Are you looking to buy new manufacturing software? We have compiled a list of the top systems on the market. Our reviews will help you understand which system is best suited to your needs.
Manufacturing software is an essential part of the manufacturing industry, and it is not as simple to choose one. To pick the right software for your company, you need to conduct a detailed market research. We will help you to find out about best and cheap products in this area.
An open source production scheduling software, Frepple’s Software as a Service (SaaS) tool is a simple integration that sits on top of existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Its planning and scheduling feature sets offer enhancements on traditional ERP functions, without needing largescale changes. FrePPle’s APIs allow it to be hosted on the cloud making it accessible for a variety of businesses ranging from healthcare to FMCG manufacturing.
Specifically targeting mid-size organizations, FrePPle helps evade costly software implementation or unmanageable production worksheets. The production scheduling tool takes less than 12 weeks to implement for businesses, costing less than a six-digit sum.
The Paris-based company has three-tiers in its pricing model, all billed annually. It also offers training and implementation as part of an overall package.
Source – FrePPle
Some of the features of the open source production scheduling software are as follows –
- Reporting dashboard with data visualization tools
- Rescheduling with a drag-and-drop interface for resources
- Predictive delivery date scheduling (Due date quoting)
- Data-Driven MRP (DDMRP)
- Production simulation (What-if Scenario analysis)
- Bottleneck analysis
- Customer prioritization based on order size, demand, and delivery date
- Predictive capacity calculation
- Four modes/techniques of production scheduling
- Heuristic solver algorithm
An open source production scheduling software, OpenPro offers a wide range of manufacturing solutions ranging from a master scheduler to an efficient resource planner. Particularly efficient in the long-range planning of manufacturing scheduling, the production planning software has created tools to manage resources and capacity spread over multiple geographies.
The USA-based organization also caters to correlated products such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). It’s Capacity Resource Planning (CRP) arm helps estimate the resources and corresponding load required to fulfill demand. It helps reduce inventory and bottlenecks, driving up efficiency.
Source – Open Pro
Some of the features of this open source production scheduling software are as follows –
- Up to three-year Demand and Purchase forecasting & Planning
- Analytics Reporting Dashboard
- Visualized reporting formats
- MRP Process Tools – BOM, BOP, MFG Calendar, Work Orders
- Inventory Control Centre
- Document Imaging
- Arrangement of products into product families (Groups) to facilitate billing and costing
- Tracking of Payables to vendors
- Web-hosted platform
- Access Control and User Authentication
- Automatic Scheduling
- Track different manufacturing modes such as Make-to-Stock, Make-to-Order, and Assemble-to-Order
Axelor is an open source production scheduling software that is marketed as an alternative to expensive ERP solution sets, with its characteristics – modularity, innovativeness, and scalability – bearing the hallmarks of a BPM software.
This Production Scheduling App helps users simplify nomenclatures for business process requirements while using a sophisticated calculator tool to help place purchase orders. Axelor quickly calculates resource capacity to prevent production cuts, while tracking the use of raw materials in produced goods and scrap to help you better manage inventory. Overall, the Paris-based company making Manufacturing Planning Software leaves you in total control of and planning and production procedure.
Source – Axelor
Some notable features of the Open source production Scheduling software are as follows –
- Multiple Module integration (Marketing, Supply Chain, HR, and Financial Management)
- Reporting and Analytics Dashboard
- Visualized Reporting
- Production queue module to track the flow of goods and raw material
- Resource efficiency and utilization Calculator
- Historical calendar of production planning
- Smart System to group products by category sales forecasts, or even firm sale
- Easy formulation of purchase/production orders
- Order customization wizard (Works with multiple variances of BOM)
UniPoint
UniPoint is a frontrunner in the field of quality management software (QMS) for manufacturing companies. It offers ERP-integrated QMS that is suitable for a number of industries such as medical, food and beverage, automotive, and chemical, among others. UniPoint’s diverse tools are split in three modules: core, add-on and web, all of which help companies automate their quality control.
Within the core modules, you can benefit from features like non-conformance, corrective and preventive action, and document control. The add-on modules will also provide you with inspection, auditing, health and safety, and validation, among others. With the web modules, you can move to mobile QMS with mobile inspection and web requests.
Pricing: Available upon request
JobBOSS
JobBOSS comes with several features that make it a useful tool for manufacturing teams of all sizes. Like most powerful ERP platforms, its capabilities are built around making the manufacturing process more efficient, and saving you valuable time.
