Corporate Profile
Date of Incorporation |
1995 |
Corporate Structure |
Privately Held |
Key Shareholders |
Apax Partners and Plexus Holdings LLC |
Head Office Location |
Auburn Hills, Michigan |
Other Office Locations |
Munich, Germany |
Number of Employees |
167 |
Number of Customers |
500 |
Contact Information |
Corporate Performance
As a private company, Plex does not report the dollar value of its earnings. However, according to Plex’s own reports, it has been profitable every year since its inception. The following chart displays our estimates of Plex’s annual revenues.
[image] Automotive parts suppliers and OEMs
Industries Served
- Food & beverage processors and packagers
- Aerospace & defense
- Industrial machinery and components
- Precision metalformers
Pricing
Plex charges its customers an all-in monthly subscription fee on a per-site, subscription basis. All employees who operate out of a licensed site are eligible to use the software. The company sets the price according to company size, using proxies such as revenues and employee head count.
Though Plex doesn’t disclose its pricing model, Plex has provided the following pricing guidance*:
Company Size (revenues USD) |
Monthly Subscription Costs (USD) |
Annual Subscription Costs (USD) |
$25-$100 million |
$10,000 – $20,000 |
$120,000 – $240,000 |
$100 – $500 million |
$20,000 – $50,000 |
$240,000 – $600,000 |
$500 million + |
$50,000 – $100,000 |
$600,000 – $1,200,000 |
* Sources: Dennis Howlett, “Plex Online: Saas Manufacturing”, May 10, 2010, ZD Net Online: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/howlett/plex-online-saas-manufacturing/2069; Patrick Fetterman, VP Marketing, Plex Systems, Comment, ibid.
Key Strengths, Uncertainties and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Strong manufacturing functionality. Plex Online draws its roots from software that was custom developed for the shop floor. It offers broad functionality, including: compliance, quality, traceability, MRP, APS, SFC, manufacturing execution (MES), and supply chain management (SCM).
- Strong data security and reliability. Plex built, owns and operates its own primary datacenter, with both onsite and offsite redundancy. The bank-vault type construction is iron clad, and reinforced with steel and concrete. There is one door, with access controlled biometrically. Virtual and physical access are both monitored around the clock. Command line access is restricted, limiting exposure to cyber-attacks.
- Strong user-community driven innovations. User crowd sourcing drives innovations in both the software and in participating companies’ business processes.
Uncertainties
- Uncertainty over scalability of development model. To a large extent, software developments are initiated by Plex customers. Customers requisition and pay for specific developments that become available to all Plex customers. Though there are benefits to delivering what the customer wants, there are drawbacks to using a reactionary instead of anticipatory model. Already, we’ve heard some reports of long lead times. It remains to be determined how an increase in customer base size would impact the development cycle.
- Uncertain impact of its projected IPO. Plex is hoping to go public sometime between end of 2011 and 2013. If it succeeds, it intends to use the funds to bolster its international sales force. Though, accounting to public shareholders introduces business risks. One needs to look no further than Lawson’s experience as a public company. Customer satisfaction and product development have both taken hits since its 2001 IPO.
Weaknesses
- Small global footprint. By and large, Plex is a U.S-based company with a U.S.-centric product, though it has recently opened a European office. The implication is that the software might not have the functionality to support non-U.S. localization requirements of foreign companies, subsidiaries and divisions (read: currencies, regulations, compliance). Also, the absence of dedicated sales and support reps in other jurisdictions will make it difficult to serve customers in foreign markets.
Download The Ultimate ERP Selection Guide: Templates, Checklists & Scorecards
Whether your company is in the early stages of planning its digital transformation or is evaluating ERP vendors, you need to make sure you’re making the right decisions at each stage.
The Ultimate ERP Selection Guide: Templates, Checklists & Scorecards has powered hundreds of companies to select the right software at each stage. These tools and templates will power your project with best-practices so you can make the right decisions for your ERP project teams, requirements, budgets and evaluation of vendors, as well as equip you with ERP demonstration script templates, selection scorecard template, analysis of best-practices, and digital transformation and ERP selection checklist.
