Odoo vs Bemet.
Production ERP, or business platform?
Bemet (formerly Plan-de-CAMpagne) is a serious industry-specific ERP for engineer-to-order manufacturers: quoting, work prep, planning, production, inventory and invoicing sit in its DNA. But many businesses have grown beyond production control alone - they want sales, customer portal, eCommerce, service and finance in one modern browser environment. Two structural pain points come up often: small adjustments cost €10K or more (more rule than exception), and 'cloud' in practice often means hosting via terminal server, not browser-first SaaS. We migrated Argrowteam (Foliekassen) from Bemet to Odoo. My rule: Bemet is strong at the factory - Odoo connects the factory to the rest of the business. Sharper: hosted ERP solves the server location; cloud ERP renews how work gets done.
- 01 Production core: Bemet wins fairly here For engineer-to-order manufacturers with deep production processes, do not underestimate Bemet. The question is whether production is the only thing you want to modernise.
- 02 Plan-de-CAMpagne heritage: industry depth and classical ERP limits Once you want sales, portal, service and finance modern too, the gap between Bemet strengths and what the market asks for opens up.
- 03 'Cloud' is not always cloud: hosted ≠ browser-first Hosted ERP solves the server location. Cloud ERP renews how work gets done.
- 04 Small adjustments, big invoices You do not feel the difference in year one - you feel it in year three. Argrowteam (Foliekassen) hit exactly that pattern and switched.
- 05 The question: production control, or business platform? Not 'which ERP is better'. The real question: is your biggest problem production control, or business-wide coherence? Answer 1: keep looking seriously at Bemet. Answer 2: look at Odoo.
At a glance
| Criterion | Odoo | Bemet |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Open all-in-one ERP | Industry-specific production ERP (ECI Bemet, formerly Plan-de-CAMpagne) |
| Target | SMB to mid-market, broad | Engineer-to-order manufacturers: metal, plastics, machine building, tool & die |
| Strongest point | One process from CRM to manufacturing and ledger | Quoting, work prep, planning and MRP in the industry DNA |
| Cloud model | Browser-first (Odoo Online, Odoo.sh, self-host) | Often hosted/RDS - called cloud, in practice terminal server |
| CRM + sales | Native, integrated with invoicing and inventory | Present around quote/calculation, less focused on modern pipeline and marketing |
| Quoting + work prep | Strong, with configuration | Industry DNA, one of the strongest points |
| Manufacturing / MRP | Multi-level BOM, work centres, routings, quality | Strongly positioned for engineer-to-order production |
| eCommerce + customer portal | Native webshop + portal on the same data model | Not the natural core |
| Service / aftersales | Helpdesk + contracts + tickets native | Mentioned, mostly from production delivery |
| Accounting | Native module | Integration with external accounting packages |
| Cost per adjustment | Open Python modules, broad partner ecosystem, code is yours | What we often hear: €10K+ for a relatively simple adjustment is more rule than exception |
| Release cadence | Annual major release + continuous community updates | Industry roadmap; trainings around Qlik and Report Editor for reporting |
Five questions that matter
Production core: Bemet wins fairly here
Odoo has Manufacturing (MRP), Inventory, Purchase, Quality and Maintenance on one data model. For engineer-to-order production it can be configured strongly - but you pay for breadth, not for industry-specific calculation rituals.
Bemet descends from Plan-de-CAMpagne and is built around the make process: fast calculation, converting quotes to production orders, materials and operations, capacity, subcontracting, progress, post-calculation. For a work prep planner or production lead in an engineer-to-order maker, it feels natural.
For engineer-to-order manufacturers with deep production processes, do not underestimate Bemet. The question is whether production is the only thing you want to modernise.
Plan-de-CAMpagne heritage: industry depth and classical ERP limits
Modern web-first platform. CRM, sales, marketing, eCommerce, customer portal, service, helpdesk and finance live in the same stack as production. One source for customer, product, order, inventory and invoice.
Plan-de-CAMpagne emerged from the Dutch manufacturing industry. Functionally rich on the factory floor, but weaker in modern browser UX, CRM/marketing, eCommerce, customer portal, mobile workflows and API-first integration. Not a production weakness - the classical ERP architecture showing at the edges.
