, keeping everything accurate becomes considerably harder.

A change to one component might affect several products. Stock information needs updating. Manufacturing instructions have to be revised. Purchasing and production need to work from the same information.

What began as a manageable spreadsheet can become a significant source of risk.

The question isn’t whether spreadsheets are good or bad. It’s whether the systems you’re using can still support the complexity of your business.

When a BOM becomes more than a parts list

Imagine a manufacturer producing a relatively simple product with a small number of purchased components. Maintaining the BOM may be straightforward.

Now imagine that the business has grown. It produces several product ranges, offers bespoke variations and manufactures some of its own components. Individual parts may require multiple operations and appear in several finished products.

The challenge is no longer simply maintaining an accurate list of materials.

It’s making sure that purchasing, production and planning are working from consistent, reliable information.

Consider what happens when an operator discovers an error in a manufacturing instruction or a component specification changes.

Which version of the BOM is current? Has the drawing been updated? Does purchasing know about the change? Are the machine settings still correct?

When information is spread across disconnected spreadsheets and documents, keeping everything aligned can become difficult.

And if somebody continues working from outdated information, the consequences may not become apparent until much later in production.

What should an ERP system actually do?

An enterprise resource planning system (ERP) can help manufacturers manage the relationships between products, components, stock, manufacturing operations and customer orders.

For example, if a finished product requires a sub-assembly, the system can help the business understand what is needed to produce it and whether the required materials are available.

That matters when promising delivery dates. Manufacturers need to know not just what components are required, but whether the work needed to produce them can be completed in time.

An ERP system can also provide a structured way to manage engineering changes.

In The Manufacturing Playbook, Stephen Rendall, Operations Manager at Redhill, describes how employees can raise engineering change requests through their ERP system when they identify problems with drawings or manufacturing instructions.

Those requests can be reviewed and, where appropriate, the relevant information corrected before the next job.

The advantage isn’t simply having information stored digitally. It’s having a more consistent way to manage it and make it available to the people who need it.

Software is only as good as the information and people using it

There is an important qualification.

Buying an ERP system doesn’t automatically give a manufacturer accurate bills of materials.

If the underlying information is wrong or incomplete, the software may simply make it easier to repeat the same mistakes.

And even a good system depends on people using it properly.

Employees need to know how to report errors, somebody needs to review proposed changes and the relevant records need to be updated.

Without those behaviours, a business can have sophisticated software and still rely on informal workarounds.

As Stephen’s experience demonstrates, the system provides the process, but people have to make it work.

Has your business outgrown its systems?

There isn’t a universal point at which every manufacturer needs an ERP system. A business with straightforward products and processes may be able to operate effectively with simpler tools.

But recurring BOM errors, incorrect stock figures, duplicated records and production delays are all reasons to examine whether the existing approach is still working.

Start by asking a few practical questions.

Do production planners trust the stock information? Can purchasing identify the correct components and quantities? Are operators confident they’re working from the latest drawings and instructions?

And when somebody discovers an error, can the business correct the information reliably so that the next job doesn’t encounter the same problem?

If people regularly maintain their own spreadsheets or ask colleagues to verify information because they don’t trust the main system, something needs investigating.

That doesn’t automatically mean buying new software. The problem may lie in how information is maintained, how BOMs are structured or how employees use the existing tools.

But as manufacturing becomes more complex, the need for accurate, connected information becomes harder to ignore.

The objective isn’t simply to replace spreadsheets or introduce another system. It’s to help the business plan and manufacture products more reliably.

Because the real question isn’t whether you have an ERP system. It’s whether people can trust the manufacturing information they’re using.