Watts Water Technologies Inc. was a provincial company for nearly a century. But that changed when the North Andover, Mass.-based manufacturer launched an aggressive global push in the 1980s. Today, China has become an indispensable part of the $860 million company's supply chain for North American operations.

In the past six years, Watts has saved $20 million by reducing inventory, a feat made possible by the supply chain visibility its ERP system enables. "We needed to increase the frequency and velocity of our supply chain," says Anton ter Meulen, vice president of information and strategic planning. "We were able to learn this because we've essentially got all our [North American] data in one database, which gives us much better vendor and supply-chain information."

Globalization is not just for Fortune 100 manufacturers anymore. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, the number of small to midsized U.S. manufacturers that export more than 10% of their product has tripled in the last 10 years. Midsized manufacturers seeking to globalize must meet the same challenges that the enterprise titans do, yet their budgets and IT staffs are tiny by comparison. They also don't enjoy the benefit of decades of international experience.