I’ve been looking at how small and mid-sized manufacturers manage their operations, and a common problem seems to be having enquiries, orders, inventory, production and dispatch spread across different tools.

We’ve been exploring what a manufacturing-specific CRM/management system could look like:

Enquiry → Quotation → Order → Inventory → Production → Dispatch → Payment

With inventory tracking, suppliers, production status, order management, invoices and reporting connected in one place.

I’m with GLAD Studio, and we build custom business software, but I’m particularly interested in hearing from manufacturers:

What’s the #1 process in your business you’d want such a system to automate?

Would also be interesting to know what you currently use — Excel, ERP, custom software, or something else?