ORDAT.ERP
ORDAT is a family-owned German ERP vendor headquartered in Giessen, with a software-development history stretching back to the 1970s. The current product, ORDAT.ERP, evolved from the long-running FOSS ERP and addresses the producing Mid-Market — the broad mid-market segment of German manufacturers. The company is now in its second generation of family ownership, which is a meaningful selection criterion in a market where ERP vendors are routinely acquired, spun off or merged by international investors: ORDAT customers can plan on the same vendor in five and ten years rather than facing forced replatforms following an acquisition.
Functional scope
ORDAT.ERP is a fully integrated standard product with cross-industry functional breadth. The system covers the typical core areas: sales, production planning and control, materials management, purchasing, warehouse, despatch, service and financial accounting. The depth in production planning is particularly developed: complex bill-of-materials structures, variant configuration, sequenced production planning, shop-floor control and post-calculation are first-class capabilities. CRM and document-management functionality is integrated rather than bolted on.
Technology stack
All ORDAT.ERP core technologies are in-house developments — including the database layer. The system runs without third-party database licences or additional engine costs. This proprietary stack is a deliberate strategic choice: it gives ORDAT full control over the technical roadmap and eliminates a layer of vendor risk, at the cost of being further off the mainstream technology path than ERPs running on Oracle, SQL Server or SAP HANA. For Mid-Market customers who value vendor-from-one-source over technology-mainstream, the trade is usually positive.
Target audience
ORDAT.ERP targets manufacturers with complex BOM and variant structures. Typical customers come from machinery and plant engineering, automotive supply, electronics, medical technology, plastics processing and consumer-goods production. The product is explicitly positioned for businesses that produce to order or in variant-rich batches — the BOM and variant logic is significantly deeper than that of horizontal mid-market ERPs. Sweet-spot company size is roughly 50 to 500 employees.
DACH localisation and DATEV
ORDAT.ERP is built for German manufacturing tax and finance workflow. DATEV integration — DATEV is the German cooperative of tax advisors whose data format is the SME finance-exchange standard — is supported through standard exporters; the customer's external accountant can continue working in DATEV without manual re-entry. GoBD compliance — the German principles for proper digital bookkeeping — is built into the audit-trail and archiving features. ZUGFeRD and XRechnung e-invoicing are covered in line with the phased German B2B e-invoicing mandate. The product is multilingual and multi-currency, with reasonable support for German subsidiaries in other countries.
Competition and selection
ORDAT.ERP competes primarily with proAlpha, abas ERP, oxaion and PSIpenta in the German Mid-Market manufacturing segment. ORDAT's differentiators are the proprietary technology stack, the family ownership and continuity, and the leaner-than-average organisation that delivers consulting, customisation, training and hosting from one source. Industry-4.0-style shop-floor integration (MES, OPC UA, IIoT) has been built out in recent years. Implementations run direct from ORDAT itself rather than through a large partner network — which keeps accountability close to the vendor but reduces the available consulting capacity.
Strengths and limitations at a glance
- Long-running family-owned German vendor with a continuous development history since the 1970s.
- Manufacturing depth carried forward from the long-running FOSS product line into ORDAT.ERP.
- Direct customer relationship from Giessen with a tightly held consulting team.
Considerations on the other side:
- Smaller install base than the major Mid-Market ERPs — partner substitution and consultant availability are narrower.
- Cloud deployment is available but most installations are still on-premise.
- Vendor concentration risk on product and consulting.
Best-fit profile and comparable vendors
Best-fit customers are DACH Mid-Market discrete manufacturers of 30 to 250 users with variant-rich production and a preference for working directly with the vendor rather than through multi-tier partners. Comparable vendors include proAlpha, abas ERP and ams.erp at the higher end. The ERP for manufacturing overview is a useful starting point for selection.
Related Topics
Vendor homepage of ORDAT.ERP
Current view of the website https://www.ordat.com/
Reviews for ORDAT.ERP
No published reviews yet for ORDAT.ERP on erp-software.org yet.
Write your own review for ORDAT.ERP schreiben
Share your experience with ORDAT.ERP. We publish reviews after a brief editorial check in 1–3 business days. Fields marked with * are required.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was FOSS in relation to ORDAT.ERP?
FOSS was the original ORDAT ERP product, developed in-house from the 1980s. ORDAT.ERP is the current product evolution; the FOSS heritage is reflected in the proprietary technology stack and the long-tenured manufacturing customer base.
Is ORDAT family-owned?
Yes. ORDAT is in its second generation of family ownership, which is a meaningful continuity-of-vendor signal in a market where many Mittelstand ERPs have been acquired, spun off or merged in recent years.
Does ORDAT.ERP support variant production?
Yes, in depth. Variant production and product configuration are core competencies: complex bill-of-materials structures, sequenced production planning and post-calculation are first-class capabilities, which is the main reason machinery, special-machine and special-vehicle manufacturers select ORDAT.
Can ORDAT.ERP run in the cloud?
Yes. ORDAT offers cloud, on-premise and managed-hosted deployment from German data centres. Hosting from ORDAT itself is common for Mittelstand customers without large in-house IT teams, and Industry-4.0 shop-floor integration via MES, OPC UA and IIoT protocols is supported across deployment models.