BT San Technology
Beyond Tomorrow
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BT San Technology
Beyond Tomorrow
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ERP INTEGRATION · KNOWLEDGE BASE
ERP Integration
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is software that consolidates sales, purchasing, inventory, production, accounting and HR into one system. This guide explains what ERP is, what modules it contains, how it integrates with the shop floor, and how to choose and implement it without burning a year.
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01 · FUNDAMENTALS
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is software that consolidates an organisation's core data and processes into one system — sales, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, accounting, HR. The heart of ERP is a single source of truth — one set of numbers every department sees, instead of a private Excel per team.
1960s
Started as material planning on the factory floor — computing what to order, when, from the BOM and production schedule.
1980s
Expanded to cover the whole factory: machines, labour and money, not just materials.
1990s
Gartner coined the term — extending from the factory to the whole enterprise: HR, finance, sales, customers.
2010s+
Systems moved to the cloud, split into modular services connected via APIs to MES, IoT, e-commerce and AI.
02 · STRUCTURE
Most ERP suites bundle these modules — some companies run them all, others start with two or three and expand.
Pipeline, quotations, sales orders, discounts, customer follow-up — lead to invoice.
RFQs, supplier comparison, POs, vendor bills, contracts — cost control from the source.
Multi-warehouse, lot/serial tracking, barcode/QR, putaway/picking rules, FIFO/Average valuation.
BOM, routing, work orders, scheduling, capacity planning — wired into MES on the line.
Chart of accounts, AR/AP, general ledger, tax, e-invoice, IFRS/local reporting.
Employee records, attendance, leave, OT, payslip, social security, withholding tax.
Delivery orders, shipping, multi-carrier, customs docs — tied to inventory and sales.
Preventive & corrective maintenance, MTBF/MTTR, spare parts — fed by sensors and PLCs.
Control plans, inspections, non-conformance, CAPA — wired into Machine Vision and SPC.
Project planning, timesheets, milestones, budget vs actual — fits engineer-to-order.
Dashboards, OLAP, KPI tracking — export to Power BI, Tableau, or use built-in.
Approval flows, e-signatures, document management — replace paper signatures and scans.
03 · ARCHITECTURE
Good ERP is not a silo — it connects to MES on the line, SCADA reading the machines, IoT sensors, and Machine Vision so that stock, production orders, quality events and maintenance work orders update the instant they happen — not at end-of-day paperwork time.
MES
Work order ↔ Production reporting
SCADA / PLC
Machine data ↔ ERP transactions
Machine Vision
Defect events → Quality module
ERP
Single source of truth
IoT Sensors
Telemetry → Maintenance trigger
E-commerce
Order sync → Inventory
Banking & Tax
Reconciliation + e-Tax filing
04 · VALUE
The real value of ERP isn't "working faster" — it's shifting how an organisation makes decisions: from gut feel to data-driven.
Every department sees the same numbers — finance, warehouse, production, sales, executives. No more Excel reconciliation.
See stock, work orders and KPIs the moment they change — not in the month-end report.
Forces every transaction down the same flow — reducing human error and shortcuts.
Trace any finished good back to a raw material lot, supplier and operator — critical when claims or recalls hit.
Audit trail on every transaction — ready for ISO, GMP, HACCP, IFRS and international buyer requirements.
Grows from 10 to 500+ users on the same platform — no system migration.
05 · PITFALLS
Surveys from Panorama Consulting (ERP Report 2024) and Gartner research notes report that roughly 50–75% of ERP projects fail or exceed budget/timeline. The root causes are usually process and people, not technology.
Sources: Panorama Consulting Solutions, ERP Report 2024 · Gartner Inc., "Why ERP Implementations Fail" research note
Starts with sales + warehouse, grows weekly with new module requests, timeline stretches to two years.
Master data imported from Excel with duplicates, errors, format mismatches — bad data carried into the new system.
Leadership delegates to IT — nobody senior is empowered to change processes during implementation.
Trying to make ERP behave exactly like the legacy system — making upgrades painful and brittle.
Users go live without knowing the system — they revert to paper, leaving data incomplete.
Launching every module at once — when something breaks, everything breaks. Phased rollout is safer.
06 · CHOICES
There's no single best ERP — it depends on company size, budget, customisation depth and industry.
Hosted on your own server — e.g. SAP ECC, Oracle EBS, on-prem Odoo.
+ Pros
Full data control, deep customisation, no recurring subscription.
− Cons
High upfront hardware, internal IT must maintain, upgrades are slow.
Delivered over the internet — e.g. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, NetSuite, Odoo.sh, MS Dynamics 365.
+ Pros
Fast to start, no server maintenance, auto-updates, easy to scale.
− Cons
High recurring cost, limited customisation, dependent on internet.
Source code is open — e.g. Odoo Community, ERPNext, Dolibarr.
+ Pros
Free license, deep customisation, no vendor lock-in.
− Cons
Requires in-house technical team or partner, community-based support.
Designed for one industry — e.g. Plex (manufacturing), Aptos (retail), Yardi (real estate).
+ Pros
Best practice built in, vocabulary fits the business.
− Cons
Expensive, heavy vendor lock-in, hard to deviate from the template.
07 · IMPLEMENTATION
Whichever ERP you pick, the implementation flow is similar — only the duration changes.
Walk the floor, interview stakeholders, document current processes, surface pain points and requirements — output a process map and gap analysis.
Decide which modules, design chart of accounts, BOM, workflows, roles/permissions, and integration architecture.
Configure the system per design, build custom modules where needed, create custom reports and integrations.
Clean source data, validate, load into the new system, reconcile against the source.
Train each role with their own real scenarios — not generic vendor training.
Test with real data, fix bugs, finalise SOPs before go-live.
Cut over to the new system — implementer on-site to handle urgent issues for the first 2–4 weeks.
Track KPIs, collect feedback, plan the next module roll-out — ERP doesn't end at go-live.
09 · FAQ
Accounting software handles only finance. ERP covers every business function — sales, inventory, production, HR — and links the data so it flows together.
MES (Manufacturing Execution System) handles second-by-second floor execution. ERP runs enterprise resources at the day/week level. The two must be integrated to get the full value.
If you have 20+ staff, 500+ SKUs, or traceability requirements — yes. Options like Odoo and ERPNext start free or very cheap.
Depends on scope. SME with 2–3 modules: 6–12 weeks. Mid-size factory full suite: 4–8 months. Large multi-site enterprise: 12–24 months.
License/subscription, implementation services, customisation, infrastructure (server or cloud), training, and ongoing support — don't look at license alone.
Typically 2–3 years after successful implementation. Main value comes from lower inventory carrying cost, reduced rework, and higher sales productivity.
10 · CASES
Real engagements from our team. We list industry and outcome only — customer names are protected under NDA.
Mid-size food processing plant
Consolidated 12 Excel files + legacy accounting into one system — month-end close cut to 2 days.
Metalwork factory (Bang Phli)
MES ↔ ERP wired — stock & WIP refresh every 5 minutes, OEE +12%.
Fruit exporter
Traceability from orchard → sorting → packing → invoice — cleared European buyer audit.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Our team has implemented ERP in Thai factories for 10+ years. Send us a snapshot of your current process — we'll help you analyse for free which module to start with, how long it'll take, and what your options are.
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