Manufacturing organizations need a Manufacturing Software, usually known as an MES – Manufacturing Execution System, to help them to successfully manage their operations in real-time.
There are so many different options, that when deciding which software to invest into, questions start to arise:
– Should we buy a solution or develop it in-house?
– Cloud or On-Premise?
– Generic or Industry-specific?

We have already gone through the first two questions and now it’s time to establish the main differences between generic and industry-specific software, in order to help you to understand which solution fits your company best and simplify your decision process.

While Industry-specific Manufacturing Software, such as a food manufacturing software or an apparel manufacturing software, have modules that address very particular areas of your business, sometimes they lack key functionalities that might come in handy in your company’s future growth. They will probably be easier and faster to implement since they are usually an out-of-the-box solution that will be able to handle your manufacturing processes with minimal or no customization.

The most generic Manufacturing Software can be customized to fill the gaps and give you all the data your management needs, but this can be time-consuming and also costly to implement and maintain. Between the most and the least generic solution, there are a lot of options in the market which vary in terms of flexibility, cost and time to implement.

One great approach that you can follow while deciding between a generic or an industry-specific software, would be to carefully manage the decision process considering many options in this range.

To help you on this process, we suggest that you follow three simple steps, instead of focusing on choosing between a Generic or an Industry Specific Manufacturing Software:

Map your processes and assess your needs
The first step to start this process is to form a multidisciplinary team that includes top management, experts and those who will be your end-users. Each of them will have a different input and insight over the requisites to look for on software, and will also play a different role in the implementation process.

Start by mapping your existing processes and operations, to determine what is already being done, where you need to invest in improvements and where your main challenges lie.

It might be helpful to establish some criteria, such as features, price, usability or bar code capabilities, anything that seems relevant to your team.

Discover what is out there

Search for the best software solutions, either Industry-Specific or generic at this stage. Watch videos, check references, call their teams and schedule consultations with their sales representative, schedule a demo. All this discovery process will provide you with insights about each vendor and solutions. Ask them how they would address your most important requirements and challenges.

Choose the best solution for your business

If you already know which features and requirements are an absolute priority to you and which are not, you can now rank the solutions you have seen according to all of your criteria and reach a top three of the most suitable solutions for your company.

Prodsmart is a production management solution tailored for the manufacturing industry. With a wide range of features and ly flexibility, it can easily be customized to any manufacturing business and process. Sign up now and see how it can fit your business.