Once you want sales, portal, service and finance modern too, the gap between Bemet strengths and what the market asks for opens up.
'Cloud' is not always cloud: hosted ≠ browser-first
Browser-first. Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or self-host have different trade-offs, but the UI is natively web. No terminal server, no RDS printer wrangling, no Mac incompatibility. Mobile-accessible via app or browser.
Bemet is described as 'on premise or in the cloud'. In practice 'cloud' often means hosting via terminal server or RDS. That is remote access, not modern SaaS. Shop floor feels remote-desktop sluggishness, scaling issues on modern laptops, printer-session noise and limited mobile access.
Hosted ERP solves the server location. Cloud ERP renews how work gets done.
Small adjustments, big invoices
Open Python modules. The partner ecosystem is broad (5,000+ globally), switching partners is on the table. Customisation is code you take with you. A small change is - with a good partner - a scoped ticket.
What we often hear from Bemet customers: €10K or more for a relatively simple adjustment is more rule than exception. Not a customer-service issue, but a market-structure issue of industry-specific ERPs: fewer developers per customer, a single partner with deep specialisation, more complex data models under the hood.
You do not feel the difference in year one - you feel it in year three. Argrowteam (Foliekassen) hit exactly that pattern and switched.
The question: production control, or business platform?
Odoo connects production to sales, eCommerce, customer portal, service and finance. One browser, one data model, one place where management information converges. For businesses that want to modernise not only the factory but the whole company, that is the more natural pick.
Bemet is production control with the factory at its centre. Sales, customer portal, eCommerce, modern service and cross-domain reporting sit outside the natural core. For pure production optimisation, that can be exactly right.
Not 'which ERP is better'. The real question: is your biggest problem production control, or business-wide coherence? Answer 1: keep looking seriously at Bemet. Answer 2: look at Odoo.
Which fits?
Pick Odoo if…
- Your business is more than production alone: sales/CRM, eCommerce, customer portal, service and finance need to come together in one modern environment.
- You're done with terminal server / RDS and want browser-first work, from any browser, on any device.
- You want a customer portal or B2B ordering environment that is not a bolt-on next to your ERP.
- You want predictable adjustment costs, not €10K+ per relatively simple change.
- You recognise the Argrowteam (Foliekassen) migration: from Bemet to Odoo because the broader business needed modernisation.
Pick Bemet if…
- You are an engineer-to-order manufacturer in metal, plastics, machine building or tool & die.
- Your biggest pain sits in calculation, work prep, capacity planning and production control.
- You have limited modern CRM, eCommerce or customer portal demands.
- You accept hosted/RDS working and your IT environment supports it well.
- You value industry-specific ERP function more than platform breadth.
The best Bemet alternatives
We are an Odoo partner, so we are not neutral about what we build. But honestly: for pure planning depth a specialist tool can be stronger. The difference is whether you want to connect your planning to the whole business.
| Alternative | Breadth (beyond production) | Planning & calculation | Cloud & modern | CRM / eCommerce / portal | Open & extensible | Short verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OdooTop pick | Broad platform | Strong via Updoo building blocks | Yes, browser-first | Native | Open source | Best if you want to connect planning and production to the whole business |
| Ridder iQ | Production-focused | Strong (metal/manufacturing) | Cloud available | Limited | Closed | Strong metal specialist if you want to stay in a specialist tool |
| MKG | Production-focused | Strong (quoting/post-calculation) | On-premise heritage | Limited | Closed | Strong in the Dutch metal industry; narrower beyond it |
| Isah | Project/make-to-order | Strong (machine building, ETO) | Cloud available | Limited | Closed | Strong for engineer-to-order and machine building |
| Infor LN | Broad, enterprise | Strong (discrete manufacturing) | Cloud available | Via apps | Heavy, partner-dependent | Enterprise manufacturing; often too heavy for SMBs |
By profile: which alternative makes sense?
Concise per option, so the shortlist shrinks faster:
Odoo
Strongest if you want to connect your planning and production to the rest of the business: CRM, sales, eCommerce, customer portal, service and finance on one modern, browser-first platform. For the manufacturing-specific parts (configurator, shop floor, post-calculation) we build Updoo blocks on top of standard Odoo - without locking you into a closed add-on ecosystem.
