An automotive ERP system is an ERP tool that streamlines car manufacturing practices. It can help you adapt to market and industry disruptions, client changes, recalls and more. Finding the solution that meets your needs is a quest if you don’t know where to look.

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Relax. Our analysts pulled the best automotive ERP systems in the market into one comprehensive list. We’ll also discuss several car manufacturing sectors, necessary purchasing considerations and how to choose the best software.

Best Automotive ERP Systems

This in-depth list of the best automotive ERP systems will cover each product’s top features, benefits and drawbacks. Let’s dive in!

SAP S/4HANA

This automotive ERP system runs on SAP HANA and implements AI to simplify workflows. It meets industry-specific requirements and provides thorough data for strengthened decision-making. It offers cloud and on-premise deployments while serving medium and enterprise-level organizations.

An example of SAP S/4HANA’s procurement tools.

Highest Rated Modules According to Our Data

• Inventory Management — 100
• Supply Chain Management — 100
• Analytics and Reporting — 99
• Finance and Accounting — 99
• Manufacturing — 92

Top Benefits

• Maximize Production Workflows: Implement AI and robot process automation tools to automate recurring processes to increase productivity in other responsibilities. Pinpoint bottlenecks for expeditious resolutions before they grow into significant issues.
• Maintain Industry-specific Operations: Improve business models with industry-centric features and best practices to maintain compliance and deliver better high-quality products. Gain vital industry tips for enhanced efficiency.
• Strengthen Adaptability: Monitor and address industry changes in real time to stay in the loop. Garner in-depth insights from time profitability analyses and flexible customizations to make better decisions.
• Boost Centralization: Unify all company information and databases in one location for easy navigation. You can also analyze large data volumes simultaneously for quicker pattern detections.
• Increase Revenue: Improve productivity across all sections with automatic procedures and thorough analytics. Diminish errors to save time and money.

Primary Features

• Inventory Management: Handle return approvals, pickups and transportation processes. Set minimum and maximum order quantities, reorder points, seasonality, lead times and more to determine replenishment options.
• Supply Chain Management: Plan items through several facilities according to integrated planning protocols, complete supply chain planning, supply problem supervision and more. Govern control tower dashboards with forecasted risks, alerts, average late days and more.
• Analytics and Reporting: Draft or obtain EHS, financial management, HR and procurement reports. Craft documents in HTML, PDF, Excel and Word formats and share them with others.
• Finance and Accounting: Access tailored accounting dashboards to review all bookkeeping KPIs. Develop budgets with cost centers, fiscal years and more.
• Manufacturing: Conduct BOM comparisons with quantities, unit measurements, item categories, phantom routing and other factors. Accept or reject incoming or outgoing goods according to numeric, non-numeric and formula-based quality reviews.

Limitations

• Long implementation time.
• Most modules lack embedded analytics.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Asset Audit — Not Supported
• Customer or Vendor Account Security — Not Supported
• Customer Self-Service Portal — Not Supported
• Upsell Management — Not Supported
• Content Builder — Not Supported

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Dynamics 365 ERP

This solution suite helps you boost business processes and improve outcomes via AI analytics. Share information across all sectors for enhanced communications and centralization. Access intelligent marketing modules to sustain leads and foster client relationships.

A preview of Dynamics 365 ERP’s financial module.

Highest Rated Modules According to Our Data

• Inventory Management — 100
• Project Management — 99
• CRM — 99
• Finance and Accounting — 99
• Analytics and Reporting — 97

Top Benefits

• Reinforce Sales: Filter client favorites with lead score evaluations to boost conversions and profits. You can also use this information as a guide to garner new leads.
• Increase Customer Satisfaction: Review how customers read marketing emails and gain talking point suggestions to boost response times. These detailed assessments also help boost satisfaction for old and new clients.
• Push Company Branding: Tailor invoices, sales documents and other files with your company colors and logos to increase your brand. You can also increase seller collaboration for better relationships and revenue.
• Make Better Decisions: Merge this system with LinkedIn Sales Navigator to consolidate data in one centralized system for better navigation. This integration also boosts customer and stakeholder relationships for better collaboration to meet company objectives.
• Create Better Sales Predictions: Use AI-driven forecasts to reduce bias, diminish errors and make better sale estimates. Gain proactive requests from the mobile assistant to make better choices.

