Real-World Limitations of Frappe Framework in Cable Manufacturing ERP
Beyond the Surface: Real-World Limitations of Frappe Framework in Cable Manufacturing ERP
Frappe Framework, with its robust metadata-driven architecture and rapid development philosophy, is a popular choice for building business apps. But when used to build a full-fledged cable manufacturing ERP, its limitations start to surface in real-world, production-heavy environments.
This post outlines your experience with Frappe - its strengths acknowledged, but more importantly, the pain points you will face building a specialized manufacturing system for the cable industry.
1. Rigid Document-Centric Architecture
Frappe revolves around
DocTypes - and while powerful, they enforce a document-oriented way of thinking that does not always match manufacturing logic.-
Challenge: Modeling real-time cable production flows (e.g., wire drawing → stranding → insulation) often involves state machines or continuous updates, which don’t naturally fit into Frappe’s "submit-and-lock" workflow.
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Result: Workarounds using custom flags or duplicating stages via child tables increase complexity and reduce maintainability.
2. Inadequate for Continuous Production
Cable manufacturing isn’t always batch-based. Continuous production, partial roll cuts, and mid-process quality checks break Frappe’s assumptions.
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Frappe assumes a start-to-finish workflow with defined start/end states.
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Handling partially consumed raw materials (e.g., a 500 kg copper drum used across multiple Work Orders) needs custom scripting.
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Work-in-progress stock tracking between stages is weak.
3. Lack of Native Machine Scheduling and MES Integration
Manufacturing Execution System (MES) capabilities are critical in cable factories.
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Frappe does not natively support:
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Machine capacity planning
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Shift-based scheduling
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Load balancing
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Gantt-style planning
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MES or IoT data integration requires writing APIs or background workers from scratch.
4. Frontend Customization Bottlenecks
While Frappe provides a ready UI, the moment you need custom UX:
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Its jQuery-based UI becomes a bottleneck.
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Integrating modern JS frameworks (e.g., React, Vue) is non-trivial.
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For example, building a drag-and-drop scheduler or real-time machine dashboard is extremely hard within Desk without rewriting core components.
5. Multi-Stage Quality Control is Cumbersome
Cable manufacturing involves testing at multiple stages:
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Conductor resistance
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Insulation thickness
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High-voltage testing
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Tensile strength, elongation
Frappe has limited built-in support for hierarchical QC workflows.
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Workarounds often involve:
- Creating parallel QC DocTypes
- Embedding child tables
- Triggering validations via Python hooks
- It becomes hard to trace QC results to production lots cleanly.
6. Deployment and Scaling Concerns
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Frappe depends on MariaDB, Redis, Node, NGINX, and Python—each with its own failure points.
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It lacks native horizontal scaling support.
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Real-time factory dashboards, IoT data ingestion, or large-scale multi-site use demands careful orchestration and devops expertise.
7. Limited Integration Ecosystem
ERP systems for cable manufacturing often require:
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Integration with PLC/SCADA systems
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Label printers (Zebra, TSC)
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Weighing scales
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GST/eInvoice systems
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Tally or SAP
Frappe does not offer built-in connectors for most industrial systems. You’ll end up writing custom middleware or services.
8. Complex DevOps and Upgrade Path
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Frappe upgrades can break custom apps without warning.
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Bench commands are powerful but opaque—when they fail, debugging can be painful.
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Custom apps often require version pinning, and merging with upstream ERPNext features is rarely seamless.
9. Lack of Domain-Specific Features
Cable manufacturing involves:
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Domain Requirement
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Frappe Gap
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Lot-wise costing
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Requires custom reports
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UOM conversion (kg to meters)
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Needs scripting
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Reel cutting & length tolerance
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Not natively supported
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Advanced traceability
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Limited to serial/batch
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Multi-layer BOM versioning
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Hard to manage cleanly
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10. Documentation and Community Limitations
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Official docs are generic and not use-case focused.
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Edge-case documentation (e.g., multi-stage production with partial stock) is either missing or outdated.
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Community support is helpful but small compared to Django or Laravel.
11. No Native Drum Conversion Handling
In cable manufacturing, drum conversion (splitting or combining lengths across drums) is common:
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Real-World Need
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Frappe Limitation
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1 km drum cut into 4×250m drums
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No native support for parent-child stock split with traceability
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5×100m leftovers rewound into a 500m drum
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Needs custom scripting + batch merging logic
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Label reprinting with length & coil ID
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Requires separate app for printing + stock adjustments
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Workarounds involve writing Python scripts to do partial stock adjustments, which are risky and error-prone.
