ERP Software for Machine Manufacturers in India: Options Compared

ERP software for machine manufacturers has to do things a general business package does not: a separate work order for each customer order, a multi-level bill of materials, costing of every machine built, parts sent out for fabrication or painting, serial numbers, and capacity on the shop floor. A machine builder in India can choose from five broad types of ERP, from global enterprise suites to India-built manufacturing ERPs such as Tejaxo ERP. This guide compares the types, lists what to check, and shows where each one fits.

Disclosure: this guide is written by Tejaxo Technologies. We describe our own product in detail and the other options by type, in neutral terms. Features change, so confirm the current scope with each vendor before you decide.

What a machine manufacturer needs from an ERP

Machinery and industrial equipment are usually built to a customer’s order, often with changes from the standard design. That creates needs that trading or process-industry software handles poorly:

• Order-wise production. Each sales order becomes its own work order and job cards, so cost and progress are known per machine.
• Multi-level BOM. A machine has assemblies, sub-assemblies, bought-out parts and raw material, several levels deep.
• Design data. Parts lists start in CAD, so item masters and BOMs should come from the drawing data, not from retyping.
• Job costing. Material, machine hours, labour and overhead against each order, and the profit on it.
• Outside processing. Fabrication, machining, plating and painting at job workers, with challans and GST job-work returns.
• Serial numbers and traceability. Which components and which batches went into which machine.
• Capacity and delivery dates. Whether the machines and people on the floor can deliver the orders in hand.
• Inspection, despatch and export. Pre-despatch inspection records, and export invoicing where machines are shipped abroad.

Five types of ERP software for machine manufacturers

The table groups the options by type, with well-known examples of each. It is a map of the market, not a ranking.

Type	Well-known examples	Usually suits	Check before you choose
Global enterprise suites	SAP S/4HANA, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365	Large, multi-plant groups and global equipment makers	Implementation time, the partner who will implement it, and the internal team you must keep
Mid-market manufacturing ERPs	Epicor Kinetic, Infor CloudSuite Industrial	Custom and engineer-to-order machine builders of medium to large size	Implementation partners and support available near your plant
Cloud business suites	Oracle NetSuite	Multi-location companies and exporters that want one cloud system for finance and operations	How much shop-floor detail is covered as standard and how much needs add-ons
Open-source and modular ERPs	ERPNext, Odoo	Small and mid-sized manufacturers that want to start with a few modules	The experience of the implementation partner in machinery, and who maintains the customisation later
India-built manufacturing ERPs implemented by the developer	Tejaxo ERP	Small and mid-sized machine builders in India that want GST, job work and shop-floor control from one vendor	References in your type of manufacturing and a demo on your own order

Many small machine shops also run on accounting software with spreadsheets for BOMs and job cards. It works while orders are few; the usual sign that it has been outgrown is that nobody can state the cost or the delivery date of a machine without calling three people.

Where Tejaxo ERP fits

Tejaxo ERP is manufacturing ERP software built in India and implemented by the team that develops it. The brand has been in the ERP business since 2017 and serves more than 50 clients with over 20 modules and more than 1,000 reports. The head office is in Palwal, Haryana, with on-site and remote support across India. For a machine manufacturer, the points below are what the product covers today.

Need	How Tejaxo ERP handles it
Order-wise production	Work orders are raised line-wise from sales orders (or for stock), and job cards are scheduled forward on each machine’s hours
Multi-level BOM	BOM Tree shows any finished product as an expandable multi-level tree, with quantities scaled to the planned build quantity
Design data	AutoCAD drawing and BOM data are brought into ERP item masters and BOMs
Job costing	Work-order costing and profit: material at the rate of the batch issued, machine minutes at the machine rate, labour and overhead
Outside processing	Job work orders and returnable gate passes, with ITC-04 Table 4 and Table 5A and 13 job-work reports
Serial numbers and traceability	Serial-number tracking and barcode / QR scanning; batch numbers carried forward and backward from sales order to invoice
Capacity	Plant capacity planning compares machines required with machines available for the month, by machine type
Quality and despatch	Incoming and in-process quality, a pre-despatch inspection checklist and a quality board with non-conformance reports
Export	Export orders in foreign currency, LUT or IGST invoices, shipping bill details and forex gain or loss
Machine data	CNC / VMC cycle counts and OEE can be posted from the machine into the ERP; Tejaxo SCADA and Tejaxo Logger are Tejaxo’s own products linked to the ERP
Daily use	Reports and graphs on WhatsApp by voice or text, and approvals from the phone
Deployment	Cloud hosted by Tejaxo, on-premise, private cloud or hybrid

The step-by-step flow is in ERP for industrial machinery manufacturers: from customer order to dispatch, and the industry overview is on the machinery and equipment industry page. Shops that mainly machine components can read ERP for machined components.

Two honest limits: Tejaxo ERP is licensed with a yearly support contract and pricing is given on request after a discussion, and a group that needs one global system across many countries is usually better served by an enterprise suite. For companies already on such a suite, Tejaxo works around it instead of replacing it, with portals, shop-floor apps and machine connections.

Ten questions to ask every ERP vendor

1. Can you show one of our own machines, from sales order to invoice, in the demo?
2. How many levels can the BOM have, and can we see the full tree on one screen? (See the BOM tree video for what this looks like.)
3. How does BOM data come in from our CAD drawings?
4. What does the costing report for one work order contain, and where does each figure come from?
5. How are parts sent to job workers tracked, and does the system prepare ITC-04? (Background: job work on returnable gate passes.)
6. How is capacity checked before a delivery date is promised? (Background: machine capacity planning.)
7. Can serial numbers of the machine and its key components be traced after despatch?
8. Who implements the system: the developer or a partner? Who answers the phone after go-live?
9. Where is the data kept, and can we choose cloud or our own server?
10. Which machine manufacturers of our size use it today, and can we speak to one?

Which type suits which machine manufacturer

• Small and mid-sized machine builder in India, one or two plants: an India-built manufacturing ERP or a modular ERP with a partner who knows machinery. Weigh who will support you on the shop floor, not only the feature list.
• Custom, engineer-to-order builder of medium to large size: a mid-market manufacturing ERP, or an India-built ERP that proves order-wise costing and multi-level BOM on your own order.
• Large group with plants or subsidiaries in several countries: a global enterprise suite or cloud business suite, with extensions for the shop floor where needed.

For planning detail, see production planning software; for machines reporting their own output, see machine monitoring with CNC, OEE and ERP. Manufacturers in the NCR industrial belts can also read manufacturing ERP in Delhi NCR.

Common mistakes when machine manufacturers choose an ERP

• Choosing by brand size alone. The system has to match the size of your team; an under-used large system costs more than it returns.
• Watching a standard demo. Ask for your own BOM and your own order. Gaps show within an hour.
• Leaving job work outside the system. Material lying at fabricators is stock and a GST liability; it must be inside the ERP from day one.
• Ignoring costing until year end. If cost per machine is not available when the order closes, pricing the next quotation is guesswork.
• Not fixing who supports the system. Decide before signing who trains users and who changes reports later.

To see one of your own machines set up in Tejaxo ERP, book a free consultation or message us on WhatsApp at +91 96717 27474.

Related reading: ERPNext, Odoo or an India-built ERP: how to choose

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