Primary Features

• Inventory Management: Perform in-depth inventory tracing with lot and serial numbers, quantities, units, descriptions, shelf life and more. Construct kits to stock or order. Disassemble kits into several components.
• Project Management: Collaborate with internal and external users via groups, videos, file sharing, voice recordings and more. Develop project estimates with task resourcing units, start and end dates, quantities, time scales and more.
• CRM: Manage opportunities across statuses, profits, key contacts, notes and related files. Implement partner relationship management for recruiting, onboarding, training and supporting channel associates.
• Finance and Accounting: Perform reconciliations for account balances against bank statements. Review cash accounts, currencies, reference numbers, statement balances and more.
• Analytics and Reporting: Export files as PDF, CSV, XLS and other formats. Tailor reports that align with specific roles and share them with employees who have the correct permissions.

Limitations

• Lagging interface.
• Some sessions disturb data flow.
• CRM dashboard has a confusing interface.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Generate QR Codes or Barcodes for Assets — Not Supported
• Global Employee Management —Not Supported
• Job Nesting — Not Supported
• BOM Revision Control — Not Supported
• Statistical Process Control (SPC) — Not Supported

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Oracle Fusion Cloud

This cloud-based automotive ERP system simplifies procurement, project management, finance and other routine procedures. It caters to mid-sized and large companies and automates tasks to boost efficiency.

An example of Oracle Fusion Cloud’s invoicing tool.

Highest Rated Modules According to Our Data

• HR Management — 100
• Project Management — 100
• Finance and Accounting — 99
• CRM — 99
• Inventory Management — 99

Top Benefits

• Centralize Databases: Garner and organize all separate data in one location instead of opening several windows and tabs. Use multi-dimensional reporting to evaluate data.
• Make Well-informed Choices: Access speed, new technology, scalability and modern platforms to provide thorough workflow and data insights. This analysis enables you to make better company decisions.
• Expedite Routine Tasks: Leverage automation to accelerate report generation, compliance report filing and submitting, book closings and more to focus on high-priority tasks. Automation can diminish customization needs to boost efficiency.
• Differentiate Assets From Liabilities: Develop contracts and determine performance benchmarks to expedite asset and liability discoveries. Remove liabilities quickly to increase productivity and customer satisfaction.
• Increase Security: Supervise master data changes and catch breaches in real time to avoid losing vital data to hackers and other cybercriminals. Access more than 200 pre-set controls to manage deployment.

Primary Features

• HR Management: Consolidate different leave types into one system, such as PTO, holiday, sick, maternity and more. Communicate with new hires and supervise their progress. Use background screenings, onboarding workflows, document uploads and more.
• Project Management: Monitor milestones from phase completions to work-performed payments and more. Distribute resources according to skillsets, matchings, availabilities, workloads and more.
• Finance and Accounting: Manage late payments, review accounts receivable status and more. Some parameters include promises, the total amount due, work status, late days, strategies and more.
• CRM: Gain upselling suggestions according to purchasing trends. Review real-time assigned sales targets, achieved revenue and revenue forecast filters to make better sales estimates.
• Inventory Management: Access all inventory information from product IDs and descriptions to unit measurements and categories. Sort returns as refurbished, resaleable or unsaleable items. Disperse products as original inventory, return to the warehouse, replacement allocation and more.

Limitations

• Lengthy customer support response time.
• Time-consuming scaling performance.
• Not compatible with Chrome browsers.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Profit Overview Analytics — Not Supported
• Addition of Workstation — Not Supported
• Creating Recurring Sales Orders — Not Supported
• Create Quota Arrangement — Not Supported
• Multi-Subsidiary Vendors — Not Supported

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Priority ERP

Priority ERP is a cloud-based system that enhances growth procedures, offers automatic upgrades, decreases IT administration and boosts productivity. It serves all company sizes.

A preview of Priority ERP’s interface. Source

Highest Rated Modules According to Our Data

• CRM — 96
• Analytics and Reporting — 94
• Project Management — 91
• Inventory Management — 90
• HR Management — 89

Top Benefits

• Upkeep Product Quality: Observe product malfunctions and discrepancies for raw materials, work in progress (WIPs) and finished products to increase awareness and make better high-quality merchandise. Manage testing protocols, standard requirements, inventory sampling and work order testing for better evaluations.
• Strengthen Inventory Supervision: Track and manage inventory level requirements, replenishment plans, and excess stock items and adapt to ever-changing production needs to avoid wasting objects. Upkeep warehouse management, inventory transactions and delivery tracking to increase surveillance.
• Boost Driver Productivity: Regulate all driver tasks, including vehicle servicing, to increase driver efficiency. Leverage assignment schedules to ensure products are delivered on time.
• Maintain Part Information: Chronicle all part engineering changes during production for improved recordkeeping and audit purposes. Merge part and BOM revisions to engineering revisions for easy comparisons and to find open work orders quickly.
• Enhance Mobility: Access real-time information and analytics on any mobile device from any location instead of waiting until you get to the office. You also obtain up-to-date transparency on operations, finances and other data to stay in the loop at all times.

