Mid-Market Manufacturing ERP Software Selection Guide 2026

If you’re doing online research for your mid-market manufacturing ERP software selection, you probably already know two things:

1. Every vendor says they are a great fit for your factory, or any other factory

2. Every “Top 10 Manufacturing ERP Systems” list looks the same

You do not need more feature lists. You need criteria grounded in routings, Work in Process (WIP), quality, and costing, plus scripted demos using your own jobs and items to distinguish manufacturing ERP solutions from accounting-first systems dressed up as manufacturing. That’s what this 2026 field guide is about.

Throughout this blog, I’ll reference real, anonymized client conversations and case studies like our work with a custom wood flooring manufacturer and a log home manufacturer that moved from Word, Excel, and QuickBooks to proper manufacturing ERP.

Considerations when selecting a manufacturing ERP solution

1. Start from the plant, not the “manufacturing ERP systems” list

When we support ERP software selection, we don’t start with products, we start with your model:

• How do orders enter the system?

• How do Bill of Materials (BOMs) and routings behave in the real world?

• How does Work In Process (WIP) flow across operations and where do delays occur?

• How are quality issues captured, contained, and dispositioned when exceptions occur?

• How is job and product costing updated as work moves, pauses, or rework is performed?

For Essex Finishing, leadership knew they needed to get off QuickBooks, but the make‑or‑break requirement wasn’t a modern user interface (UI) or cloud ERP. It was the ability to configure thousands of wood flooring combinations across thickness, widths, grades, bundle sizes, and finishes, and tie that into real inventory and production planning. We built the selection around that constraint, then negotiated a five‑year deal for a platform that could actually run the business and support adding a second warehouse later.

For eLoghomes, there was not previously an ERP system in place. They ran their business using Word, Excel, and limited QuickBooks. Almost every order was a heavily customized log‑home model. The real problem was not that there was no ERP, it was that tribal knowledge about the quote‑to‑ship process lived in people’s heads, not in a map the system could support. The first step was documenting that order flow and turning it into ERP requirements.

In both scenarios, either company could have bought a manufacturing ERP system off a list. The difference was taking the time to map real operations first.

2. Turn routings, WIP, quality, and costing into measurable requirements you can score

Requirements are not a one-time exercise. When selection is done well, the same requirements become the backbone for configuration, testing, and training later.

I shared this with a CFO recently who is leading her own ERP program. When you document requirements during selection, you are not creating throwaway artifacts. You are defining what the future system must do, and those statements become what you build to and test to. If you skipped selection and simply bought software, you would still need to gather and document requirements. The difference is doing it early, in a structured way, while you still have leverage.

For manufacturing ERP, that requirements set should cover at least:

Routings and operations

• Setup vs run vs cleanup and how labor should post

• Outside processing and ownership of WIP and cost at each step

• Rework loops and whether a job can move backward without breaking controls

WIP patterns

• Backflushing vs step by step issue

• Partial completions and who records them, how often

• Multiple WIP locations including floor, staging, subcontract, quarantine

Quality

• Incoming, in process, final, and customer returns

• Nonconformances, holds, MRB, and disposition workflows

• Visibility into yield, scrap, and reason codes by batch or job

Costing

• Standard vs actual and how each is used in practice

• Overhead application including machine based, labor based, or hybrid drivers

• Variance visibility by job, item, work center, shift

Units of measure

• Conversions like pounds to pieces, board feet to square feet, coils to cut length

• How conversions behave on receipts, issues, and shipments

In our ERP selection work for manufacturers, we translate these into plain English requirement statements with a response key vendors must follow:

1 – out of the box

2 – light configuration or script

3 – native ISV/extension

4 – customization

U – unknown now

That gives you a measurable fit versus risk signal before you ever get to demos.

3. Use scripted demos with your jobs, items, and headaches

   
   

Once requirements are set, the next step is to take control of the demo process instead of letting vendors steer it. When we assist in an ERP Software Selection, we build a scripted agenda around your real data so you can see how the system performs in the scenarios that matter.

