Implementing an ERP system is one of the most significant projects a manufacturer can undertake. The system will connect functions across the business, including engineering, purchasing, stock, production, finance and despatch. It will also reshape everyday tasks and the way information flows from one department to another.
The process can feel much like renovating a house without moving out. Production must continue while employees learn to use the software, established procedures are reviewed and the business prepares to operate differently.
Handled well, this period of change can lead to substantial improvements. Reaching that point, however, requires careful preparation and strong project management.
We spoke with Christian Pouliot, Director of Professional Services at Genius ERP, about what manufacturers need to make an ERP implementation successful. Based on his extensive experience, Christian explains what the project involves, how companies can prepare their people and which common problems they should watch for.
Find out how to prepare for an ERP implementation by defining your objectives, selecting a suitable system, assembling an internal team, reviewing your processes and data, training employees and evaluating results after go-live. Christian Pouliot also offers practical guidance on what manufacturers can expect, how to avoid common mistakes and what helps an implementation remain on course.
As Director of Professional Services at Genius ERP, Christian Pouliot leads the teams that deliver ERP implementations, continuous improvement initiatives and bespoke development.
During his seven years at Genius, Christian has worked directly with manufacturing companies to examine their processes, educate their employees and configure Genius ERP around their requirements. His department guides customers through their original implementation and continues to help them improve their use of the system in the years that follow.
“Our role is central to the success of an ERP project: our teams are on the ground with the client, training users, making sure they understand the company’s processes, and building the solution hand-in-hand with them.
“An ERP is a powerful tool that structures a company’s processes—but it’s people who determine whether a project succeeds or fails. If users don’t adopt the system, the project is at risk.
“That’s why we put people at the heart of the process. We work with users to ensure they understand their role in the system and how their actions affect their coworkers and the organisation. Strong adoption is the key to long-term success.”
— Christian Pouliot, Director of Professional Services, Genius ERP
Successful ERP projects begin with a strong understanding of what the business wants to achieve. Before you compare systems or enter into an agreement, determine why your company needs to make a change and the results you expect the project to deliver.
“A good project starts before the contract is even signed. The company needs to know why they want an ERP, what goals they’re aiming for, and what benefits they expect.
“It’s a complete transformation—and you need the right people, solid processes, and a clear strategy.”
— Christian Pouliot
Perhaps you want to build more dependable schedules, lower surplus stock or understand job costs more accurately. Other priorities might include strengthening communication between engineering and production or bringing together information that is currently scattered across several systems.
Agreeing on these priorities at the outset creates a reference point for decisions made later in the project. Your objectives can shape the scope, help the team assess compromises and give the business clear criteria for judging whether the implementation has succeeded.
A well-defined purpose also makes the change easier to explain to employees. People are more likely to engage with new ways of working when they understand the difficulties the company is addressing and the practical improvements the ERP can bring to their roles.
Your choice of ERP can have a major effect on the amount of work involved in implementation.
General-purpose software may offer some manufacturing capabilities, but supporting bills of materials, routings, materials planning, production scheduling, shop floor reporting, engineering revisions and job costing can demand considerable configuration or customisation.
An ERP created specifically for manufacturers is already structured around the connections between these activities. With the essential manufacturing functionality in place, the project team can concentrate on refining processes rather than first adapting a generic system to fundamental industry needs.
The software is only part of the decision. The experience of the provider responsible for implementing it matters too. Ask who will deliver the project, how well they understand manufacturing operations and what help you can expect when complications occur—not only what the product can demonstrate during the sales process.
Genius ERP uses its own internal teams to develop, implement and support its software. Our implementation specialists work directly with customers, bringing experience from manufacturing, engineering, finance and business process roles.
Manufacturing principles shape both our ERP and the way we implement it. As a result, our specialists understand how information flows across the entire operation—from estimating and engineering to production, stock, despatch and finance.
We organise each project into defined phases and practical milestones, with close collaboration between our team and the customer. ERP implementation requires a serious commitment from everyone involved, and we are open about that from the beginning. When difficulties arise, we remain engaged and work alongside your team to guide the project through to a successful go-live.
One of the company’s first responsibilities is to appoint an internal project champion. This individual becomes the primary connection between the organisation and its ERP provider, oversees activity within the business and helps employees stay involved.
Interest in the project is important, but it is not enough on its own. A capable champion needs a thorough knowledge of operations, the authority to resolve issues and sufficient time to carry out the role properly.
Communication skills are equally valuable. Employees should know whom to approach with questions, concerns or difficulties related to the changes. Dealing with a small concern promptly is much easier than allowing it to grow into a wider operational issue.