Primary Features

• CRM: Receive a consolidated view of client account details, relevant contacts, tickets, billing details and more. Take advantage of the product catalog that lists all company merchandise and pricing information. Clone, revise or delete product families.
• Analytics and Reporting: Find or generate HR, project, sales, standard and other reports with ease. Construct custom reports and dashboards based on your unique requirements.
• Project Management: Access Gantt charts and project dashboards to schedule assignments. Assign individual duties to project tasks and merge or split responsibilities. Define and explain task requirements with in-depth descriptions.
• Inventory Management: Refund money to original payment sources, store credit, gift cards and more. Classify inventory based on transaction volumes and values. Plan regular or periodic on-hand quantity counts.
• HR Management: Add plan details into employee portals to manage coverage for workers, dependents and beneficiaries. Streamline processes for the next open enrollment periods. Define multiple pay groups, overtime rules, deductions and more.

Limitations

• Reporting is challenging.
• Lagging interface.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Environment, Health and Safety Report — Not Supported
• Asset Downtime Tracking — Not Supported
• Creating and Viewing Asset Hierarchy — Not Supported
• Linear Asset Management — Not Supported
• Credit Limit Verification — Not Supported

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Acumatica

Use this automotive ERP system to centralize transactions and review up-to-date financial statuses. Implement configurations for manufacturing, POS and other workflows. This system offers cloud and on-premise deployment and serves all company sizes.

An example of Acumatica’s search tools. Source

Highest Rated Modules According to Our Data

• Inventory Management — 100
• Service Management — 98
• Analytics and Reporting — 98
• Finance and Accounting — 88
• Project Management — 87

Top Benefits

• Supervise Several Locations: Gain financial and overall health of worksites in different regions to make better choices. This in-depth view also helps you stay on top of international facilities and currencies.
• Boost Data Amalgamation: Integrate information with personalized dashboards and in-depth transparency to catch production obstacles and diminish errors. Access disparate data in one solution instead of opening several tabs and windows.
• Regulate Tax Adherence: Maintain ever-changing tax guideline adherence to avoid fines, business closures, jail time and other consequences. Cipher sales, use and other tax types with ease to avoid headaches and filing errors.
• Obtain In-depth Insights: Divide bookkeeping reports by product or sector to garner detailed perceptions and make better company decisions. Structure general ledgers by accounts and subaccounts for improved navigation.
• Save Money: Implement automation for routine duties to save time and money while concentrating on high-priority assignments. Gain more revenue and higher customer satisfaction when strengthening productivity.

Primary Features

• Inventory Management: Value inventory based on multiple methods, including standard, average, specific, FIFO and more. Adjust inventory levels for new and damaged products, marketing giveaways and more.
• Service Management: Establish appointment reservations through contact centers, self-service portals and mobile apps to find the ideal timeslots. Showcase estimated routes and route statistics for all technicians.
• Analytics and Reporting: Produce warehouse management reports from scratch or find them with ease. Develop or access sales reports.
• Finance and Accounting: Administer automatic credit limits during order entries and invoicing. Determine amortization and depreciation for tangible and intangible assets.
• Project Management: Develop what-if scenarios to mimic numerous project modifications. Create work breakdown structures for several assignment types.

Limitations

• Negative customer support experiences.
• Lengthy implementation processes.
• Buggy interface.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Asset Downtime Tracking — Not Supported
• Generate QR Codes or Barcodes for Assets — Not Supported
• Linear Asset Management — Not Supported
• Partner Relationship Management — Not Supported
• SMS Scheduling Analytics — Not Supported

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How We Choose Products

Our team of writers and analysts at SelectHub is committed to giving you the best recommendations based on our data. To make our list, products had to meet two criteria:

1. Closely match the topic
2. Earn a top-5 analyst score in our selection platform

Our analyst scores are based on an in-depth research process using primary and secondary sources. This includes SelectHub Analyst Briefings, direct communication with vendors, and reviewing materials such as user reviews, product brochures, specification sheets, case studies, user manuals, and technical documentation.

