Do I Need an ERP? - 8 questions, 3 minutes, a real number.
Not every manufacturer needs an ERP yet. This 8-question assessment scores your processes, data, and pain against the cost of an ERP and gives you a real do-it-or-wait number in about 3 minutes.
Mid-market manufacturers typically outgrow spreadsheets at $8-15M revenue but don't feel it until $25M when the pain is acute. This diagnostic quantifies the annual cost of operating without a system - then shows you whether you're in the green, the yellow, or bleeding money.
SimpleGrid is the only ERP you try on before you buy.
We build a custom ERP modeled on how your factory actually runs. We carry the cost and the risk. You run it for 30 days on your real floor. If it doesn't move the business, you walk - we earn nothing.
Book a demoHow the diagnostic works
The 8 questions are weighted to surface the three signals that matter for ERP readiness in mid-market manufacturing: operational complexity (revenue + employees + SKUs), data fragmentation (tracking system + inventory accuracy + data entry hours), and growth pressure (delivery performance + customer churn).
The score ranges 0-185. Anything above 80 means the annual cost of operating without a system is now visible on your P&L - whether you label it that way or not.
What "annual cost" actually means
Four buckets:
- Data-entry waste - team hours/week on manual re-keying x loaded labor cost x 52. Based on McKinsey Global Institute research that 50% of manufacturing work activities are automatable.
- Missed-delivery cost - Aberdeen Group's 2% revenue impact per percentage point of on-time delivery gap (customer concessions, expedite premiums, lost reorders).
- Inventory inaccuracy - APICS/ASCM 15% carrying cost on the variance between book and actual inventory.
- Lost customers - average customer revenue x churn count. Operational failures are the #2 cited reason for B2B churn (HBR 2022).
FAQ
What if I scored under 40?
You're fine. Spreadsheets work below a certain complexity threshold. Use the score as a watch-list: if 2-3 dimensions creep up over the next year, revisit. Most manufacturers know when they're across the line - the pain becomes acute around $25M revenue or 150 employees.
What if I scored 100+?
The operational cost is real and growing. The question isn't "should I get an ERP" - it's "which one, and how do I avoid the 55-75% implementation failure rate." That's where the ERP Readiness Scorecard (coming next) helps.
Is this biased toward selling SimpleGrid?
The scoring methodology is industry-standard (Gartner Postmodern ERP, Aberdeen mid-market benchmarks, Panorama Consulting ERP Reports). The recommendation at the end is operator advice, not a sales pitch. The CTA at the bottom is contextual - if you score green, we don't push.