That means demos built from:

• Actual jobs, including complex routings

• Actual BOMs, including rework and scrap

• Real quality events from last 6–12 months

• A realistic day of orders and WIP to drive scheduling and execution

Here is why this matters. In a recent ERP demo for a distribution company, an implementation partner walked through how Acumatica handles multi-company and multi-branch intercompany processing and high-volume warehouse actions such as creating shipments for 50 orders at once and pushing them through scheduling and fulfillment. The value was not the brand name. It was seeing bulk processing under stress and confirming the workflow stayed usable as volume increased.

The same principle applies in manufacturing demos. You want to see:

• How the system handles high volumes of jobs and operations without slowing down

• How quickly operators can move through transactions with minimal clicks and minimal training burden

• Whether quality holds, deviations, and dispositions can be captured in the moment and tied to the right job, lot, and inventory status

  
  

The goal is to simulate a real day on your floor, not a polished showroom walkthrough.

If you want a deeper dive on how we structure this, the ERP Software Selection page walks through RFPs, scripted demos, and weighted scorecards in more detail.

4. 2026 watch outs, what breaks under real volume

   
   

By 2026, cloud manufacturing ERP vendors will continue to add AI, automation, and analytics. Those features can help, but the selection risks we see most often are not futuristic. They are the fundamentals that look fine in a light demo and then break down when transactions, users, and exceptions stack up.

Here are the areas we always stress test:

Labor reporting

• Will operators realistically report time by operation, or will the process drive end of shift batching

• Can the team capture setup, run, and indirect time without slowing production

• Can supervisors adjust time, correct errors, and reassign work quickly and cleanly

Units of measure and conversions

• Do conversions behave consistently at receiving, issue, completion, and shipment

• Can you support by product and co-product outputs with different units of measure

• What happens when packaging, weights, or supplier specs change mid-year

Scheduling and capacity

• Can you see load by work center and true constraints, not just MRP suggestions

• Is there finite scheduling that respects capacity, changeovers, and queues, or is everything infinite “suggested start date” logic

• How does the plan behave when you add another 100 jobs, does it replan quickly or slow to a crawl

Quality and rework

• Can nonconformances be logged from the floor in a few clicks

• Do rework loops preserve costing without manual workarounds

• How easy is it to get a quality story for a customer complaint without exporting to Excel

Multi‑site and distribution

Many mid-market manufacturers now operate at least one off-site warehouse or distribution center (DC). When that is true, we borrow the same distribution proof points and make vendors prove:

• Inventory visibility across plants and DCs

• Transfers, cross docking, and allocation rules

• How Warehouse Management System (WMS) and handheld execution under real transaction volume

These are the proof points that separate manufacturing first ERP platforms from accounting led systems with a manufacturing wrapper.

5. Who leads your ERP software selection, an independent advisor or a product company, and why it matters for mid‑market plants

A theme we hear often is hesitation about letting a software vendor’s own professional services team own the entire delivery. It is not a knock on the people. It is a recognition that product companies are built to sell and support their platform, not to serve as your internal owner’s representative across scope, priorities, and cross functional tradeoffs.

A VP of Technology put it pretty plainly in a recent implementation planning session:

“I’ve worked with professional services from probably ten different software vendors and had a mediocre experience. They’re product companies – that’s what they specialize in. It just makes more sense to bring in a third party.”

I agree. That is exactly the role an independent advisor plays. When we lead selection and then support delivery on the client side, our focus is to:

• Translate your real requirements into configuration decisions the partner can execute

• Hold scope, estimates, sequencing, and assumptions to what was agreed

• Make sure test scripts, training, and plant playbooks are created early and actually used

• Escalate quickly when delivery is drifting from what was sold and what the plant needs

It also closes the internal bandwidth gap that shows up in every mid-market implementation. In another conversation, a CFO shared she was deliberately going deeper into inventory and supply chain so she could better lead the ERP effort, while still juggling budgets, month-end close, and day to day demands. She described ERP as “the tool the business needs to scale,” while recognizing that she simply did not have the bandwidth to lead it end-to-end on her own.