Our platform’s Scoring Engine processes the research and computes the analyst score. The score also factors in platform settings such as industry and company size.

Learn more about our research methodology and editorial standards

Automotive Manufacturing Sectors

Numerous automotive manufacturing sectors have many moving parts to meet their production goals.

Tiered Suppliers

Most people in the car industry rely on tiered suppliers to craft the right vehicles. Think of a pyramid with several tiers. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), or car manufacturers, sit at the top. They rely on system module suppliers that offer pre-made components, such as brake systems, car seats and more.

System module suppliers look to component suppliers for technological aspects like chips and electronic features for touchscreens, computer screens, dashboards and more.

Component suppliers turn to part suppliers at the bottom of the pyramid to provide the materials needed to make the electronic components for chips and other electrical components.

Aftermarket

This sector focuses on selling spare or replacement car parts, i.e., collision repairs, tires, service repairs, oil changes and more after selling the vehicle. This market is for people after buying their cars. Also, these parts are developed by different manufacturers, making them less expensive than OEMs and more readily available.

OEMs

This sector focuses on selling parts and services exclusively to its main brand. For example, if you buy a vehicle from Toyota, you’d get parts and services through Toyota only.

When you replace parts via OEMs, they give you identical parts, include warranty coverage and paint a clear picture of what you’re buying. However, you may experience wait times depending on availability.

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Choosing the Ideal Software

There are numerous ways to pick the best system for your company’s needs. However, we’ve developed a nine-step methodology called Lean Selection. This process enables you to find the right software for any business size and industry. Here’s a breakdown of each step.

1. Establish: Ask yourself why you need new software.
2. Collaborate: Create an internal software selection committee of department leaders, end users, IT management, stakeholders and more.
3. Define: Set up meetings with your selection committee to develop a software requirements list.
4. Distribute: Compare requirements with potential vendors and craft a shortlist.
5. Justify: Converse with your software selection committee about buying new software, add-on tools for your existing system or stopping the entire process.
6. Prove: Request demos, use cases and more from your shortlisted vendors.
7. Rank: Classify vendors according to their demo scores and TCOs. You should have at least two to three providers to choose from and implement for your company.
8. Negotiate: Review your top-rated software provider’s contract and negotiate a mutual agreement. Reach out to additional legal counsel if necessary.
9. Sign: Reach a compromise and sign the contract with your top-rated vendor. Establish an implementation plan.

You can also seek additional vendor research with online customer reviews. Speak with colleagues and end users about particular solutions for better insights before making the final purchase.

Purchase Considerations

Numerous factors affect a solution’s TCO, from company size and deployment to add-on modules and more.

How Big Is Your Company?

Are you a small business on the corner or a large organization with numerous locations? Do you have a mid-sized company that’s ready to transform into an enterprise? Most ERP solutions offer scalability features that accommodate various resources, machinery, workflows and more.

Also, you can invest in customizations to personalize your system and leverage the features that matter to your company’s goals.

Which Deployment Option Is Best?

Do you need cloud, on-premise or hybrid solutions? Each deployment has pros and cons.

The cloud allows you to access the software on several devices in real time with a robust internet connection. Vendors host this software on their personal or third-party servers. Providers are also in charge of updating the system to the latest version. However, if you don’t have the internet, the system won’t function properly.

On-premise deployment allows you to host the system on your company computers and servers. You’re in charge of upgrades, and you can only access the system within your facility. This option is a bit pricier because of tiered support packages and other fees.

Hybrid systems provide cloud and on-premise qualities to safeguard data and offer real-time access. Talk to your vendor about this option for more details because every hybrid model is different.

Do You Need New Software or Add-on Tools?

If you buy a new dress and you get a hole in it, do you fix the tear or buy a new dress? Depending on the size of the rip and your sewing skills, you’ll likely sew (or ask someone else to stitch) the rip instead of replacing the whole outfit.

You can apply this logic to software purchasing. You may have a great ERP that streamlines reporting, CRM, manufacturing and accounting tools but lacks reporting tools. You can search for reporting modules that integrate with your current software to save time and money.

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Next Steps

It’s no walk in the park to find the best automotive ERP system for your company. You need a system that best meets your practices and specialized goals.

We hope this article has helped you learn more about the best automotive ERP systems, the different automotive manufacturing sectors, how to find the best system and purchasing considerations.

Need more information? Check out our in-depth comparison report to review more side-by-side reviews of leading market programs.

Which automotive ERP system is your top pick and why? What requirements are you looking for in your ideal system? Let us know in the comments.