Manufacturing ERP Evolution: Bringing Shop Floor Systems into the Web Era

Your manufacturing floor is running on a 20-year-old black box. Whether it’s a VB6 terminal handling inventory or a Delphi-based MES (Manufacturing Execution System) controlling the assembly line, these legacy ERP systems are the "silent killers" of operational efficiency. They are undocumented, brittle, and impossible to integrate with modern cloud-based analytics.

The global technical debt currently sits at a staggering $3.6 trillion, and nowhere is this more visible than in manufacturing. When a legacy ERP fails, the assembly line stops. When you need to add a new API endpoint for a supply chain partner, your developers spend weeks performing "software archaeology" because 67% of these systems have no living documentation.

TL;DR: Modernizing manufacturing ERPs no longer requires high-risk, multi-year "Big Bang" rewrites; by using Visual Reverse Engineering with Replay, enterprises can extract business logic and UI components from video recordings, reducing modernization timelines from 18 months to mere weeks.

The High Cost of the "Big Bang" Rewrite#

For decades, the standard advice for legacy ERP evolution was the "Big Bang" rewrite: scrap the old system and build a new one from scratch. The data shows this is a recipe for disaster. 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines. In a regulated manufacturing environment, a failed rewrite isn't just a budget overrun—it’s a catastrophic disruption to the supply chain.

The primary reason for these failures is the "Documentation Gap." When the original architects have retired and the source code is a spaghetti-mess of undocumented patches, the requirements for the new system are essentially "whatever the old system does."

Modernization Strategy Comparison#

⚠️ Warning: Attempting to modernize a shop floor system without a verified "Source of Truth" for existing business logic leads to feature regression. If the new system doesn't handle a specific edge-case inventory state that the 1998 version did, your production line halts.

From Black Box to Documented Codebase#

The future of ERP evolution isn't rewriting from scratch; it’s understanding what you already have. Replay changes the paradigm by using Video as the Source of Truth. Instead of digging through 500,000 lines of undocumented COBOL or C#, you record a shop floor worker performing a standard workflow—like "Reconcile Raw Materials" or "Trigger Quality Control Audit."

Replay’s AI Automation Suite analyzes the interaction, identifies the underlying data structures, and generates modern React components and API contracts. This reduces the average time spent per screen from 40 hours of manual reverse engineering to just 4 hours.

Technical Implementation: Extracting the Component#

When we extract a workflow from a legacy manufacturing terminal, we aren't just taking a screenshot. We are capturing the state transitions and business logic.

Below is an example of a generated React component produced by Replay after analyzing a legacy inventory reconciliation screen. Notice how it preserves the complex business logic (like the

logic) while utilizing a modern, typed architecture.

typescript
// Generated by Replay Blueprints - Legacy ERP Migration
import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Button, Input, Table, Alert } from '@/components/ui-library'; // From Replay Library

interface InventoryItem {
  id: string;
  partNumber: string;
  currentStock: number;
  minThreshold: number;
}

export const InventoryReconciliation: React.FC = () => {
  const [items, setItems] = useState<InventoryItem[]>([]);
  const [isSyncing, setIsSyncing] = useState(false);

  // Business logic preserved from legacy 'INV_RECON_04.vbp'
  const calculateBuffer = (stock: number, threshold: number) => {
    const variance = stock - threshold;
    return variance < 0 ? 'CRITICAL' : variance < 10 ? 'WARNING' : 'STABLE';
  };

  const handleReconcile = async (id: string) => {
    setIsSyncing(true);
    // Replay generated API contract call
    try {
      await fetch(`/api/v1/erp/inventory/${id}/sync`, { method: 'POST' });
    } finally {
      setIsSyncing(false);
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className="p-6 bg-slate-50">
      <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold mb-4">Shop Floor Inventory Sync</h2>
      <Table>
        <thead>
          <tr>
            <th>Part Number</th>
            <th>Stock Level</th>
            <th>Status</th>
            <th>Action</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          {items.map(item => (
            <tr key={item.id}>
              <td>{item.partNumber}</td>
              <td>{item.currentStock}</td>
              <td>
                <StatusBadge status={calculateBuffer(item.currentStock, item.minThreshold)} />
              </td>
              <td>
                <Button onClick={() => handleReconcile(item.id)} loading={isSyncing}>
                  Sync to Ledger
                </Button>
              </td>
            </tr>
          ))}
        </tbody>
      </Table>
    </div>
  );
};

💡 Pro Tip: Use the Replay Library feature to ensure that every extracted screen automatically maps to your enterprise's new Design System. This prevents "UI drift" where different modules of the ERP look like they were built by different companies.

