"What kind of existence is ERP? Why are there so many aspects? How to learn?" This article starts with the origin of ERP, combining the differences between discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing in manufacturing, and explains the concept of ERP in detail. The article is

2025/05/1217:31:36 technology 1243

"What kind of existence is ERP? Why are there so many aspects? How to learn?"

This article starts with the origin of ERP, combining the manufacturing industry discrete manufacturing 3 and process manufacturing ERP system to explain the ERP concept in detail.

article is a bit long, but if you read it patiently, I believe you will have a relatively systematic and comprehensive understanding of ERP.

If you don’t have time to read it, you can like and collect it first.


01 If you want to fully understand ERP, instead of talking about obscure concepts first, it is better to focus on the origin of ERP first.

ERP development history:

ERP was first proposed by the American Gartner Group in the early 1990s. To date, ERP has become a fusion of IT technology and management idea , aiming to solve a core problem: "How can enterprises effectively utilize and manage overall resources? ", its core is the tracking and flow of materials, which brings a series of management and tracking of various resource plans from the tracking and flow of materials.

ERP is the abbreviation of Enterprise Resource Planning.

According to the above figure, simply put, ERP is a systematic tool based on information technology and plans, controls and evaluates corporate people, finance and material resources.

However, although ERP is a system tool, its kernel is a management thinking.

By using the ERP system, enterprises can open up business processes and transfer business online, thus starting to embark on the road of efficient resource utilization and orderly business operations.

02 So, why do ERP have so many aspects?

Since ERP is a management thinking, we must base ourselves on the overall situation and realize the optimal allocation of the overall resources of the enterprise.

ERP is aimed at the utilization and management of corporate people, finance and material resources, and therefore has derived management work in multiple fields.

According to the development history of ERP, ERP was born in the social context of intensifying market competition. Driven by the market environment, higher requirements are put forward for ERP system , and further expanded the boundaries of ERP functions, resulting in expansion function modules:

  • Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management html l14
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Supply Relationship Management
  • Product Life Cycle Management
  • E-commerce Intelligence Management

03 So since it involves resource allocation, do every enterprise have to know how to use ERP in management?

As a system tool and management thinking, the foundation of ERP is based on information technology. ERP is a highly integrated information management system to improve work efficiency and bring overall benefits to the enterprise.

However, not every enterprise currently uses it. Due to the high price, long implementation cycle, high training cost, and large site requirements, many enterprises cannot afford the use of ERP systems. There are even some small enterprises in China that do not even have a basic information system. However, with the acceleration of the digitalization process, , for enterprises with scale and standardization, ERP systems have become an inevitable choice for informatization.

04 However, different industries have different business processes, which determines that the functional modules of the ERP system are different.

Take manufacturing as an example. For manufacturing, they pay more attention to the supply of physical products, and have established three core departments: procurement, production and sales based on the source and destination of physical products, and formed six basic business modules: procurement, inventory, production, sales, cost, and finance.

According to these six basic business modules, we can understand The basic business process of manufacturing :

The functional requirements of different business segments are also very different. A series of business processes to meet customer needs are also constantly enriching the content of the ERP system.Since has different functions in the industry and the ERP content is still so rich, where should we start and how to learn it?

In the field of production and manufacturing, it can be divided into discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing according to the manufacturing method and material form, and the ERP functions required for different industrial divisions are also different.

typical industry

discrete manufacturing

petroleum smelting, chemical industry, cement, steel manufacturing, etc., refer to products produced uniformly and continuously according to a certain process.

Process manufacturing

car, aircraft, electronic equipment, machine tools, etc. are often processed and assembled by multiple parts through a series of discontinuous processes.

process manufacturing main functions of ERP are:

process manufacturing ERP system can build a digital factory in one stop.

  • at the production side, coordinates the production process, updates production data in real time, and ensures efficient production; opens up sales and production departments to avoid overdue shipments;
  • in technical management, controls the R&D progress throughout the process, and uses permissions to strictly keep the company's intellectual property rights confidential while sharing product library information.

The main framework of discrete ERP is:

Discrete ERP system provides information management throughout the process from order to delivery, breaking through the information barriers of purchase and sales and production management, helping manufacturing companies reduce manufacturing costs, improve collaboration efficiency, and ensure product quality.

and above templates are all from [Jiandao Cloud]. Taking the production management function as an example, it can not only complete paperless reporting in and track and manage the entire online production process, but also be equipped with powerful dashboard functions to conduct comprehensive data analysis and visual display.

and these templates can be operated internally and adjusted and modified according to the needs of the enterprise business, with high flexibility.

As for data security issues , the software provided by regular software manufacturers now has the cloud or local data, and there will be basically no data security issues. If you are really worried, you can ask the software to be privatized when purchasing software.

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