Opening up MFG

Promising “more open, more MFG,” a triad of announcements came from OpenMFG, a provider of open source-based enterprise solutions for small manufacturers and distributors, this week. Representatives announced the release of the latest update for the OpenNFG enterprise resource planning application, an aggressive new pricing plan, and contribution of two new modules for a leading open source content management system.

The company’s flagship product is an ERP software solution built with open source components such as the Linux operating system, the PostgreSQL database, and the OpenRPT report writer. Available OpenMFG modules include inventory management; product definition and costing; work order management; master scheduling and MRP; capacity planning; purchase order management; sales order management; shipping and receiving; sales analysis; project management; accounts payable; accounts receivable; and a full general ledger.

Under the OpenMFG hybrid license, customers and partners have full access to the application source code, and any enhancements made to the product flow back to OpenMFG for review, quality testing, and possible incorporation into the baseline product. Open MFG now offers almost 150 enhancements to applications, the majority of which for version 1.3.2 come from community contributions. OpenMFG celebrates its unique hybrid licensing approach with a unique pricing protocol: namely, full details of new pricing plans are always available online, with this new program no exception. On the current plan, customers can choose between traditional perpetual license or subscription-style annual license.

Annual licenses are US $1,000 per user per year, with bulk group discounts. With special pricing, the program can be started from scratch for five concurrent users at US $500 per month. More free information from OpenMFG is what makes a distinction between the firm and what company PR dubs “conventional ERP companies”: The community website at www.openmfg.org includes full public access to the internal bug tracker, documentation, forums and mail lists. OpenMFG has released the source code of two significant enhancements to the Drupal open source CMS which powers the OpenMFG.org site. The first is a new module that integrates Drupal with the Mantis bug-tracking system and is available for download at www.drupal.org/project/bugbits.

The second module is a framework for mapping directories and files on a download server to user permission structures in a Drupal environment, available at www.drupal.org/project/ezdownload. Both projects use the PostgreSQL open source database. “We are continuing to change the rules for ERP software,” says Ned Lilly, OpenMFG president / CEO. He may be right. OpenMFG are no revolutionaries, just well-organized reactionaries. OpenMFG, LLC develops next-generation enterprise resource planning software applications powered by open source software such as Linux, PostgreSQL, and Qt throughout North America.