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Basic Data! The Core of Successfully Launching ERP and MES Systems

Published on: 2025-03-25

What is the foundation of digital transformation?

First, it is enterprise processes. Only after processes are standardized can digitalization have a foundation. For a disordered enterprise, how can digitalization even be discussed?

In addition to processes, the most critical factor is the completeness and accuracy of master data. For 90% of enterprises that are dissatisfied after launching an ERP system or MES system, incomplete master data is the root cause.

Although everyone promotes that ERP systems and MES systems can bring management benefits to enterprises, help reduce costs and improve efficiency, make management more transparent, and make data more authentic, systems also bring an excessive workload to enterprises in the early stage of go-live.

All master data must be collected, organized, and checked. This is especially true for enterprises with many product specifications, such as multi-variety, small-batch, non-standard product manufacturers. With thousands or even tens of thousands of product specifications, the workload of organizing master data is easy to imagine.

Basic Data: The Core of Successful ERP and MES System Go-Live

Which types of master data require a very large workload?

1. Product coding methods

For non-standard production and processing industries, customer product specifications and categories are extremely numerous. Some small and medium-sized enterprises do not have their own standard coding rules. Some enterprises even directly use customers' material codes as their own product codes, which causes chaotic material coding and very serious duplicate-code problems.

For manufacturing enterprises, once they reach a certain scale, it is best to have a set of internal coding standards, convert customer codes into internal codes, and establish a corresponding relationship between customer codes and in-plant codes. Although this increases some workload, it makes subsequent production and inventory management clearer and reduces later workload.

For some purely non-standard custom processing industries, in-plant codes may have limited value. However, when standard parts and customer-general products are involved, the effect is very obvious. For example, in the non-standard machining industry, customers provide BOM lists and drawings. Most parts are non-standard, while many general parts also exist, making internal coding rules especially important.

2. Material master files

The first step in launching an ERP system is to organize basic information for finished products, semi-finished products, raw materials, auxiliary materials, consumables, tools, molds, and other items. In some enterprises, basic information is chaotic and scattered across departments. The technical department or multiple departments must collaborate to standardize material master information, check it carefully, and then import it into the ERP system.

For most enterprises, collecting and organizing material master information is not difficult, but doing it well and accurately still requires professional and careful personnel.

3. BOM master data

Breaking down a product into raw materials, parts, and assemblies, and recording in detail all subordinate materials and related attributes used by the product, the parent-child relationships between the parent item and all child items, unit usage, and other attributes - this is the BOM.

The BOM is an indispensable document for receiving customer orders, preparing production and procurement plans, issuing matching materials, tracing tasks, and calculating costs. These tasks involve enterprise departments such as sales, planning, production, supply, costing, design, and process engineering.

The bill of materials shows the structural relationship among product, part, assembly, component, and raw material, as well as the quantity of subordinate parts or components contained in each assembly.

Therefore, the BOM is a management document and a link for connecting and communicating among departments. Every department in an enterprise needs to use the BOM.

According to its purpose, BOM can be divided into the following types.

(1) Sales BOM: used for sales and quotation, containing product sales information such as sales prices and accessories.

(2) Engineering BOM: mainly used in the product design stage, containing all design information for the product, such as materials, parts, and manufacturing processes.

(3) Procurement BOM: used by the procurement department, listing all parts and materials that need to be purchased and helping purchasers carry out material planning.

(4) Production BOM: used in the production process, containing all information required for production and focusing on the materials and quantities needed for actual production.

Different product types and production models lead to different BOM types. However, for most enterprises, establishing BOMs involves a very large workload and requires professionals to prepare and review them. The accuracy of the BOM directly affects subsequent system go-live and operation.

4. Material substitution relationships

Material substitution is common only in some enterprises and industries, such as electronics, hardware processing, and equipment manufacturing. If material substitution relationships often occur, enterprises can establish them in advance so the system can calculate them directly during material requirements analysis. Of course, manual substitution can also be performed later, but manual substitution requires confirmation by the technical department or professionals.

5. Establishing process routes

For discrete manufacturing industries, basic work for process routes involves a certain workload. Even when process routes are imported into the system, standardized Excel files must be organized.

In industries such as multi-variety, small-batch machining and non-standard hardware processing, product specifications number in the thousands or tens of thousands and process routes are long. It is almost impossible to establish all process routes in advance. Some enterprises establish process routes after actual orders are issued, and then reversely generate standard product process routes.

For some products, different processing equipment leads to different process routes, resulting in multiple versions of process routes for many products. Enterprises adjust process routes according to actual production plans.

Basic Data: The Core of Successful ERP and MES System Go-Live

6. Quality inspection items and parameters

Among domestic private enterprises, whether large or small and medium-sized, as long as they are in non-standard industries or have many product specifications, very few companies can use quality systems very well. Even some tier-2. suppliers of automotive parts cannot establish a complete quality system in their systems.

For incoming inspection, chemical composition and various parameter analysis of materials require standard inspection items to be established for each product, including corresponding standard values and upper and lower tolerance limits.

For production inspection, inspection items and parameters differ for first-piece inspection, patrol inspection, and process inspection. Different processes have different inspection items. Some products have more than ten or even twenty process inspection items. If there are thousands or tens of thousands of products, inspection items alone can reach hundreds of thousands. This workload is the largest in ERP and MES systems.

Some enterprises can only compromise by having the system judge inspections simply as qualified or unqualified. Others still register using paper documents and upload photos to the system through mobile phones or PDAs for convenient future viewing.

If complete inspection data can be established and inspection values from incoming materials to production can enter the system, the product shipment quality report that troubles enterprises most can be automatically generated by the system. Would that not be a very good thing?

7. Dynamic data inventory

Dynamic data inventory must be fully completed before the ERP system is officially switched over and launched. It includes inventory node data, sales orders, purchase orders, production work orders, outsourcing orders, and so on. Establishing opening data for all dynamic data is very important.

Many enterprises ignore the importance of opening data for dynamic data. This is especially true for ERP system go-live. If dynamic data inventory is not done well, the early data after system launch will inevitably become extremely chaotic, and system data cannot be used as a reference.

The value of ERP and MES systems does not come from technology itself, but from process connectivity and decision optimization enabled by high-quality master data. Enterprises need to regard data governance as a long-term project and ensure that systems truly become the core engine driving intelligent manufacturing by establishing data responsibility systems, regular audits, and continuous optimization mechanisms.

Data is an asset, and quality is life. Only by strengthening the foundation can enterprises move steadily and go far.

Soonfor Software is a leading domestic provider of home furnishing ERP software, MES systems, CRM systems, SCM systems, and PLM systems. It is an engine that promotes the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the home furnishing industry.

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