ETO
All case studies
Engineered-to-Order

Every order is different.
The planning keeps up.

A mid-sized electronics manufacturer building complex industrial products - custom BOMs per order, outsourced job-work, and no ERP. SCM Central digitized operations from the ground up, without touching what didn't need fixing.

Procurement Inventory Manufacturing Fulfillment MRP Planning Job Work
Snapshot
Industry
Electronics - Engineered-to-Order, Industrial Applications
Before SCM Central
No ERP - manual registers, spreadsheets, verbal coordination
Deployment
On-premises - customer's in-house server. Full data ownership.
Key Complexity
Flexible BOM per customer order + outsourced job-work tracking
Rollout
3-phase - Inventory → Procurement → Job Work
The Challenge

No ERP. Everything ran on memory, spreadsheets, and phone calls.

Before SCM Central, the company was not using any ERP system. Most processes - procurement, inventory, production tracking, vendor coordination - were handled through manual registers, spreadsheets, and verbal coordination.

For a business building engineered-to-order electronics products, this meant every custom order created a coordination problem that had to be solved manually, from scratch.

01 No real-time visibility into inventory levels across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods
02 Manual procurement tracking with frequent follow-ups and no structured PO process
03 No structured way to track materials issued to job-work vendors
04 Difficulty reconciling WIP received back from outsourced manufacturers
05 Inability to plan material requirements for engineered-to-order products with varying BOMs
06 Manual BOM changes for every order - increasing errors and compounding delays
What They Needed

Digital operations - without disrupting what was already working

A phased, low-risk digitization built around their actual workflow, not a generic ERP template.

Digitize inventory and procurement without disrupting operations
Replace spreadsheets and registers with real-time digital records - without a big-bang go-live that risks shutting down production.
Track outsourced manufacturing and job-work materials accurately
Know exactly what's been issued to each vendor, what's been received back, and what's still outstanding - without phone calls.
Support engineered-to-order manufacturing natively
Handle customer-specific product configurations where every order needs its own BOM - without recreating the wheel for each one.
Allow BOM flexibility per order with standardized processes
Each production order can carry a dynamically adjusted BOM while the overall workflow stays consistent and auditable.
Implement in a phased, low-risk manner
Start with inventory, prove it, then layer in procurement and job-work tracking - one phase at a time so the business never stops.
Deploy on in-house server infrastructure
Full ownership and control of data on the company's own servers - no dependency on external cloud environments.
Deployment Model

On their server. On their terms.

SCM Central supports both cloud and on-premises deployment. This customer chose to host on their own infrastructure - SCM Central adapted to fit.

On-Premises Deployment
All data stays on the customer's own infrastructure
  • On-premise deployment on the customer's in-house server
  • Full ownership and control of inventory and manufacturing data
  • No dependency on external cloud environments or internet connectivity
  • Scalable architecture ready to support future growth
Engineered-to-Order

Flexible MRP - a different BOM for every order, the same discipline every time.

A critical requirement was support for ETO products where BOMs vary based on customer specifications. SCM Central's MRP Planning handled it without compromising process discipline.

Production order per customer order
Every sales order spawns its own production order - carrying the exact BOM for that customer's configuration.
Dynamic BOM adjustment at production order level
The base BOM is a starting point. Quantities, components, and specifications can be modified per order without touching the master BOM.
Accurate material planning based on actual order configuration
MRP runs against the actual order BOM - not a generic template - so material requirements reflect what's truly needed for each job.
Standardized workflows despite high customization
Every order follows the same process discipline - procurement, production, QC, dispatch - regardless of how different the product spec is.
Implementation Approach

Three phases. Each one building on the last.

Rather than implementing everything at once, the rollout was structured so each phase stabilized before the next began.

Phase 1
Inventory Digitization
Centralized inventory tracking
Replace manual stock registers with a single source of truth across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods.
  • Centralized inventory tracking across raw materials, WIP, and finished goods
  • Real-time stock visibility for production and procurement teams
Phase 2
Procurement Streamlining
Structured purchasing end to end
Move from verbal requests and phone follow-ups to a structured purchase requisition and PO workflow.
  • Structured purchase requisitions and purchase orders
  • Vendor-wise procurement visibility and follow-up tracking
  • Clear linkage between material demand and procurement actions
Phase 3
Outsourced Manufacturing
Job-work tracking end to end
Full visibility into materials sent to and received from job-work vendors - without spreadsheets or follow-up calls.
  • Tracking of all materials issued to job-work vendors
  • Accurate receipt and reconciliation of finished and semi-finished goods
  • Reduced dependency on manual follow-ups and phone calls
Results & Business Impact

What got better - and how.

Operational Improvements
End-to-end visibility into inventory, procurement, and job-work WIP - across every active order simultaneously
Accurate tracking of all materials across outsourced manufacturing - issued quantities, received quantities, and outstanding balances
Reduced material shortages and excess inventory through demand-driven procurement linked directly to production orders
Improved production planning accuracy for customized orders - MRP runs against the actual configuration, not a generic BOM
Business Outcomes
Improved on-time delivery performance - planning visibility means fewer last-minute material surprises
Better coordination with job-work vendors through structured issuance and receipt workflows
Significantly reduced manual effort and operational follow-ups across procurement, production, and vendor management
Secure and scalable digital foundation on in-house infrastructure - owned, controlled, and ready to grow
See it in your operation

Building products to customer spec?

If your team is managing custom BOMs in spreadsheets and chasing vendors on the phone, let's show you what a structured ETO operation looks like - built around your process, not a generic ERP model.

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