The owner or managing director will not necessarily be the most appropriate choice. Senior leaders must demonstrate their support, make resources available and show that the implementation is a business priority. The champion, however, also needs to be sufficiently involved in day-to-day work to recognise how project decisions will affect the people using the system.
“Early in the project, we also identify a project champion. This person plays a key role: coordinating the project internally, rallying the team, and serving as a direct link to us.
“An ERP project usually involves major change. If that change is driven only by upper management without involving staff, the project will likely fail. User involvement is essential for successful adoption.
“The champion plays a central role: They drive the change. They need to be able to rally their team, communicate the reasons behind the change, and highlight the benefits.
“We talk to the client about this role as early as the sales process. We help identify the right person—someone with time, authority, and strong knowledge of daily operations.”
— Christian Pouliot
The provider and project champion may lead the implementation, but they cannot deliver it without meaningful participation from the wider company.
Your internal project team should bring together people who understand how work genuinely happens. Managers and supervisors have an important part to play, but senior management should not be the only group represented. Employees who prepare quotations, buy materials, build BOMs, plan production, record shop floor activity or control stock often know practical details and informal workarounds that managers may not see.
Their input gives the implementation specialists a realistic view of current operations rather than an idealised description of them. These employees are also well placed to test everyday situations and support colleagues as the company adopts different processes.
“To really understand a company’s needs and realities, we need to meet with department heads—or power users—because they manage day-to-day operations.
“Our consultants also meet with supervisors and, often, front-line staff in each department to understand how they actually work. This helps us tailor the solution as closely as possible to real-world conditions.”
— Christian Pouliot
The precise method varies between ERP providers, but most manufacturing implementations involve analysing the business, designing processes, configuring the system, educating users, completing tests and getting ready for go-live.
Genius ERP follows an established series of stages so that the software, company data and employees are properly prepared before the new system becomes operational.
“Our implementations follow a well-defined structure. After the sale, we organise a kickoff meeting with the client. We introduce the teams and review goals and expectations together.
“Next is the business analysis phase. Two consultants go onsite to analyse the client’s processes from A to Z, department by department. We look at procedures, roles, inputs—everything.
“Back at the office, we tailor Genius’s processes to match the client’s reality and create a coherent solution. We then develop a project plan and a requirements document, which we present to the client.
“Then comes the core of the implementation: training, configuration, and testing in a customised sandbox environment. This phase usually lasts four to six months, sometimes more, depending on the project’s scale.
“Finally, we run a full simulation in an acceptance environment using the client’s real data. Once everything is validated and users are ready, we go live.
“After go-live, our teams stay involved for four to eight weeks to ensure a smooth transition.”
— Christian Pouliot
An ERP project places extra demands on employees whose normal roles already keep them busy. A manufacturer cannot pause operations while it introduces a new business system, so the implementation must progress alongside customer orders and everyday production.
An achievable plan recognises both sets of responsibilities. It should establish the processes and modules within scope, assign ownership for each part of the project and allow employees enough time for workshops, decisions, data work, education and testing.
Plans also need flexibility. Data may require more attention than expected, new questions may emerge and testing can uncover processes that need further thought. Compressing this work purely to protect a predetermined go-live date often causes additional problems afterwards.
Your ERP budget should account for the same realities. In addition to software and implementation services, consider training, data preparation, the time contributed by internal employees and a contingency for unplanned requirements.
For a larger or more complex project, introducing the ERP in phases may make the workload easier to control. The immediate objective does not need to be activating every available capability. A stable first release should support the processes that matter most, providing a sound base for further improvements later.
“The biggest challenge is the upheaval. It’s a major change—often the company’s biggest tech investment—and must be done without disrupting daily operations.
“Clients can’t put everything on hold for the project. So we schedule work sessions that fit their reality. They also need to absorb the knowledge, understand it, and make decisions. It’s a balancing act.
“Another challenge: unrealistic expectations. Some think ERP is like a mobile app. But it’s a complete digital transformation. It requires serious time and commitment.”
— Christian Pouliot
Implementing an ERP gives a business the chance to reconsider how work moves through its operation. Some current methods may remain effective. Others may exist mainly because employees have had to work around spreadsheets, separate applications or the restrictions of a legacy ERP.
The new system should not automatically duplicate every existing practice. When considering bespoke work, distinguish between a genuine operational need and a preference for keeping an old method. Essential customisation should be specified and recorded carefully, while avoiding unnecessary changes can reduce the cost, time and difficulty of implementation.
