A tool that earns its place
There's a reason spreadsheets are everywhere in manufacturing. They're flexible, familiar, and they cost almost nothing to set up. For smaller operations, they work brilliantly. No training required, no IT involvement, no lengthy implementation. Just open a file and get on with it.
The problems tend to creep in gradually, not overnight, but as the business grows and the demands on those spreadsheets start to stretch beyond what they were ever designed to handle.
The early warning signs
Most manufacturers we speak to describe a similar pattern. What once felt simple starts to feel fragile. Version control becomes a headache. The formulas that made sense when one person built them now confuse everyone else. There's a creeping sense that the spreadsheet is running you, rather than the other way around.
Often, one person becomes the unofficial gatekeeper - the only one who truly understands how the file works, and the only one trusted to make changes. When they're away, things slow down. When they leave the business, there's a scramble to figure out what they built and why.
This isn't a sign that anyone's done anything wrong. It's just what happens when a tool designed for personal productivity gets pressed into service as business-critical infrastructure.
The cost that doesn't show up on invoices
Spreadsheets are deceptively expensive to maintain. Not in licensing fees, but in time.
Time spent reconciling figures that should already match. Time spent in meetings that exist purely to align different versions of the same information. Time spent by senior people gathering data instead of making decisions with it.
Then there's the cost of errors. A mistyped number, an outdated formula, a broken link between cells - these things happen, and in a complex spreadsheet they can hide for weeks before anyone notices. By then, decisions have been made based on wrong information.
And there's the opportunity cost. The energy your team puts into maintaining spreadsheets is energy they're not putting into improving operations, serving customers, or growing the business.
Why manufacturers hit this wall faster
Manufacturing is particularly demanding on spreadsheets because of how interconnected everything is. Sales, stock, production, purchasing, dispatch, finance - they all depend on each other. A change in one area ripples through everything else.
In a spreadsheet setup, those ripples have to be managed manually. Someone has to update the stock sheet when goods arrive. Someone has to adjust the production schedule when an order changes. Someone has to reconcile the numbers at month-end when they inevitably don't match.
The more the business grows, the more of these manual touchpoints there are, and the more time gets absorbed in coordination rather than productive work.
What integrated looks like
The alternative isn't about having fancier software for the sake of it. It's about having information that flows without constant human intervention.
In an integrated system, data entered once appears everywhere it's needed. A sales order updates stock levels, triggers production requirements, and flows through to invoicing without re-keying. Month-end reconciliation shrinks because there's nothing to reconcile - the numbers were never separated in the first place.
The team that used to spend hours gathering and aligning information can spend that time on work that moves the business forward.
Making the shift
Moving away from spreadsheets takes effort. There's no shortcut around that. But for businesses that have hit the ceiling of what Excel can handle, the return is significant: fewer errors, faster decisions, and less time spent managing data.
The first step isn't buying software. It's getting honest about where the friction is, what it's costing you, and whether the current setup can realistically support where you're trying to go.
Let's talk
If any of this resonates, we're happy to have a conversation about whether your current setup is helping or hindering your growth.
Book a free discovery call → https://www.sixosystems.com/r/mwD