Your aircraft-parts ERP can quote a job but cannot prove the serial number passed inspection
If a tail-number-critical part ships from Wichita without a clean chain from purchase order to first-article inspection to certificate of conformance, your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) failed, not your quality team. A custom ERP that builds AS9100 traceability into the transaction layer (not a bolt-on) runs $90k to $180k and 5 to 8 months. Off-the-shelf NetSuite or SAP gets you to maybe 70 percent before the lot-and-serial gaps force spreadsheets back in.
You bought NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics because the demo showed clean MRP and a tidy GL. Then your first Spirit AeroSystems or Textron Aviation order arrived with flow-down requirements: lot traceability, serialized rotables, source inspection sign-off, and a cert package that ties every line back to a heat lot. The ERP's serial tracking was built for warranty registration, not aerospace genealogy, so your quality lead opened a spreadsheet on day one and never closed it.
Odoo and SAP both technically have lot fields. The problem is depth: when an OEM kicks back a part and you need to recall every assembly that consumed the same raw bar stock, a generic ERP makes you reconstruct it by hand. Quoting is worse. Estimators in Wichita aviation shops still price work in Excel because the ERP cannot model a routing with outside-processing steps like heat treat and NDT, mark-ups per operation, and a margin that holds when the customer asks for a 200-piece release against a blanket PO.
The case for owning your erp
A Wichita aviation supplier does not need a generic ERP with a traceability plugin. You need genealogy as a first-class object: every serialized and lot-controlled part carries its raw-material certs, operation sign-offs, and inspection results in one record, queryable in reverse for recalls. Build that into the transaction core and the spreadsheets disappear, because there is no longer a gap to paper over.
What your build should include
ERP services we deliver in Wichita
The engagements Wichita teams bring us most often: SAP integration, Odoo development, Microsoft Dynamics 365, ERP migration and cloud ERP.
Budgeting a erp build in Wichita
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Traceability bolt-on to existing ERP | $35k to $70k | 2 to 4 months |
| Custom aviation-supplier ERP core | $90k to $180k | 5 to 8 months |
| Multi-division (aviation + oil/gas + ag) | $180k to $300k | 8 to 14 months |
Delivery, week by week
Exactly what you get
A working ERP where genealogy is the spine: quoting, MRP, inspection, and shipping all hang off serialized and lot-controlled records you can trace in reverse. You also get the AS9102 FAI and cert-package generators that replace your quality team's spreadsheets, plus routing logic that prices outside processing correctly. Pair it with a custom inventory management system and a warehouse management system if your stockroom scale demands it, and the same genealogy carries through to the shelf.
How to choose a developer in Wichita
Hire a team that asks to see your flow-down documents and a real router before they quote. The good ones in Wichita already understand source inspection, NADCAP-approved processors, and why a heat lot matters. Ask them to walk a single serial number end to end on a whiteboard. If they cannot, they will build you another spreadsheet with a database behind it.
- Full reverse genealogy: pick any serial number and see every PO, heat lot, operation, and inspector behind it in one click for an AS9100 audit
- Quoting that models real aviation routings with outside processing, so estimators stop pricing in Excel and margins survive scope changes
- Auto-generated FAI (AS9102) and certificate-of-conformance packages built from live transaction data instead of hand assembly
- Blanket-PO and scheduled-release handling that matches how Textron, Spirit, and Bombardier actually buy
- One source of truth that ties quoting, MRP, inspection, and shipping so oil-and-gas and ag-equipment lines run in the same system
- A genealogy-first ERP is a 5-to-8-month build, so you carry your spreadsheet workflow through a long transition
- You own the maintenance: when a customer changes a flow-down requirement, your team updates the system instead of waiting for a vendor release
- Migrating years of part history and open blanket POs into a new data model is painful and easy to underestimate
- If your volume is low and your customer base is not aerospace, off-the-shelf may genuinely be enough
- !They demo lot tracking but cannot show reverse genealogy from a finished serial to its heat lot
- !They have never heard of AS9102 or treat it as a reporting afterthought
- !They quote a fixed price before seeing your routings and flow-down requirements
- !They push you onto a generic SaaS and call the spreadsheet gaps 'configuration'
- !No plan for migrating open blanket POs and historical part genealogy
Most Wichita teams pricing erp end up comparing notes on internal tools, shopify, inventory management too; the systems share one data spine.
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
Can custom ERP handle AS9100 and AS9102 traceability properly?
Yes, if genealogy is built into the data model rather than bolted on. A custom ERP for a Wichita aviation supplier should let you pick any serial number and pull its full chain of POs, heat lots, operations, and inspections, then generate the FAI and cert package from that live data.
Why not just configure NetSuite or SAP?
They get you most of the way, but their serial tracking was designed for warranty and asset management, not aerospace recall genealogy. The last gaps are exactly the ones an OEM audit cares about, which is why shops end up back in spreadsheets.
How long before we can stop quoting in Excel?
Estimating is usually one of the first modules delivered, often within the first 3 to 4 months, because it removes the most daily pain and proves the routing logic before the full core ships.