Where does each fit?

A practical comparison from hands-on implementation experience

I’ve worked in Salesforce for a long time (over 20 years), however, over the last couple of years I’ve also spent quite a bit of time working on Specright.   This includes implementing the core Specright platform, working with Projects, and building more complex processes (like artwork approvals).  As I worked on Specirght, it made me ask the question: How does this fit into the broader Salesforce ecosystem, specifically Manufacturing Cloud? We explore that in this article.

Coming from Salesforce, one thing I kept thinking about was  Agentforce Manufacturing (formerly Manufacturing Cloud). Where do these two products actually overlap? Could Agentforce Manufacturing do what Specright does? And if a manufacturer is looking at both, when would you choose one over the other?

After working with both, I don’t think they’re really trying to solve the same problem. There’s definitely overlap, but they approach manufacturing from two different directions.

• Specright helps manufacturers manage what they make.
• Salesforce Agentforce Manufacturing helps manufacturers manage the business of selling and supporting what they make.

Specright Starts With the Product

This was probably the biggest thing that clicked for me once I started actually working in Specright.
In Salesforce, we’re used to a Product being a record. It has a name, product code, price, family, attributes, and whatever other information we decide to include.

Specright looks at a product differently.

Take something fairly simple like a bottled beverage. There’s the formula. There are ingredients. Those ingredients have specifications and suppliers. Then there’s the bottle, cap, label, case, artwork, nutritional information, claims, sustainability data, and eventually the finished good itself.

And all of those things are related.

If somebody changes the bottle, which products use it? If an ingredient changes, where is that ingredient being used? If we’re developing a new version of the product, what needs to happen before it can be approved?

Specright is built around those relationships.

Projects add the process around that. You can manage tasks, requirements, milestones, stage gates, approvals, and all the other work that happens while developing or changing a product.

I’ve built similar processes in Salesforce. You absolutely can. But once you’ve worked with something specifically designed for this, you start realizing how much you’d actually have to build yourself in Salesforce.

Agentforce Manufacturing Starts Somewhere Else

Agentforce Manufacturing comes at the problem from the other direction.

Salesforce has always been fundamentally centered around the customer relationship. Agentforce Manufacturing extends that into business processes that matter most to manufacturers.

Sales Agreements are a good example. What has this customer committed to purchase? What are they actually purchasing? How are they tracking against that commitment?

Then there’s forecasting. What does this customer expect to need next quarter or next year? What does that mean for expected demand and revenue?

For manufacturers operating around larger customer programs, you also get into Manufacturing Programs and Program-Based Business.

And then there’s everything that happens after the sale: inventory, installed assets, warranties, claims, service, replacement parts, and Field Service.

That’s a very different center of gravity from Specright. Specright knows a tremendous amount about the product itself. Salesforce knows a tremendous amount about the customer and their relationship with that product.

Where Do These Platforms Actually Overlap?

More than you might think. Both can deal with products, components, suppliers, approvals, workflows, documents, reporting, and integrations. But this is where simply comparing feature lists can get you into trouble.

Take components. Specright might care about a component because it’s part of the definition of a finished good. Agentforce Manufacturing might care about that same component because a customer’s production forecast tells us they’re going to need 200,000 of them next quarter.

Same component. Completely different reason for caring about it.

That’s a pretty good illustration of the difference between the platforms.

The Short Version

You can make a massive feature matrix comparing these products. I started doing exactly that and quickly realized it wasn’t particularly helpful. This is the version I think matters:

You can almost draw a line through the middle of that table. Above the line, we’re mostly talking about the product. Below it, we’re mostly talking about the customer and the commercial lifecycle.

Which One Would I Choose?

I wouldn’t answer that without understanding the manufacturer.

If I’m talking to a food company and they’re struggling with thousands of ingredients, formulas, packaging configurations, suppliers, specifications, labels, and constant product changes, I’d be looking pretty hard at Specright.

Same thing for CPG, packaging, cosmetics, chemicals, private label, and other businesses where the product itself gets complicated quickly.
On the other hand, suppose I’m talking to an industrial manufacturer. They have long-term agreements with customers. Customers send forecasts. They sell through distributors. They have equipment installed at customer locations. They’re dealing with warranties, replacement parts, and service.

That’s a very different problem. I’d be looking pretty hard at Agentforce Manufacturing.

Where is the complexity?

Is the hard part defining, developing, packaging, and controlling the product? Or is the hard part forecasting, selling, distributing, servicing, and maintaining the customer relationship? That answer tells you a lot.

And Sometimes the Answer Is Both

This is the scenario I find most interesting.

I can easily see an architecture where Specright manages the development and definition of the product, and Salesforce manages the commercial lifecycle.

There are obviously integration questions in the middle, but conceptually the boundary makes sense.

Specright becomes the source for what the product is. Salesforce becomes the platform for the customer’s relationship with that product.

One Thing Working With Specright Has Reminded Me

Salesforce architects have a dangerous phrase:
“We can build that.”
I’ve probably said it hundreds of times. And usually it’s true.

We can create custom objects. Build Flows. Add Apex where we need it. Put Experience Cloud in front of it. Give a good Salesforce team enough time, and we can build some pretty impressive things.

But that’s not really the question. The question is whether we should.

If I tried to reproduce everything Specright is doing around specifications, packaging, formulas, suppliers, Projects, BOMs, approvals, and all the relationships between them, I’d eventually have to admit what I was doing.  I’d be building a PLM system.

Likewise, I wouldn’t try to make Specright become Salesforce.

That’s probably my biggest takeaway from working with both.

I don’t really see this as Specright versus Agentforce Manufacturing. I see two platforms that happen to meet somewhere in the middle.
One knows a tremendous amount about the product. The other knows a tremendous amount about the customer and the business surrounding that product.

For a manufacturer trying to decide between them, I’d start there.

Need Help Connecting Specright and Salesforce?

If you’re a manufacturer trying to navigate the complexities of product definition versus commercial lifecycle management, you don’t have to do it alone. At EpiGrowth, we specialize in helping organizations understand where tools like Specright and Agentforce Manufacturing fit into their specific architecture.

Whether you’re looking to optimize your product data or streamline your customer engagement, we’re here to help you build the right foundation. Contact us today to discuss your manufacturing challenges.