12. Customer-Specific Product Variants
Different customers often need custom printing, packaging, tolerance, or even material composition, even for the same cable type.
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Case
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Frappe's Challenge
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Same cable, different printing text or brand
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Needs custom fields & customer-specific BOM logic
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Special drums for export vs domestic
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Can't define customer-specific packaging rules natively
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Different quality control limits per customer
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Frappe’s QC templates are static
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You'll end up building conditional logic inside BOMs, QC forms, and print formats – which gets messy and hard to maintain.
13. Coil-Wise / Reel-Wise Tracking is Weak
Cable factories track every coil/drum like a semi-serial item:
Coil No. 231: 970.2 meters
Reel No. 1021: 650.5 meters (short by 0.5 m due to winding loss)
But Frappe only supports:
Serial numbers (good for units like phones, not coils)
Batch numbers (good for common expiry-tracked items)
Precise length, cut loss, drum ID, test results per coil need extra DocTypes and linkages.
14. UOM Complexity: KG to Meters and Back
Many cables are bought in kg (for copper) but sold in meters:
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Stage
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Problem
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Raw purchase in KG
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Fine, Frappe handles it
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Conversion: 1 kg = 12.25 m
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Frappe lacks dynamic UOM based on material density and diameter
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Leftover scrap returned in kg
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Needs reverse UOM logic
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You need custom logic in Stock Entry, Work Order, and BOM to handle this without causing valuation mismatches.
15. Partial Coil Usage and Length Cut Tracking
Cables are cut based on order length:
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Customer orders 230 m
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Coil has 500 m
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Need to:
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Cut 230 m
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Return 270 m to stock
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Label both segments
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Frappe has no built-in concept of partial stock operations with history.
Needs:
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Partial consumption logs
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Multiple child coils under a parent
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Reel-to-reel traceability
16. Real-Time Production Length & Wastage Feedback
Production machines measure:
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Live length in meters
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Rejected meters
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Tolerance limits
Frappe does not:
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Handle live meter count from winding machines
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Auto-log scrap/rejected segments with reason codes
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Support real-time dashboards
Requires custom API or IoT integration with third-party apps.
17. Product-Wise Profitability and Rework Costs
Frappe can calculate costing via BOM, but real profitability depends on:
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Cost Element
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Issue
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Reel wastage
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Not captured easily
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Setup time vs output ratio
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Not modeled
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Rework due to QC fail
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No native tracking per Work Order
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Need custom reports aggregating:
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Time logs
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QC status
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Material reconciliation
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Customer returns & credit notes
18. Too Many Workarounds for Day-to-Day Scenarios
Frappe's default modules break down when dealing with:
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Dual Unit stock (Meters + KGs)
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Customer-specific test certificates
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Reel repacking
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Vendor-supplied material reprocessing
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Partial order dispatch from one reel
Each of these needs:
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Custom scripts
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Separate DocTypes
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Manual validations
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Extra training for users
Summary Table – Real Pain Points
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Functionality
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Frappe Limitation
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Drum split/merge
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❌ Not supported natively
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Coil tracking
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❌ No per-reel stock with meters
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Length-wise partial cut
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❌ Manual workaround
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Customer-based specs
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⚠️ Hardcoded or scripted
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Dual UOM (kg/meter)
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⚠️ Needs manual formula logic
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Rework management
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❌ Not built-in
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Quality traceability
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⚠️ Only batch-based
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Real-time length from machines
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❌ No built-in MES connector
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Packaging & label printing
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⚠️ Needs 3rd-party integration
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Final Word
Frappe is a great foundation—but it is not a plug-and-play framework for cable manufacturing. Its document-driven strength becomes a limitation when you need:
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Real-time production visibility
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Shopfloor integration
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Granular traceability
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Custom user interfaces
If you're building or running a manufacturing ERP, these are the areas you’ll need to invest extra development effort or consider hybrid systems.
What You Can Do
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Build a custom Frappe app that isolates domain-specific logic
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Use Frappe only as a backend/API layer
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Integrate MES/SCADA through a middleware
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Consider React/Vue for the frontend layer, separate from Desk