That is mid-market manufacturing. An independent advisor brings structure, continuity, and accountability so the plant keeps running while the program moves forward with fewer surprises.

6. Understand what an ERP software selection looks like in practice with real manufacturing stories

Two brief examples show how the approach plays out in the real world.

Getting ERP Right for Custom Wood Flooring manufacturer

• Challenge – QuickBooks could not support high mix product configuration or production planning. As volume grew, inventory accuracy and order execution risk increased.

• What we did – We accelerated a requirements driven selection in roughly two months, focusing on front end configuration, inventory complexity, and planning. We then supported contract negotiation to secure a scalable five-year platform commitment.

• Result – The company more than doubled standard stocked inventory, added a second warehouse, and improved order accuracy while operating in the new system.

Read the full story here, Essex Finishing case study.

Practical ERP Advisory for a Growing Log Home Manufacturer

• Challenge – The business had no ERP and relied heavily on Word and Excel. Most orders were custom projects, and key process knowledge lived in people’s heads.

• What we did – We led a requirements driven selection, mapped the end to end order process, and later reengaged when the initial implementation partner did not perform to expectations.

• Result – They replaced QuickBooks and spreadsheets, documented the order process, and created a foundation to scale without adding headcount at the same rate.

Read the full story here, eLoghomes case study.

7. Sample scope for a 2026 manufacturing ERP software selection, what it looks like when we lead it.

If you’re a mid‑market manufacturer thinking about manufacturing ERP software in 2026, a typical engagement with us looks like:

1. Requirements and plant walk‑through

   • Short, focused workshops with operations, engineering, quality, supply chain, finance, and IT

   • A walk through the floor and, if applicable, your warehouse or DC

   
   

2. Vendor neutral RFP to a curated longlist

   • We issue an RFP built from your requirements and the 1/2/3/4/U fit key

   • Vendors respond in a consistent template, including pricing and explicit assumptions

3. Shortlist and scripted demos

   • We narrow to a right‑sized shortlist (typically 3), then run scripted demos using your jobs and items

   • We stress‑test labor reporting, UoM conversions, scheduling, quality, and multi‑site execution

     
     

4. Scorecard and 5‑year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

   • Weighted scorecard focused on your real constraints and your operating model

   • Five-year TCO across licenses, ISVs (WMS, quality, CPQ, PLM/MES connectors), services, and upgrade cadence

5. Contract guardrails and implementation prep

   • Scope language, SLAs, hypercare, RACI, and knowledge transfer obligations

   • Early planning for data migration, testing, and training so implementation doesn’t restart the project from zero

This is the same playbook we use across discrete, make to order (MTO) and configure to order (CTO) environments, engineer to order (ETO) teams, and project based manufacturers, and it’s described more broadly on the Manufacturing and ERP Software Selection pages.

Make a manufacturing ERP decision that holds up in execution

Are you thinking about a manufacturing ERP software selection decision in the next 6–12 months? You may be questioning if your organization has the expertise or capacity to dedicate to the selection process. If a manufacturing ERP system is on your 2026 roadmap, we can step in at the level that fits your team:

• Pressure‑test your current plan, shortlist, and assumptions

• Share a redacted requirements workbook, RFP, demo script, and scorecard to accelerate your internal work

• Lead a full vendor neutral selection and, if helpful, stay on as your client side implementation lead

The objective is straightforward. Select a manufacturing ERP that fits how your plant actually runs, performs under real transaction volume, and can be delivered with your team and budget.

If your manufacturing organization is selecting a new ERP system, contact John Hannan LLC for advisory assistance. We can help guide your ERP Software Selection and provide a plan that is best suited for your manufacturing organization!