Stop the tool sprawl: Why manufacturers are consolidating with a unified orchestration platform

In my role as a Strategic Account Manager at Redwood Software, I work closely with some of the largest Fortune 500 manufacturers in our client base, advising on automation strategy across complex, mostly SAP-centric environments. Those conversations tend to surface patterns that don’t always show up in formal transformation plans, but they’re often where meaningful change starts. 

One of the more consistent patterns is surprisingly simple. Procurement teams are often the first to ask a question that cuts through the complexity: “Why are we running multiple workload automation platforms when we could consolidate onto one?” 

They’re not aiming to be more technical; they’re surfacing an opportunity that directly supports the CIO’s priorities around standardization, cost control and operational efficiency.

Legacy automation is back in focus

Over the past five years, the workload automation market has consolidated through mergers and acquisitions. Fewer vendors, combined with rising demand for automation, have shifted the balance of supply and demand. Procurement teams are often the first to feel that pressure, and they’ve been reacting by pushing for vendor consolidation. In doing so, they’re forcing CIOs to take a closer look at a part of their environment that has largely been ignored for decades.

This phenomenon has been a blessing in disguise for many of the CIOs we work with at Redwood. What initially seems like a cost-driven initiative is turning into something much more strategic. At the same time procurement is pushing consolidation, most Fortune 500 manufacturers are in the middle of large-scale digital transformation efforts, like moving from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA or RISE with SAP, shifting to and/or optimizing workloads in the cloud or introducing AI into core operations. As those changes take shape, it becomes clear that the legacy automation layer doesn’t transition as easily as expected. 

In many cases, expecting these legacy tools to support moving operations to a modern, hybrid cloud architecture requires heavy customization, introduces technical debt or simply breaks altogether. Many of the workload automation solutions still in use today were originally built for on-premises, mainframe-based environments in the 1990s. They weren’t designed for cloud, hybrid infrastructure or the pace of change organizations are dealing with today. 

According to McKinsey and Bain research for Redwood, only one-third of enterprises consider replacing their automation tools every year. This means two-thirds of manufacturers are going to stumble upon this problem with their next automation vendor renewal, rather than getting ahead of it. 

Environments are fragile by accumulation

Very few manufacturers deliberately built the complexity they now live with. It usually happened one sensible decision at a time.

A scheduler went in to support SAP batch jobs, another tool was added for data pipelines and scripts were written to move files between the MES and cloud analytics. A manual handoff that was meant to be temporary became permanent. Each of those choices was justified by an important need. Each solved a real problem. But they cumulatively created a technology landscape that’s harder to manage, slower to change and more fragile than it looks.

Tool sprawl would be bad enough on its own. What makes it worse is the maintenance load and technical debt that comes with it: undocumented scripts, manual fixes, installed software components and agents everywhere, plus the constant churn of patching and version alignment. IT teams are asked to support modernization while spending their days keeping outdated automation systems stable.

Fragmentation creates a split operating reality. Production data lives in one place, analytics in another and planning somewhere in between, while supplier updates arrive through EDI, CSVs or inboxes on uneven schedules. If orchestration can’t normalize and route those signals in real time, planners are left working with stale information. Tool sprawl starts hitting the business.

Redwood’s manufacturing research shows the same pattern. Automation is delivering gains in throughput and uptime, but results flatten when the KPI depends on multiple systems moving together. Inventory turns and data accuracy are much harder to improve in fragmented environments. Only 40% of manufacturers have automated exception handling, even though 22% cite it as a top operational disruption. Thus, many manufacturing operations still depend on people to bridge gaps when resilience matters most.

Orchestration changes the equation for the factory

At some point, manufacturers have to decide whether legacy automation will support the operation or define its limits.

It’s possible to find a more connected path when you step away from legacy schedulers that rely on thousands of installed agents spread across plant-floor servers, applications, data sources and virtual machines, each one tied to operating system changes, security patches and version dependencies. In a modern manufacturing environment, that overhead becomes a constant drain.

Moving to a modern application and data pipeline workflow orchestration platform with an agentless, cloud-first architecture cuts that burden at the source and gives technical teams their time and focus back. Instead of babysitting infrastructure, they can align their effort toward enterprise MES rollouts, IIoT connectivity, plant modernization and the data foundation needed for predictive maintenance and better decision-making.

A unified orchestration model changes what teams can see, what they can scale and where they optimize throughput, efficiency and budgets. It gives manufacturers, in particular:

• Better visibility across end-to-end processes: In fragmented environments, teams see isolated jobs and individual handoffs. In a unified model, forecasting, procurement, production scheduling and fulfillment become part of the same end-to-end flow. If a supplier update affects material availability or a quality hold changes what can ship, the response can move through the system instead of waiting for human intervention.
• A stronger foundation for modernization: Tool consolidation is often treated like cleanup work, but it’s actually foundational. If the orchestration layer remains fragmented, every smart factory or Industry 4.0 initiative built on top of it inherits that fragility.
• More room to scale: Manufacturers expanding across plants and regions can’t afford growth that brings license friction, infrastructure bloat or unpredictable costs. A SaaS model with transparent economics makes scalable growth easier to support.
• Better use of budget: Too much money still goes into maintaining old schedulers, managing compatibility issues and upgrading platforms that add no new business capability. Consolidation creates a chance to shift that spend toward projects that improve production processes, shorten cycle times and remove bottlenecks.

Bring your orchestration strategy to life

This is where an orchestration platform like RunMyJobs by Redwood fits. Its job is not to add another tool to the pile, but to replace fragmented scheduling and automation with a single execution layer across ERP, MES, IIoT, quality control and plant-floor workflows.

For manufacturers with large SAP landscapes, that matters even more. Redwood’s SAP partnership and SAP Endorsed App status give customers a more reliable way to connect SAP Cloud ERP, SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Business Data Cloud without leaning on maintenance-heavy scripts and custom workarounds. For teams moving through RISE with SAP, that supports a clean core strategy rather than pulling the architecture away from it.

A unified application and data pipeline orchestration platform also makes governance more practical. Once workflows span plants, business units and systems, consistency balloons into a serious operational issue. Compliance, auditability, security controls and traceability need to be built into execution, not layered on later.

AI raises the stakes further. Manufacturers are investing in it for planning, forecasting and predictive operations, but those efforts depend on reliable workflows and dependable data collection. If the underlying process is still patched together, AI will expose the weakness faster. Traditional automation is deterministic: you know what output to expect. AI is not. Even with consistent inputs, outcomes can vary. As organizations introduce AI agents into finance, supply chain and operations, there’s a growing need for a layer that can govern and control how those systems behave.

A strong orchestration foundation gives teams cleaner execution, earlier visibility into failures and true observability across the plan-to-produce chain. The result is less legacy technical debt and drag, fewer update delays and a better path to faster product introductions, smarter scaling and more resilient manufacturing processes.

The window is open

Manufacturing leaders don’t need more reminders that legacy tool sprawl is a problem; most are living with the consequences already. The real question is how much longer they can afford to let aging automation tools sit underneath the modernization agenda, widening the gap between smart factory ambition and operational reality every time a new initiative is layered onto a cracking foundation. 

Consolidating to a modern, SaaS, AI-powered orchestration platform is the act of removing a bottleneck before it becomes the reason transformation stalls.

If a legacy renewal is approaching for your enterprise, treat it like the strategic decision it is.

See how other manufacturers are breaking through the automation plateau. Read the full 2026 manufacturing outlook report.