5 Times Manufacturers Realized They Needed to Upgrade to Cloud ERP

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may apply to your favorite pair of jeans, cast iron pan, or your 2008 Honda Accord (okay, maybe that’s just me), but it does not apply to legacy technology. 

Many manufacturers have made substantial investments in their ERP, but technical debt and aging infrastructure have limited the value they get from it. Some have moved to adopt AI and other advanced tools, only to find out these legacy ERP systems often can’t support these new capabilities at scale. Deloitte researchers describe the unrealized value across a company’s tech investments as “latent potential”. According to their research, modernizing infrastructure and improving data management are the most effective ways to maximize this potential.

Cloud ERP helps organizations do both. To demonstrate, we’ve compiled real examples of manufacturers that upgraded to Infor CloudSuite Industrial ERP. Here are five moments where manufacturers realized it was time to move to the cloud and how the transition has supported their growth ever since.

1. Customizations Limited Efficiency Instead of Improving It

Premier metal manufacturer SinterMet had accumulated over 200 customizations in their on-premise environment. While these customizations helped in the short run, fifteen years later employees often struggled to find the information they needed quickly. The result: users worked outside of the system, further perpetuating data silos within the organization.

“We have decades of valuable information in SyteLine, but we needed to become more agile in how we accessed and used that data” described Brad Hasek, VP of Technology and Product at SinterMet. He continued, “Upgrading to the cloud and cutting back on customizations was key for SinterMet.”

Moving to a cloud-based ERP and implementing a structured evaluation of their existing customizations helped SinterMet reduce their customizations by 75%, cut month-end close time by 50%, and support future growth. Read SinterMet’s story here.

2. Paper-Based Processes Delayed Visibility

Haysite Reinforced Plastics specializes in producing thermoset composite materials. In 2025, operators on the shop floor were using paper tickets that were manually entered into their ERP. Manual entry was delaying visibility, reducing efficiency, and increasing inaccuracies due to rekeying information.

As a part of their cloud migration, Haysite implemented new shop floor capabilities and touchscreen kiosks to manage transactions in real time. Employee time tracking, material issuing, and finished goods reporting are now all automated. Moving to the cloud changed how Haysite collects and manages data, providing a reliable foundation for continuous process innovation down the road. Read Haysite’s story here.

3. Delayed Pricing Adjustments Impacted Competitiveness

Cast urethane molding manufacturer C.U.E. Inc. faced challenges in adapting to the frequent raw material price changes that occurred almost daily. In their legacy system, users could not drill down into the Bill of Materials (BOM) and see specific parts affected by these cost fluctuations. Their only solution at the time was to manually sort through thousands of part numbers, which delayed their pricing adjustments and made an impact on their competitiveness.

Since moving to the cloud, C.U.E. has automated this process, saving time and errors. Users can swiftly drill into BOMs and see which parts are affected by raw material price changes, allowing the company to make dynamic adjustments. Read C.U.E.’s story here.

4. On-Premise Servers Posed Higher Security Risk

Harper Industries is a leading manufacturer in the agricultural, hydraulics, landscaping, and turf equipment sector. Discussions about proactive security planning prompted Harper Industries to modernize their infrastructure and move off on-premise servers.

Cloud ERP has helped Harper improve security through built-in protocols, real-time monitoring, authentication, and frequent updates. Read Harper’s story here.

5. Long Upgrades Slowed Innovation

On-premise systems are resource-intensive for most companies, including titanium manufacturer FPD Company. Seeking to eliminate technical debt and leverage new cloud-exclusive functionality, FPD decided to move to the cloud.

“Moving our ERP system to the cloud ensured that we always have the latest and greatest features in a timely manner,” says IT manager Lou Geier, “no more having to spend weeks or months evaluating patches and feature updates to see if they will work in our environment.”

Now having access to new features at their own pace, FPD can continue to evolve and scale their capabilities in the future. Read FPD Company’s story here.

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