Hi Matt,

We understand your frustration, and to add to it, we believe that perfect ERP system you're looking for still doesn’t exist. Innergy is doing an impressive job advancing their ERP software into a full turn-key system for millwork companies, but it’s still far from perfect. While it can help keep things more organized, we've seen firsthand how it can slow down processes. On top of that, there's the steep learning curve, which often requires continuous staff training as if they're expected to be software experts.

In our experience working with hundreds of millwork companies, even those with ERP systems tend to use a patchwork of solutions, especially when it comes to engineering. Innergy Design is in development to address this gap, but it's still in the early stages and likely years away from being a reliable option for most companies.

There are other ERP systems out there that we don’t necessarily endorse but might be worth exploring. I’d recommend reaching out to get demos from platforms like CrowsNest, Project Pak/Shop Pak, and Microsoft Dynamics.

Hope that helps!

That is a great response above. I'll second looking into Tradesoft. We use it and it's great. But, any ERP implementation is a mid to long ter project.

In the short term...Have you looked into tying your processes together? You've already played around with databases, if you can read and write into each other, would it relieve some of the pain points and buy you some time to implement a better solution?

If you can read the necessary data, you could push it to some of these online task software like Asana. At one time I was pushing data into ActiveCampaign, and Trello using webhooks from Zapier. It's much harder to make them sync though.

Well, we're currently using Asana quite heavily and it's one of our limiting things. It's just not designed for what we need it to do. It sounds like it does in theory but we've been on Asana for upwards of 7 years now. They've added a lot of features but it's still not what we need.

You are correct that using databases can help tie things together and that's precisely what most of these databases (and Asana) are doing. The problem is that we have far too many types of software for people to have to learn.

That, and my ability to write databases is quickly exceeded by the needs we have lol. I've learned a LOT over the past decade but not nearly enough to write anything remotely resembling an ERP.

Matt,

Agreed. At your size, you're well past all of the data silos you must have. It's time to get into a real ERP, such as Tradesoft. I thought there may be another bandaid you could throw at it to alleviate the bleeding while you implemented something better.

One great thing about Tradesoft is its links to engineering and accounting packages. I know they have one for Cabinet Vision.

Thank you Gary. I wasn't aware of Tradesoft. The name sounds very familiar for some reason but I wasn't aware they were a woodworking ERP.

I just watched the into video and will look more into it.

We switched from a hodgepodge of software into Innergy about 2 years ago and we are never looking back.

We use it from Estimating to Installation and everything in between. Depending on the size of your company it is a great solution.

The software is great and has great user interface. The education you receive form innergy is even better. Beyond software use and implementation but more about our industry and our business and looking at it in different ways.

Happy to show it to you or answer any questions you might have.

Rick that's fantastic to hear, thank you for speaking up. I might reach out to you as we move along here looking at the options, I greatly appreciate this info!