Any corporate group big enough to develop their own lean manufacturing software has probably thought of doing it. After all, the idea of having complete control over the system your factories will use will likely appeal to a lot of higher-ups.
So why do so many companies in this position go for options already on the market?
This blog is here to give you the facts behind why, even for companies with the deepest pockets, it’s usually more economical to adopt an off-the-shelf option.
Read more to learn about:
- Cost of ownership
- Specialisation requirements for development
- Adoption issues for in-house tech
- Scalability and integration
- Security, maintenance, and compliance risks
- Future-proofing
- Customisation
- A head-to-head comparison
By the end, you’ll have everything you need to know about why internal projects rarely get beyond the planning stage.
Cost of ownership
Unsurprisingly, it’s expensive to design and develop software. For a workable production system across a group of factories, you could be looking at anything from 250,000 to 500,000 EUR.
Add on top of this, the money you’ll need to invest in maintenance every year (about 15% – 25% of the initial cost).
Your upfront and continued investment requires significant results your system might not be able to deliver on its own.
And all this is without considering the manpower it will actually take to build.
Specialisation and best practice
Whether you want to develop the software in-house or contract it out, you run into some risks with the labour required to produce the tech.
Tech teams with a lack of experience or specialisation in this field will miss out on best practices. In the short term, this could mean higher costs. But in the long run, it will mean a lack of sophistication in your tech.
Then consider the time cost for your engineers and IT department. Research from McKinsey shows that, on average, large IT projects run 45% over budget, and 7% over time.
The mlean Production System (mPS) draws on decades of experience not only in continuous improvement and manufacturing, but in tech development for the sector.
Our developers live and breathe industrial software. Through them, you get more than just a functional tool that’s ready to get to work.
Crucially, their UX design will also mean more of your team will want to use the tool.
User adoption
Not everyone likes change. To make something new really stick, you have to make it as easy and rewarding as possible to use.
For technology, that’s where UX comes in.
Specialised development teams spend a lot of their time on UX.
And making the experience of using the tool as smooth, logical, and practical as possible is harder than it looks.
The problem is that, even with the best experience and intentions, only real testing on the lines will let you know how well your tool works.
For us at mlean, that’s baked into how we work. The mlean Production System (mPS) is used in over 500 factories around the world, serving 100,000s of users.
So our engineers spend a lot of their time acting on feedback and making tweaks to the software to improve performance.
This cannot be done without the right tools and processes in place. To get them for an internal project can be extremely difficult.
Scalability
Software as a Service (SaaS) works because it gives companies a way to access extremely powerful tools without the need for prohibitive upfront costs. Instead, you pay a monthly or annual fee to rent the tools.
But in this environment, it’s crucial that any new tool integrates seamlessly with others. Product API is a bare minimum for any tool on the market
A new tool must also be scalable; compliant with regulations across different regions, have different language settings, and integrate with MES, ERP and SCADA systems.
This isn’t easy to achieve on your own. A tool produced commercially by a third party will be able to handle these requirements quite easily.
Maintenance, security, and regulation
As we referenced earlier, maintaining your new software system will need ongoing attention and investment.
Bugs are unavoidable. So too are security updates and testing.
This last part is incredibly important, because your systems will naturally handle sensitive information. Any vulnerabilities your system highlights must be controlled.
Last and not least, training users on your system will require additional labour on the part of your managers, HR team, IT support desk, and more.
This is never just a one-off. Your team will periodically need training support, and you’ll need a point of contact for any queries.
With the mPS, we ensure that everyone is on the same page from day one.
We create resources and materials to help you get the most from the software, and your account is supported by a dedicated member of our Customer Success team. Meanwhile, our engineers and testers ensure your data is secure, no matter what.
Future proofing
When manufacturers develop tools themselves, they can’t help but create longterm issues.
Think of the personal knowledge and experience your top engineer both brings to the project and gains from it. Now, imagine they handed in their notice shortly after the tool launches. All that experience and knowledge vanishes. Unless you have a replacement ready to go, you won’t get it back.
Singular points of failure like this are very easily created. They’re a lot harder to remove.
And for internal development projects they can even spell the end of your tool’s lifecycle.
This is not a problem you have to think about when you work with us.
When we’re not supporting you with daily use of the system, we’re learning from how you use it.
We gather this info to help make your experience better and solve any underlying issues.
Sometimes, this means developing new tools.
Our product roadmap is always full of new innovations and improvements. To replicate this effort internally would require a permanent dedicated staff, significantly increasing the scope of your initial project.
And you’d better hope the talent sticks around!
Customisation
At mlean, we understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all for industrial tech. Each factory and corporate group has specific needs.
When a new customer reaches out to us, we take the time to understand their factory; how it works, what their goals and needs are, and which of our tools will be best suited to help them.
They get a tailored package. And as their needs change, so too can their set of mPS modules.
Basically, with the mPS, customers get a level of customisation you’d hope for in an internal project, but for a fraction of the price.
Head to head
So, after we’ve broken down all the variables and factors, it’s time for a head-to-head.
In the table below, you’ll see a snapshot comparison between an internal project and the mPS across a range of factors.
Issue | Internal project | mPS |
Deployment time | 12–24 months | Weeks |
Maintenance & support | Internal team needed | Included |
Features & best practices | Basic | Industry-proven, lean-aligned |
UX & user adoption | Often poor | Designed for factory floor engagement |
Scalability | Limited | Enterprise-ready, modular |
Updates & improvements | Rare/slow | Continuous |
When all’s said and done, unless you have a specific need to build a tool yourself, you’re better off with a specialist third-party software.
How about the mPS?
Learn more about the mPS
The mlean Production System is designed to fit around you. We’ve taken best lean practices and turned them into a user-friendly, modular system, built to deliver continuous improvement across your whole production line.
And the more you use the mPS, the more improvement ideas and action plans you’ll get from within the system.
We’ve tailored an mPS package for every kind of factory group, across multiple industrial sectors.
Find out more today by booking a discovery call with our team.
