If your company manufactures in batches, Logres is one of the few companies in the Netherlands that truly understands this field. Since 1993, we’ve worked exclusively with wholesalers and manufacturers in the process industry. We don’t just serve a single sector—we serve the entire company.

That’s no small matter, because the biggest risk in an ERP project lies not in the software itself but in the team implementing it. Batch traceability, efficiency, and shelf life aren’t just optional extras here—they’re at the heart of the process—and a consultant who sees this every day doesn’t need it explained.

Most ERP packages for small and medium-sized businesses are designed for retail and discrete manufacturing. In those industries, you count individual items: ten go in, and ten come out.

In the process industry, the product changes along the way. Eight hundred kilograms of raw material yields seven hundred fifty kilograms of finished product; a batch has an expiration date that determines who is still allowed to receive it; and a rejected batch must not, under any circumstances, end up in a picking order.

Almost any software package can record that information somewhere. The difference lies in whether the system actually uses that information to drive action, and that’s a matter of configuration. Configuration is a human endeavor.

The questions someone asks reveal their industry knowledge. A generalist asks how many units you produce. A specialist asks how many kilograms the output is.

Anyone embarking on an ERP project for the first time spends months comparing features. That’s understandable, because that’s what’s in the brochures, and it’s easy to check off the box.

Two companies that purchase the same software package can end up with completely different results. That difference rarely lies in the license and almost always in the people who guided the process.

How to Recognize an Industry Specialist

You’ll usually notice the difference right from the first conversation.

The right-hand column does not contain trick questions. These are the questions that naturally come to mind for someone who has done this before.

An ERP project in the process industry rarely gets stuck because of the software. It gets stuck because of things no one anticipated, and those issues almost always stem from the same four areas.

Yield is the top priority. A bill of materials assumes that what goes in is what comes out. In a production process, a portion is always lost through evaporation, adhesion, or cutting, and anyone who doesn’t realize this until the first test run will have to redesign the setup halfway through.

The second issue is the “block that doesn’t block.” A batch is rejected and is properly recorded as such, but still ends up in a picking order. This happens when the quality status and inventory records do not come from the same source.

If you know these four, you’re planning for them. If you don’t know them, you’ll run into them in week fourteen.

The shop floor is the third. Operators often work alongside the system: a note by the machine, a list that will be typed up later. As long as that remains the case, inventory figures will lag behind reality, and every schedule will be nothing more than an estimate.

Scope is the fourth, and the quietest. A software package can always do more than you need, and that’s tempting. Every feature added along the way delays the go-live and dilutes the focus on what really matters.

None of these four issues can be resolved with a better license. They can, however, be anticipated—and that is precisely what experience in an industry provides.

Two companies in the process industry that have made this choice, each for a different reason.

When another partner is a better fit

Not every manufacturing company is a good fit for an SMB specialist. Large processors with multiple production sites and their own production lines often benefit more from a robust industry-specific software package such as CSB-System or Infor—and therefore from a partner with expertise in those solutions.

If a company is already fully integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem with a dedicated partner handling the rest of its IT, that consistency carries significant weight. In that case, Business Central with an industry-specific solution built on top of it is a viable option.

And those who simply trade and don’t manufacture anything themselves simply don’t need that process industry knowledge. In that case, the conversation revolves around inventory, purchasing, and margins—not around return on investment and recipe versions.

If you’re still unsure about the software package rather than the partner, choosing an ERP package is the more logical first step.

What over thirty years in the same industry brings

In the Netherlands, only a small group of companies are aware of these pitfalls before the project even begins. For Logres, the chemical, pharmaceutical, animal feed, personal care, plastics, and food industries aren’t niche sectors that were added later—they are the company’s entire scope of operations.

You’ll notice that right from the first meeting. No one needs to have FEFO, a rejection notice, or a recipe version explained to them, and the question behind the question usually follows right away.

A consultant who knows what can go wrong can prevent it. That’s the difference between a system that just runs and one that actually works.

SAP once again presented Logres with a Partner Award this year, following previous awards in prior years. That says something about our technical expertise. The companies listed above say even more, because they’ve stayed with us.

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