Preparing data is just as important as designing processes. Bills of materials, routings, item codes, stock records, supplier details and cost information may contain gaps, duplicates or details that are no longer current. Transferring poor-quality records into the ERP does not correct them. Instead, it can produce inaccurate stock figures, weak schedules, misleading costs and declining confidence among users.
Make data cleansing a core part of the project rather than a last-minute exercise. Agree which records will move into the new system, remove information the company no longer requires, combine duplicates and check vital manufacturing data well in advance of go-live.
Effective training goes beyond showing employees which controls to use. Each person should understand the wider process, the information they are expected to provide and how the accuracy and timing of their work influences other teams.
“We don’t just focus on features or screens. What really matters are the processes.
“Take quoting, for example: A quote becomes a sales order, then a production job, then a project. If users understand their role in this chain, everything runs more smoothly.
“Every action in the system—like clicking a button—can trigger transactions elsewhere: in manufacturing or accounting. So it’s important not just to know what to do, but why it matters.
“It’s not just about clicking buttons—it’s about understanding the ripple effects throughout the system.”
— Christian Pouliot
Hands-on testing plays a similar role. Exercises based on genuine working situations can expose issues that standard examples do not. Alongside straightforward transactions, employees should practise handling order amendments, shortages, engineering revisions, entry errors and other exceptions they are likely to meet.
A full simulation brings the preparation together. Before the company relies on the live ERP, it should demonstrate that the configuration works as intended, essential data is dependable and users can carry out their duties confidently.
“Adoption starts with training. We use Genius Academy to provide self-directed learning backed by live training sessions. Then, we move into micro-simulations, where users complete real tasks in practical scenarios.
“This method—learn, practice, confirm—validates their understanding. We finish with a full simulation in an acceptance environment: a day in the life with Genius, from start to finish.
“After go-live, our team continues to support the client. The first two weeks are intensive, then we gradually reduce the frequency of check-ins as the client becomes more self-sufficient.
“For users who struggle more, we provide individual support. We adjust our approach based on their needs—especially for more complex modules like finance or engineering.”
— Christian Pouliot
Reaching go-live matters, but switching the system on is not, by itself, proof that the implementation has delivered what the company needed.
Revisit the objectives agreed at the beginning. If the priorities included raising production efficiency, reducing stock or improving job-cost accuracy, examine the available evidence. Identify where results have improved, where they remain below expectations and which further changes could close the gap.
“The first measure of success is whether the initial goals were achieved. We review the outcomes with the client. For example, did they want to increase production efficiency by X%? Did they reach that? We look at the numbers together.
“If a goal isn’t reached, we dig into why and how to fix it. We want the client to see tangible results.
“Once goals are met, the project closes. That’s when our Customer Success team takes over for long-term support. They check back 90 days after go-live to assess satisfaction, uncover new needs, and propose continuous improvement paths. Most of our clients are growing, so there’s always a next step.”
— Christian Pouliot
Your ERP is likely to remain at the centre of the business for a long time. During those years, procedures will change, employees will move into different positions and new colleagues will arrive. The ERP itself will evolve too as your provider introduces additional functionality and enhancements.
Ongoing education helps your company retain its ERP knowledge and reduces the risk of teams gradually rebuilding old spreadsheets or workarounds. It can also help your business benefit from more of the system as operational requirements develop.
Approach the relationship with your ERP provider as a long-term partnership. Review processes at regular intervals, investigate capabilities that are not being fully used and provide suitable training for established employees and new starters. Go-live completes the initial implementation, but it should also create the starting point for continuous improvement.
Even a well-planned project with experienced people will encounter difficult periods. Challenges do not automatically indicate that an implementation is going wrong. What matters is whether the team anticipates potential issues, discusses them honestly and deals with them before they threaten progress.
Many of the most damaging mistakes relate directly to the principles explored in this article:
“The most common mistake is thinking it will all happen on its own—that it’ll be easy, just press a button and everything works.
“But an ERP project takes real effort. It’s a complete overhaul of how things are done. Some clients underestimate how much time and energy it takes.”
— Christian Pouliot
Manufacturers give themselves a much stronger chance of success when they begin an ERP project with clear objectives, practical expectations and people who are prepared to take responsibility for the work. Christian’s most important advice is to understand exactly why the business is making the change:
“Don’t underestimate the importance of the implementation. Ask yourself the right questions before diving in: Why do you want to make this change? What problems are you solving? What goals are you aiming for?
“An ERP isn’t a magic fix. It’s a transformation project that takes time, resources, and, above all, a team that’s ready for change.
“If I had only one piece of advice: Do it for the right reasons.”
— Christian Pouliot
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