What is ERP?
Technical definition
Enterprise Resource Planning – the business system managing the organisation’s resources: finance, orders, purchasing, inventory and personnel. In the ISA-95 hierarchy, ERP is level 4, the business top above the production and automation layers.
In brief
ERP knows what should be produced and what it costs. But it does not know how production is actually going – that requires a working connection down to MES and automation.
The Challenge
The gap between ERP and the shop floor is one of industry’s most expensive. The order lives in ERP, the outcome in the control system – and in between, data moves via spreadsheets, e-mail and manual entry. Article numbers in ERP do not match material identities in production, units differ and inventory balances update too late. ERP integrations are often built point-to-point and turn into technical debt at every upgrade.
HubMind’s Methodology
We treat ERP integration as an information question before a technology question. Using ISA-95 as the framework, we define which objects are exchanged between level 4 and level 3 – orders, materials, outcomes, quality – and who owns each master data set. Article numbers, equipment identities and units are mapped explicitly in a documented data mapping.
The goal is ERP as one producer and consumer in an open architecture – not the hub everything is forced through. Then MES, maintenance systems and analytics platforms can evolve without every change becoming an ERP project.
Warnings & Pitfalls
“Everything in ERP”: Forcing production management into ERP gives slow, expensive customisations. The right information at the right level – ERP for the business, MES for production.
Master data without owners: When article and equipment registers are maintained in several systems without clear ownership, they diverge – and the integration becomes an error source.
The upgrade trap: Custom ERP integrations without standard interfaces turn every version lift into a risk project.
💡Our Recommendation
Define the level boundary: What belongs in ERP (level 4) and what belongs in production (level 3)? ISA-95 provides the framework.
Assign master data owners: One register per object type is the source – the others subscribe.
Require standard interfaces: APIs and documented mapping instead of file exports and custom couplings.
Integrate stepwise: Start with orders and outcomes – the flow that delivers the most value fastest.
FAQ
What is the difference between ERP and MES? ERP plans the business (what and when); MES manages execution (how and with what result). They meet in the order and outcome flow according to ISA-95.
Should SCADA talk directly to ERP? Avoid it. Without the level 3 layer, context is missing (order, batch, material) – and from a security standpoint it opens unnecessary paths between IT and OT.
Cloud ERP – what does it require from us? Above all clear data ownership and an exit strategy: your master data and history must be extractable in open formats.
Is value leaking between your ERP and production?
HubMind helps you structure the information and integrations between business and production – with ownership and standards that last.