Macola ERP (ECI Software Solutions)
| Vendor | ECI Software Solutions |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Fort Worth, TX, USA (Macola heritage: Ohio) |
| Ownership | ECI Software Solutions, privately held and private-equity-backed |
| Deployment | On-premises (Windows/SQL Server); partner or ECI hosting; no SaaS version |
| Support status | No announced end of life; Progression, ES, and Macola 10 remain supported, but ECI markets Macola to existing customers only (vendor product page, as of August 2026) and steers new buyers to JobBOSS2, M1, and Deacom. Last major release: Macola 10.7 (April 2018). |
| Target market | Small and midsize US manufacturers and distributors (existing customers only) |
| Industries | Discrete manufacturing, wholesale distribution |
| Pricing | Not published; existing-customer maintenance and licensing quoted by ECI |
| Website | ecisolutions.com/products/macola |
What Macola is
Macola is a long-established ERP for small and midsize US manufacturers and wholesale distributors, owned today by ECI Software Solutions. Three generations carry the name: Macola Progression, Macola ES, and Macola 10. ECI treats the line as an installed-base product. Support continues, but the vendor no longer promotes Macola to new buyers and points prospective manufacturing customers to other ERP lines in its portfolio instead.
Company and product background
The product originated in Ohio in the early 1970s and became one of the better-known midwestern ERP brands for SMB manufacturing. The Dutch software group Exact acquired the company in 2001, and for years it went to market as Exact Macola. In 2017 Exact sold its US Specialized Solutions division, which held Macola, JobBOSS, and MAX, to private-equity-backed ECI Software Solutions of Fort Worth, Texas. The last major release under ECI was Macola 10.7 in April 2018, adding a flexible extension layer, expanded APIs, and user-experience improvements. Everything since has been maintenance and compliance work rather than new functional depth.
Functional scope
Financials cover general ledger, payables, and receivables. Distribution adds order entry, purchasing, and inventory control. Manufacturing brings bills of material, MRP, shop-floor reporting, and standard costing. Macola 10 layers workflow, document management, and a configurable interface on the ES foundation, and its API set lets integrators connect e-commerce, EDI, and shipping systems. Older Progression installations still sit on a legacy technology stack, which is frequently what finally triggers a replacement project.
Target market and industries
The installed base is mainly US small and midsize discrete manufacturers and wholesale distributors, historically strongest in the Midwest and the eastern half of the country. Many sites have run Macola for decades, usually with heavy customization and third-party add-ons. That history explains both the loyalty of the base and the complexity of any eventual migration.
Delivery is on-premises on Microsoft Windows and SQL Server, with hosting available through ECI and channel partners; no SaaS edition exists. ECI does not publish pricing. Existing customers negotiate maintenance or subscription renewals individually, and additional users or modules are quoted through ECI or longtime Macola resellers.
Where it wins, where it loses
This is a textbook legacy-ERP situation: supported, no announced end of life, effectively closed to new business, and receiving little new development. Anyone shopping for ERP today can skip it, because it is not offered to new customers in the first place. For companies already running it, the software still works, and the honest question is a different one: how long should a product without an active functional roadmap anchor daily operations? Sites on Progression have the weakest position, since the underlying technology stack is the oldest part of the family. ECI offers in-house paths to JobBOSS2 for job shops, M1 for discrete manufacturers, and Deacom for process manufacturers, which simplifies the commercial conversation while narrowing the field before evaluation even starts; competing vendors court the Macola base for good reason. Begin any move with a structured selection process and a sober estimate of data migration effort, because decades of transaction history usually live in these databases.
What the Macola ERP (ECI Software Solutions) website looks like
Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.
