Comparison · CSB-System

CSB is enterprise-grade.
Keystone is for the producer who knows CSB is too big.

CSB-System is one of the most established food ERPs in Europe — ERP, MES, automation, BI, lab integration, plant-floor control. It is a serious platform for serious factories. The producers we typically talk to know all of that and have already concluded the same thing: CSB is too big for us, Excel is too risky, we need something in between.

For producers between €1M and €25M turnover — too big for Excel, too small for full ERP+MES
Pilots scoped to go live in 30 days vs typical 12–24 month CSB implementations
Keeps your existing accounts package — no ledger migration
Founder-led implementation, transparent pricing

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Where CSB belongs

Large factories with plant automation budgets.

CSB is excellent at what it does for the producers it is designed for: large food factories with weighing-line integration, automated packaging, ERP-grade costing, multi-site MRP, and the in-house IT capability to own a system of that depth. If you have a 7-figure IT budget and your operational complexity warrants ERP+MES on one platform, CSB is a credible choice.

Where Keystone belongs

In between Excel and a full ERP/MES project.

Production reality, not plant-floor automation

Keystone tracks batches, dispatches, COAs, pallet labels, traceability and customer SKUs — what your team manages by hand today. We do not pretend to do PLC integration.

Sits next to your accounts package

Sage, AccountsIQ, Xero, QuickBooks stay in place. No general-ledger migration, no year-end risk, no Mary-in-accounts retraining.

30 days vs 12-24 months

A CSB implementation is a multi-quarter project with consultants on-site. A Keystone pilot is live on real data in 30 days, fixed-fee.

Transparent pricing

€790/month standard, €1,290/month multi-site. CSB pricing is generally six figures up-front plus annual maintenance.

You can outgrow Keystone — that is fine

When you eventually need a full ERP+MES platform, Keystone exports your batch chain, dispatches and audit log cleanly. We will not hold your data hostage.

The honest verdict

CSB or Keystone — different categories.

If you are weighing CSB seriously, you probably have specific MES needs that Keystone does not solve — line-speed monitoring, OEE, recipe execution on the PLC. Choose CSB. If you are weighing CSB because you know Excel is failing, you have heard CSB mentioned at an industry event, and you are about to invest 12 months in a discovery and implementation cycle that will swallow your operations team — Keystone is built for exactly that gap.

FAQ

Questions buyers actually ask.

Will Keystone scale if we grow?

Comfortably to €25–€40M turnover with the standard architecture. Beyond that you may want to look at ERP+MES — and we will help you migrate cleanly when that day comes.

Does Keystone integrate with plant-floor PLCs?

No. That is genuinely CSB territory. Keystone is the operational layer between the floor and the accounts package.

What about lab data integration?

Yes — LIMS imports for per-batch QC values (pH, salt, moisture, fat, micro results) are supported. Auto-attach to COA on dispatch.

Can we run Keystone alongside CSB at one site?

Technically yes — Keystone for dispatch and COA, CSB for production. Most producers find this combination over-engineered.

How quickly can we go live?

Pilot in 30 days. Standard implementation €4,950–€16,500. Founder-led for the first 12 months.

Ready to see if Keystone fits your floor?

20-minute discovery call. No sales pitch. Written scope within 48 hours if we fit — referral to someone better if we don't.

Talk to us

CSB is enterprise-grade.Keystone is for the producer who knows CSB is too big.