Small Manufacturers Deserve an ERP Implementation That Works the First Time

Large ERP vendors talk about process, methodology, and best practices. Small and mid-sized manufacturers live something different. They face blown budgets, missed dates, and stalled go lives. High profile failures like Hershey’s infamous SAP go live in 1999 and Waste Management’s SAP lawsuit showed how risky traditional implementations become when teams lose control of scope, data, and ownership. And it’s not a relic of the past; any Google search will turn up endless nightmare stories of failed ERP deployments from as recently as this year.

A failed software implementation is every business owner’s worst fear and you likely feel these risks every time you consider a major software purchase. It costs businesses millions of dollars and it costs leaders their jobs.

OnRamp’s approach removes these risks. Our record proves it. Zero failed implementations. Zero lost customers. Every customer has gone live in six months or less.

This level of consistency is impossible unless your ERP provider takes full responsibility for outcomes – YOUR outcomes.

Why small manufacturers struggle with ERP projects

Most failed implementations share the some similarities:

• Outsourced consultants with limited product knowledge

• Complex data migration work that stalls timelines

• Weak alignment between training systems and live systems

• Slow decisions from bloated project teams

• Cost overruns driven by hourly billing with no clear end

• Resistance to change inside the plant as staff try to protect existing habits

• Ineffective change management and executive sponsorship

These problems push go live dates out by months or years. They also drain internal teams. When your staff loses trust in the project, adoption drops and ROI collapses.

What makes OnRamp different

OnRamp focuses on one outcome: your successful Go Live. Our mission is to help manufacturers grow and make better products. This starts with a successful implementation. So we do things differently:

• You work with in-house consultants who know manufacturing and know the product. They guide you through every step.

• Our consultants are incentivized to deliver a successful implementation, not to extend billable hours.

• Our proprietary data loaders and conversion tooling simplifies migration. You move data fast and you keep training and staging data aligned with your current systems in the lead-up to Go Live.

• We use OnRamp to manage the project. You see tasks, timelines, issues, and progress in the same solution you will run after go live.

• We leverage PROSCI change management practices to prepare your sponsors and your champions for the resistance they face from the shop floor, operations, finance, and scheduling.

• We coach your main points of contact on how to guide employees through the transition and help them build adoption step by step. Resistance is inevitable. We help you plan for it.

• We do not outsource. You always work with OnRamp product experts.

• We control scope and focus on what matters for a strong launch.

• Our cost structure stays an order of magnitude lower than tier 1 and tier 2 ERP providers.

This structure produces consistent results across coatings, metalworking, machining, and fabrication. You get a Go Live that stays on schedule, stays on budget, and supports your existing processes and procedures.

How our approach reduces risk for your team

Effective communication. Clear data. Fast decisions. Consistent training. Strong adoption. These factors drive successful ERP launches. OnRamp aligns all four.

• Data migration begins early and runs daily with repeatable tools, so your team trains on a copy of your real production data.

• Staging stays synced with your current systems, so you avoid surprises late in the project. Every day is a mock Go Live with regard to data migration.

• Training ties directly to your workflows because our consultants know how manufacturers run their plants.

• Project visibility stays high because everything sits inside OnRamp.

• Change management support equips your leaders to handle pushback and keep engagement high throughout the project.

When your operators, supervisors, schedulers, and leadership see real progress, engagement rises. Adoption follows. Your team hits day one with confidence.

Why our track record matters

Failed ERP projects happen because vendors take on more projects than they can support. They outsource work to people who do not know the product. Consultants are incentivized to wrack up billable hours. They allow scope to drift. They overlook the human side of change. You pay the price when the project goes sideways.

OnRamp holds a different standard. Every implementation reached Go Live in six months or less. Customers stay with OnRamp. Our consultants stay accountable. Our tools keep data under control. Our change management guidance helps your team stay aligned from start to finish.

You get an implementation partner that treats your success as the outcome, not the upsell.

What this means for your next ERP implementation

If you want an ERP implementation that works, you need three things.

• A team of experts who know the product, your industry, and your business

• A data conversion process that makes migration simple and predictable

• A project structure that supports change management and adoption across your plant

This is where OnRamp excels. You avoid the failures that have slowed large enterprises for decades. You get a solution that installs cleanly, trains your team, and supports your operation on day one.