Ridder iQ
A strong Dutch metal/manufacturing specialist with deep production and calculation functionality. Logical if you want to stay in a specialist tool and your need is mostly on the shop floor; beyond production (CRM, eCommerce, portal) it is narrower and more closed.
MKG
A familiar Dutch metal specialist, strong in quoting, work preparation and post-calculation. Logical if you want to stay close to metal-industry logic; like Bemet it is thinner beyond the shop floor and closed in its ecosystem.
Isah
An ERP for project and order-driven production, strong in machine building and engineer-to-order. Logical if your work is mostly complex one-off projects; broader business use leans on integrations sooner.
Infor LN
An enterprise manufacturing ERP for larger, international discrete production. Powerful and deep, but heavy to implement, pricey and partner-dependent - often too much for the Dutch SMB manufacturer.
Why manufacturers look for a Bemet alternative
Bemet, with its Plan-de-CAMpagne heritage, earned its place with graphical production planning and calculation for make-to-order manufacturers. The pain is usually beyond planning: CRM, sales, eCommerce, a customer portal and service are thin or missing, so a second system often runs alongside. On top of that the ecosystem is closed, the package leans on an on-premise heritage that feels dated next to modern, browser-first software, and since Bemet became part of ECI Software Solutions businesses look harder at the roadmap and their dependence on a single vendor.
Specialist or platform? The honest trade-off
This is the heart of it, and we are honest about it. Bemet, Ridder iQ, MKG and Isah are deep manufacturing specialists, and Bemet is strong where it comes to planning and scheduling. If you want to optimise your planning and calculation further - the rituals a specialist tool has refined over years - a specialist can be stronger than a broad platform. Odoo wins the moment you want to connect planning and production to the rest of the business: one data model from quote to work order to invoice, with CRM, webshop, portal and service native alongside. So the question is not "which is better", but: do you want to deepen your planning, or integrate the whole business?
Where Odoo matches the specialist: Updoo
The misconception is that a broad platform misses the manufacturing depth. For the parts where standard Odoo stops, we build Updoo blocks: a product configurator for quoting, a glove-friendly Shopfloor layer for the floor, and post-calculation that books hours and material back to the order. The difference with a closed add-on ecosystem: it is open source, you can read the code, extend it deliberately, and switch partners without switching platform.
How to choose
Three rules of thumb. One: if your pain is purely deepening planning and calculation and you want to stay in a specialist tool, Ridder iQ, MKG or Isah are the logical candidates. Two: if you want to connect production and planning to CRM, sales, eCommerce, portal and finance on one modern platform, Odoo is usually the strongest choice, with Updoo for the manufacturing-specific parts. Three: if you are a large, international discrete manufacturer, an enterprise ERP like Infor comes into play. Start from where your biggest pain is, not from the feature list.
Odoo vs Bemet, frequently asked.
What is the best alternative to Bemet?
Tim, what's your own experience with Bemet?
Is Bemet bad software?
What is the difference between Bemet and Plan-de-CAMpagne?
What do adjustments in Bemet actually cost?
Is Bemet cloud or not?
When is Bemet the right choice?
Does Odoo always fit better, then?
Is Odoo a good alternative to Bemet?
Can Odoo handle Bemet-level production planning?
What if I want to stay in a manufacturing specialist?
How long does switching from Bemet take?
Argrowteam went first - does Bemet → Odoo fit you too?
Argrowteam (Foliekassen) moved from Bemet to Odoo - not over the production core, but because the broader business needed modernisation and adjustment costs in Bemet were structurally high. Book a fit-gap call where we lay your quoting, work prep, production, CRM, customer portal and finance next to both Bemet and Odoo. No sales pitch to rip out Bemet; an honest conversation about whether the switch pays back inside three years.
The most expensive software is the software that 'just works'.
Because the work around it - double entry, Excel checks, waiting time, errors - never shows up on your software invoice. It does land on your P&L, as labour cost and lost hours; you just never add it to the software bill. And the frustration your team feels every day stays completely invisible. Work out what it costs you per year: you can't capture work satisfaction in a spreadsheet. 60 seconds, no sales pitch - just a number that sticks.
Curious about realistic hours, cost and timelines? See the Odoo implementation benchmark →
Which ERP fits your metal company? Read our ERP comparison for metal companies →