This is a good summary of how the pieces fit together, but I'd push back a little on the assumption that more structure automatically means more efficiency. I've seen plenty of organizations write detailed SOPs and roll out ERP systems meant to unify inventory, finance, and production data, only to end up adding friction instead of removing it, mainly because the documentation gets created once and then never revisited as the actual workflow evolves on the ground.
The point about quality inspection catching errors early is the part I'd emphasize most. A lot of companies treat quality control as an end-of-line check rather than something embedded throughout the process, including inventory handling itself, which is exactly backwards if the goal is to avoid costly rework. Catching a defect or inventory discrepancy at the source is almost always cheaper than catching it after it's compounded through three more steps.
On ERP specifically: the "single platform" promise is real, but the implementation gap is where most of these projects struggle. Connecting finance, inventory, and production data sounds straightforward, but in practice it usually means months of data cleanup and reconciling inventory records before the visibility benefits actually show up. Curious whether others here have found ways to shorten that gap, or whether it's just an unavoidable cost of integration.