I think there’s a missing layer between spreadsheets and ERP for small manufacturing

I’ve been digging into a pattern I keep seeing in small manufacturing shops.

They don’t go from spreadsheets to ERP.

They get stuck in between.

What actually happens is pretty consistent:

• spreadsheets stop matching reality

• inventory starts drifting

• job tracking gets fuzzy

• people stop trusting the system

• but ERP still feels too heavy or wrong for the stage

So you end up with:

• ERP (or some core system)

• spreadsheets acting as a patch layer

• and human memory filling the gaps

Which means there’s no real source of truth.

I’m starting to think this isn’t just “bad tooling,” but an actual operational stage that a lot of small shops hit.

I wrote up a breakdown of that middle here:
https://buscore.ca/blog/the-awkward-middle-between-spreadsheets-and-erp/

Curious if others have run into this.

What actually broke first for you?