Your alumina exports clear the Bunbury wharf but your ERP still thinks they're in the shed
A custom ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) for a Bunbury mineral-sands, alumina or dairy operation usually runs $70k to $160k over 4 to 9 months. The case is strong when stock moves between the processing plant, the bulk-export berth at the Port of Bunbury and a buyer's vessel schedule, and no off-the-shelf system tracks tonnes across all three. SAP and NetSuite assume a warehouse with pallet bins, not a stockpile measured by laser scan and shipped by the kilotonne.
You bought NetSuite or a tier-two SAP package because the board wanted one source of truth. Then reality hit: your mineral-sands concentrate sits in a covered stockpile, gets blended to a customer spec, and leaves on a Panamax that books a loading window weeks out. The ERP's inventory module wants a SKU and a bin location. It has no concept of a stockpile that loses moisture overnight or a parcel that's half-sold to two buyers.
So your shipping coordinator keeps the real numbers in a spreadsheet, reconciles against the weighbridge by hand, and the ERP becomes a place you type things in after the fact. The dairy side is no better: milk intake from South West farms swings with the season, and the standard cost rollup can't handle a raw material whose price and volume change every collection run.
The case for owning your erp
A custom ERP lets you model the thing you actually sell: a blended bulk parcel with an assay, a moisture reading, a berth slot and a buyer's vessel. It connects the weighbridge, the lab and the port loading schedule into one ledger so a tonne is the same number everywhere. That single change kills the parallel spreadsheet that's currently your real system of record.
What your build should include
What we build under ERP in Bunbury
Everything an ERP build here can cover: ERP integration, NetSuite customization, SAP integration, Odoo development, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and ERP migration.
Budgeting a erp build in Bunbury
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Core ERP replacing the spreadsheet for one division | $70k to $100k | 4 to 6 months |
| Full build: port scheduling, blend/assay, weighbridge integration | $110k to $160k | 7 to 9 months |
| Phased add-on to an existing system you keep | $45k to $80k | 3 to 5 months |
Delivery, week by week
Exactly what you get
A working system where a tonne of mineral sands or a litre of milk carries the same number from the weighbridge through the lab to the vessel at the Port of Bunbury. You get a stockpile that's measured, not estimated; a berth calendar that flags clashes before the ship arrives; and margin per parcel or per collection run you can actually trust. It connects to the hardware you already run rather than asking you to retype the wharf's numbers into a US-built distribution template.
How to choose a developer in Bunbury
Look for a team that has shipped operational software for bulk handling, mining or food processing, not just retail SaaS. Ask them to walk through how they'd model a blended export parcel and a seasonal dairy intake before you sign anything. A relaxed, honest South West operator wants a partner who'll tell them when off-the-shelf is the right call, so favour a developer who scopes a paid discovery and is happy to integrate with your weighbridge and lab rather than rip them out. Adjacent systems like inventory management software, a warehouse management system and business intelligence dashboards often get built alongside the ERP, so check they can connect those cleanly.
- One tonnage figure shared by the weighbridge, lab, stockpile scan and the Port of Bunbury loading schedule, so demurrage disputes start with agreed numbers
- Blend and assay logic built in, so a parcel sold to a customer spec is reconciled against lab results before it leaves the berth
- Seasonal dairy intake costed per collection run, giving real margin per litre instead of a month-end guess
- Integration with your existing weighbridge and PLC hardware rather than forcing a rip-and-replace
- Reports that match how WA bulk exporters actually report to buyers and regulators, not a generic US distribution template
- A custom ERP is a multi-year commitment; you own bug fixes and the WA payroll-tax and GST logic that SAP would patch for you
- If your back office is small, you may struggle to staff the internal product owner the build needs for two-plus days a week
- You lose the large third-party app ecosystem (tax, EDI, banking) that comes free with NetSuite
- Integrating legacy weighbridge and lab hardware can eat budget if the vendor protocols are undocumented
- !Vendor demos a generic warehouse module and waves away stockpiles; ask them to model a moisture-adjusted blended parcel on the spot
- !No question about your weighbridge or lab hardware; ask which protocols they've integrated before
- !Quotes a fixed price before discovery; ask for a paid discovery phase with a written scope
- !Talks only in US distribution terms; ask how they'd handle Port of Bunbury demurrage and WA payroll tax
- !Promises to replace everything in eight weeks; ask for a phased plan that keeps you running
If erp is on the roadmap, internal tools, shopify, inventory management usually follow within the year. Budget them as one conversation.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a custom ERP take for a Bunbury exporter?
Plan on 4 to 9 months. A single-division replacement of a spreadsheet is 4 to 6 months; a full build with port scheduling, blend logic and weighbridge integration runs 7 to 9. The biggest variable is how documented your existing hardware protocols are.
Can't we just configure SAP or NetSuite instead?
You can for standard discrete inventory. The problem is bulk: a stockpile measured by laser scan, a parcel blended to a customer assay, and a berth booked weeks out. Those don't fit the bin-and-SKU model, which is why your real numbers already live outside the ERP.
What does it cost to integrate our weighbridge and lab?
Hardware integration is usually the single biggest cost driver. If the protocols are documented, it's a modest line item; if they're proprietary and undocumented, it can add tens of thousands. Ask the vendor for fixed-scope discovery on the hardware first.