I integrate into SAP for manufacturing and the users can certainly do every transaction they need to do to account for cost and shipping product and keep finance / supply chain happy.
But yes, to actually plan and run their manufacturing area, that's where the software I write comes in... as well as a ton of spreadsheets :)
As lng as the data in these spreadsheets goes back into SAP. If it doesnt' you can kill SAPs MRP. I saw that happen. Which is then kind of hell's hell. And then the spreadsheet-users complain about SAP.
Yeah - one of the outfits I mentioned had a bit of a catastrophe due to this - BOMs in SAP and XLS were different, they made a medical product (for children) that exceeded RoHS and REACH lead and mercury thresholds. They made millions of units before the mistake was realised. Oops.
But yes, to actually plan and run their manufacturing area, that's where the software I write comes in... as well as a ton of spreadsheets :)