PanelOps
Replacing ERP Friction with Purpose-Built Manufacturing Workflows
Questions people ask about PanelOps
Short answers on what a purpose-built industrial ERP changes.
What is PanelOps?
PanelOps is ITHENA's industrial ERP for OEMs, system integrators and panel builders. It runs CRM, CPQ, supplier management, BOM, inventory, scheduling, WIP tracking and financials in one system of record.
Why do generic ERPs struggle in industrial manufacturing?
They are built for breadth. Engineer-to-order jobs, multi-vendor projects and quote-to-work-order flows do not map cleanly onto them, so the first year goes into configuration and workarounds.
How does it support engineer-to-order and configure-to-order work?
With multi-level BOMs under revision control, integrated costing from quote to production, and a rules-based CPQ engine with margin analysis, so configuration logic travels with the quote to the shop floor.
How long does PanelOps take to go live?
Four weeks on average, against six to eighteen months for typical legacy ERP implementations.
How does pricing compare?
Total cost of ownership runs 60% lower than legacy ERPs, with transparent per-user pricing and no hidden infrastructure or platform fees.
What results have customers seen?
20% shorter lead times and 15% better on-time delivery for a manufacturer, 25% better forecast accuracy and 10% lower inventory holding costs for an OEM, and 99% time-tracking accuracy for an energy services client.
The short version
- Generic ERPs cover everything in general and nothing in particular, and the friction becomes normal and invisible.
- PanelOps is built around OEM, system integrator and panel builder workflows, in one system of record with no integrations to maintain.
- It goes live in four weeks on average, at a 60% lower total cost of ownership than legacy ERPs.
The wrong tool costs speed, not only money
Manufacturers bought their ERP to run the business. Instead it runs the IT team.
Generic ERPs were architected for breadth: any industry, any workflow, any size. That universality is their selling point and their fundamental limitation. An OEM running engineer-to-order jobs, a system integrator managing multi-vendor projects, a panel builder moving from quote to work order: none of these map cleanly onto software built for every context at once.
The real cost is the operational drag once the system is live. Sales works around a CRM not built for configure-to-order quoting. Procurement tracks lead times in spreadsheets. Supervisors keep parallel WIP systems. Finance closes on a lag because project costing and the ledger are reconciled by hand.
Individually none of these gaps looks serious enough to escalate. Together they set the ceiling the business operates under.
Workflows that match how the work happens
One system of record from CRM and CPQ to financials, with no translation layer between functions.
For OEMs with engineer-to-order and configure-to-order products: multi-level BOMs with revision control, integrated costing from quote through production, and a CPQ engine with rules-based configuration and margin analysis built in, not bolted on.
For system integrators running multi-vendor projects: procurement tracking, sub-assembly scheduling and real-time margin visibility. A supplier delay surfaces in the project view the moment it occurs.
For panel builders: panel configuration, component sourcing, wiring schedules and shop-floor tracking. Workers clock in to specific jobs from the floor, and labour cost lands in project financials as it accrues.
Live in four weeks, with intelligence built in
Legacy ERP roll-outs run six to eighteen months. PanelOps goes live in four weeks on average.
That is not a compressed version of the same methodology. A system built for one industry should not need months of configuration to reflect the workflows it was designed for. Total cost of ownership runs 60% lower than legacy ERPs, with transparent per-user pricing.
Because every module shares one data model, predictive analytics come straight from operations: demand forecasts from the live pipeline, supplier alerts from active lead times, cash flow from real-time project costing.
- A manufacturer cut lead times by 20% and improved on-time delivery by 15% in year one.
- An OEM improved forecast accuracy by 25% and cut inventory holding costs by 10%.
- An energy services client reached 99% time-tracking accuracy.
The ERP should fit the business, not the other way around. When the fit is right, the workarounds disappear.
ITHENA
From working around the ERP to working with it
Industrial manufacturers have spent years bending their operations around software never designed for their work.
When the fit is right, the hours spent maintaining parallel systems come back as capacity. The lag between a job completing and finance knowing what it cost shrinks from days to real time.
Decisions made on approximate numbers start being made on accurate ones. That is what changes when the ERP stops being something the business works around.
The platform and the company
PanelOps
ITHENA's industrial ERP for OEMs, system integrators and panel builders, covering CRM and CPQ through BOM, inventory, scheduling, WIP and financials in one system of record.
ithena.ai/panelops-industrial-erpITHENA
A nimble technology company delivering persona-based AI solutions to manufacturing, life sciences, services and government, helping customers monetise their digital investments by making AI practical.
ithena.ai