At a glance, JobBOSS’ toolkit covers all the essential aspects of manufacturing management. Its features include order processing, inventory management, cost analysis, plus a number of optional add-ons like quality control and accounting. JobBOSS also integrates with QuickBooks and Sage 50.
Pricing: JobBOSS has three pricing plans: Core, Premium, and Enterprise. For more information, get in touch with their sales team.
Accounting software for manufacturing
Manufacturing accounting software helps manufacturers manage financial transactions and the operation of the business. This software assists with accounting processes like accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, and payroll. This software is usually offered as part of an ERP suite of software that can manage the entire operation of the business.
Advantages: Manufacturing accounting software gives updates in real time and allows multiple users to access financial data and client information. It streamlines processes and automates re-ordering. It creates reporting consistency through established workflows and standardised file formats.
Disadvantages: This software relies on information being entered accurately. It is not always a cost-effective solution for smaller SMEs.
Who is manufacturing accounting software best for? Professional accountants and bookkeepers. Large manufacturers with in-house accounting teams.
Manufacturing businesses use inventory software to reduce holding costs – and make their business more efficient and profitable overall
Manufacturing cost estimating software
Cost estimating software helps managers cost and estimate hundreds of manufacturing processes. This software simplifies and streamlines the estimating process to support consistent and accurate pricing.
Advantages: This software takes the hard work out of cost estimating. It improves the accuracy of pricing raw materials, purchased goods and external services. It means there is quicker turnaround of quotes, which can result in higher win rates.
Disadvantages: As with other manufacturing systems, cost estimating software can be expensive to implement, and requires staff training. Market fluctuations can lead to changes to prices, and these will have to be updated frequently.
Who is manufacturing cost estimating software best for? Original equipment manufacturers. Aerospace, civil construction, engineering, facilities maintenance and mining manufacturers.
Food & beverage manufacturing software
Food & beverage manufacturing software allows manufacturers in this sector to track raw materials, production batches, perishable stock and expiry dates. It consolidates and automates processes and workflows. This makes tasks simpler and leads to greater productivity. It provides business insights so that decisions can be made based on accurate data.
Advantages: This software is able to manage inventory, quality assurance, recipes and batch scaling. It can help forecast seasonal demand, and optimise the supply chain management process. It can track suppliers, batches and expiry dates to improve food safety. This ensures compliance with food regulations and avoidance of expensive errors – like shipping food with ingredients past their use-by date.
Disadvantages: Many of these software systems are still on-premise, meaning upfront installation costs and system maintenance. Cloud-based options are available that reduce these costs. For both types of software, staff training and data migration are required.
Who is food & beverage manufacturing software best for? Food and beverage manufacturers, hospitality, FMCG manufacturers.
Preventive maintenance software for manufacturing
Preventive maintenance software is a key component of CMMS that deals with preventive maintenance, rather than remedial or future maintenance. Preventive maintenance software simplifies the scheduling of regular maintenance. It allows a business to categorise the tasks necessary to ensure the efficient operation of manufacturing facilities and equipment.
Advantages: Preventive maintenance reduces plant and equipment failures. It therefore cuts down repair costs. It helps maximise manufacturing resources, reduce downtime, and reduce the overall cost of asset maintenance. Equipment and machinery have a longer lifespan.
Disadvantages: The system can be costly to implement. The cost of labour and parts to perform preventive maintenance is ongoing. There is a risk of over-maintenance without adding value.
Who is preventive maintenance software best for? The oil & gas, energy, food & beverage, manufacturing and IT industries.
Manufacturing process management software
Manufacturing process management software centralises information on how goods are manufactured to make production processes more efficient and responsive. The software is designed to automate manufacturing operations from production planning, stock availability, inventory tracking, allocation of resources and delegation of tasks.
Advantages: Manufacturing process management software brings lower labour costs, greater efficiency, and higher profits. Automation standardises production processes and reduces human error. The software simplifies cost allocation and provides real-time inventory stock levels.
Disadvantages: The migration of data from manual systems is time consuming. Separating workflows and processes can result in poor communication.
Who is manufacturing process management software best for? Manufacturers that produce standardised items in bulk. The construction and healthcare industries.
Manufacturers that produce items in bulk use manufacturing process management software to automate their manufacturing processes
Conclusion
we review some of the best manufacturing software currently available. These include applications for everything from material requirements planning and manufacturing resource planning to enterprise resource planning and enterprise production scheduling.