Small and mid-sized manufacturers should buy proven platforms instead of building custom software. Focus on elastic, modular systems that scale with your business and let you add new components without expensive fixes down the road.
If no one takes anything else away, please listen to this. Do not go out there and, if you're a small to mid-sized company, don't try to build your own systems. There are fantastic people that have invested years of time in solutions and platforms. Integrate them and save yourself this repair issue, at least as it relates to data and structure. Make sure that things are elastic, they can grow with you and your business, and that it's very simple to bolt things on to make everything work.