Bridging the API Gap#

One of the biggest pain points in manufacturing ERP evolution is the lack of a service layer. Legacy systems often write directly to a database (or worse, flat files). Replay generates API contracts by observing the network traffic and data mutations during the recording process.

Generated API Contract (OpenAPI/Swagger)#

Replay doesn't just give you UI; it gives you the blueprint for the backend. Here is a typical API schema generated from a "Work Order Creation" workflow:

yaml
# Generated by Replay AI Automation Suite
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: Legacy ERP Bridge API
  version: 1.0.0
paths:
  /work-orders:
    post:
      summary: Create Work Order (Extracted from ShopFloor_v2_Module)
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                machineId: { type: string }
                operatorId: { type: string }
                priority: { type: integer, minimum: 1, maximum: 5 }
                parts:
                  type: array
                  items: { type: string }
      responses:
        '201':
          description: Work Order Created

💰 ROI Insight: By automating the generation of API contracts and E2E tests, Replay users report an average 70% time savings on the total project lifecycle. For a typical 18-month ERP modernization, this brings the "Time to Value" down to under 6 months.

The 4-Step Evolution Framework#

Modernizing a shop floor system requires a disciplined approach to ensure zero downtime. Here is how we implement the Replay framework in a manufacturing environment:

Step 1: Visual Recording#

A subject matter expert (SME) or shop floor operator performs the standard tasks in the legacy ERP. Replay records the screen, clicks, keyboard inputs, and background data transitions. This creates a "Video as Source of Truth."

Step 2: Extraction and Blueprinting#

Replay’s engine parses the recording. It identifies UI patterns (buttons, grids, inputs) and maps them to modern React components. It also extracts the "Flows"—the logical progression from one screen to the next.

Step 3: Technical Debt Audit#

Before moving to production, Replay generates a Technical Debt Audit. This identifies redundant workflows or logic that is no longer needed (e.g., code that supports hardware no longer present on the shop floor).

Step 4: Deployment and Parallel Run#

The new web-based modules are deployed. Because Replay generated the API contracts, these new modules can communicate with the legacy database via a bridge, allowing for a "Strangler Fig" approach where you replace one module at a time without breaking the whole system.

Built for Regulated Environments#

Manufacturing, especially in aerospace, medical devices, or defense, is highly regulated. You cannot simply "move fast and break things."

• •SOC2 & HIPAA Ready: Replay is built with the highest security standards.
• •On-Premise Availability: For factories with "Air Gapped" networks or strict data residency requirements, Replay can be deployed entirely on-premise.
• •Audit Trails: Every extracted component and API contract is linked back to the original video recording, providing a perfect audit trail for compliance officers.

📝 Note: In manufacturing, "Modernization" often means "Web-enabling." Replay allows you to take a system that previously required a specific Windows XP terminal and make it accessible via a secure tablet on the shop floor.

Frequently Asked Questions#

How long does legacy extraction take?#

While a manual rewrite takes 40+ hours per screen, Replay reduces this to approximately 4 hours. A standard ERP module with 20-30 screens can be fully documented and extracted into React components in 2-3 weeks.

What about business logic preservation?#

This is Replay's core strength. Because we record the actual execution of the software, we capture the "as-is" behavior, including the quirks and edge cases that are often missed during manual requirement gathering.

Does Replay work with green-screen (mainframe) systems?#

Yes. As long as there is a visual interface, Replay can perform visual reverse engineering. We have successfully modernized systems ranging from 1980s terminal emulators to 2000s-era "Fat Client" desktop applications.

Can we export the code?#

Absolutely. Replay generates clean, human-readable TypeScript and React code. There is no vendor lock-in; the code is yours to own, modify, and deploy in your own environment.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay - see your legacy screen extracted live during the call.