Work orders and capacity
Plan per machine and per shift, with the effect of an urgent order calculated on the spot instead of estimated. Whoever decides sees the impact before confirming to the client.
Custom ERP for manufacturing and production
Production planning, quality control and batch traceability designed around how your shop floor actually works, not around the model a generic product assumes.
Why generic ERPs fail in production
A market ERP assumes a production model. The problem is that almost no factory works exactly like the model: there is the client who demands an extra check, the product that passes twice through the same machine, the subcontracting that enters mid-process.
The outcome is familiar. You buy the ERP, customise it as far as it goes, and the rest stays in parallel spreadsheets nobody can eliminate. The factory ends up with two sources of truth and neither is complete.
What a custom ERP solves
- The real process, including the exceptions that are part of daily life and that the generic product treats as errors.
- End-to-end batch traceability, from material received to product shipped, the kind auditors ask for.
- Shop floor data in real time, not typed in at the end of the shift from a paper sheet.
The problem: the factory runs on spreadsheets
Planning is in one sheet, quality control in another, and traceability only exists in filed paper. When a client asks which material went into a specific batch, someone spends the morning looking. And when a machine stops, rescheduling depends on whoever has the board in their head.
Signs you are at this point
- The production plan is rebuilt by hand every time an urgent order comes in.
- Production data only reaches the system the next day, when someone types it in.
- A quality complaint means searching physical archives to reconstruct the batch.
- The real cost of a work order is only known weeks after it is finished.
What comes under control
The goal is not digitising everything at once. It is bringing under control the points where margin is lost today without anyone knowing why.
Recording as it happens
Production reporting, times and stoppages logged at the workstation, with an interface designed for people with their hands full rather than for someone at a desk.
Checks and non-conformities
Control plans per product, non-conformities logged with photos and a linked corrective action, and history searchable by batch or by client.
Real cost per work order
Material, machine time and labour charged to the order as they happen, so margin is known at the end of the production run and not at the end of the quarter.
With what the factory already has
A production ERP does not live alone. It connects to accounting, to invoicing and, where they exist, to the equipment already producing data.
- Accounting and invoicing: Primavera, PHC, Sage and Moloni
- Equipment and PLCs that export production data
- Scales, barcode readers and shop floor terminals
- Client systems requiring electronic exchange of orders or certificates
- Existing spreadsheets, migrated rather than abandoned overnight
Continuity and ownership
A production system is critical: if it stops, the factory stops. So delivery includes what is needed for you not to depend on anyone.
- Code, infrastructure and database handed over to your company.
- Technical documentation and training, so the internal team can maintain the essentials.
- Change history and traceability prepared for audit.
- Data hosted in the European Union, with permissions by profile and by workstation.
- A continuity plan agreed before go-live.
How it is implemented
Never all at once. Start with the module that solves the most expensive pain and extend with the factory already using it.
- 01
Diagnosis
30 to 45 minute session, freeWe map the real production flow, where the spreadsheets are and what costs most to have out of control.
- 02
On-site study
3 to 4 weeksFollowing the process on the factory floor, with the people producing. Prototype of the shop floor screens before code. Scope and investment fixed.
- 03
First module
10 to 16 weeksBuild and go-live of the chosen module, with demos every 2 weeks and testing on real work orders.
- 04
Next modules
Depends on scopeExtension to planning, quality or costing, with the factory already using the first module and giving feedback on it.
Investment
Reference bands upfront. The exact figure is fixed in the proposal, after the on-site study, and does not change midway.
First module
€25,000 to €45,000
One module in production, typically work orders with shop floor reporting, integrated with invoicing. 10 to 16 weeks.
Production ERP
€45,000 to €100,000
Planning, quality, traceability and costing, integrated with existing equipment. 16 to 32 weeks.
Evolution
On proposal
The first 3 months of support are included. After that, ongoing support with an agreed response priority.
Frequently asked questions about custom manufacturing ERP
If your process fits the product model, buying is cheaper and faster. Building pays off when the customisations needed cost more than the product itself, when process exceptions force you to keep parallel spreadsheets, or when per-user licensing becomes unworkable once you extend to the shop floor.
No. Go-live happens module by module and in parallel with the current process, with a period where both run. The old one is only switched off when the new one produces the same numbers.
It depends what they export. Recent equipment usually has a way to expose data; older equipment may need intermediate hardware or assisted manual logging. This is assessed during the on-site study and anything not possible is stated before the proposal.
It is one of the central points. The system records the link between material received, batch produced and shipment, with searchable and exportable history. If your clients require specific certificates or formats, that goes into the study.
The first module typically takes 10 to 16 weeks after 3 to 4 weeks of on-site study. We do not promise less: a production system that goes live in a hurry and fails costs more than having waited.
Next step
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