Manufacturing software is a tool that provides functionality to plan and execute projects from beginning to end, while automating materials planning, production tracking and scheduling and product lifecycle management.Jump To All Products
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Recommendations: Sorts listings by the number of recommendations our advisors have made over the past 30 days. Our advisors assess buyers’ needs for free and only recommend products that meet buyers’ needs. Vendors pay Software Advice for these referrals. Reviews: Sorts listings by the number of user reviews we have published, greatest to least. Sponsored: Sorts listings by software vendors running active bidding campaigns, from the highest to lowest bid. Vendors who have paid for placement have a ‘Visit Website’ button, whereas unpaid vendors have a ‘Learn More’ button. Avg Rating: Sorts listings by overall star rating based on user reviews, highest to lowest. A to Z: Sorts listings by product name from A to Z.
With an integrated system that includes ERP, financials, commerce, inventory management, HR, PSA, supply chain management, CRM and more – NetSuite enables fast-growing businesses across all industries to work more effectively by a...Read more about NetSuite
ECI Shoptech brings together industry-leading solutions E2 SHOP and JobBOSS to create the next evolution in job shop business management: JobBOSS². Designed specifically for job shops and make-to-order manufacturers, JobBOSS² is a...Read more about JobBOSS²
Prodsmart is the SMB manufacturer’s gateway to digitization. It’s a complete, modular solution that gets any production environment ready for the future of manufacturing.
Prodsmart empowers SMBs with data. By gathering insight o...Read more about Prodsmart
24SevenOffice is a cloud-based Accounting and ERP system for small and mid-sized businesses. 24SevenOffice eliminates repetitive processes and greatly reduces the need to manually enter information. The system will also streamline...Read more about 24SevenOffice
Katana offers a manufacturing ERP that makes daily life easier for your business. Bring your manufacturing operations into a single platform for visibility over everything you do and data to make more informed business decisions.
...Read more about Katana Manufacturing ERP
Global Shop Solutions offers ERP software to serve clients across manufacturing industries of all sizes. The multi-modular application is comprised of independent modules for customer relationship management, inventory management,...Read more about Global Shop Solutions
QT9 ERP is a highly-scalable manufacturing platform for connecting and automating business data from multiple systems into one scalable and intuitive solution. QT9 ERP integrates inventory management, accounting management, sales ...Read more about QT9 ERP
Henning Software has helped small to midsize manufacturers and job shops for 30 years. Visual EstiTrack ERP has complete material requirements planning, product lifecycle, supply chain, customer relationship, human resource and ma...Read more about Visual EstiTrack
OptiProERP with SAP Business One is a complete ERP solution for small and midsize manufacturers and distributors. SAP Business One is an ERP platform designed for small and midsize companies with over 70,000 customers. OptiProERP ...Read more about OptiProERP with Sap Business One
Realtrac is an on-premise job management solution designed for job shop manufacturers and modular machine shops. It helps small and midsize manufacturers to schedule workflows, manage shop operations, track inventories, manage pur...Read more about REALTRAC
Infor VISUAL is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System with end-to-end functionality built for manufacturing organizations looking for a complete solution that supports the entire operational lifecycle, from planning to sour...Read more about Infor VISUAL
Mar-Kov CMS (Chemical Management System) is a cloud-based process manufacturing solution for process, batch, and formulation based manufacturers. The solution can also be installed on-premise to automate daily routine processes of...Read more about Mar-Kov Chemical Management System
aACE offers on-premise and cloud-based business management software for small and midsize businesses. Modules include accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), inventory management, or...Read more about aACE
Isolocity’s quality compliance software holistically integrates over a decade of experience using quality principles from internationally recognized standards such as ISO 9001:2015, GMP, and more. It harnesses the power of automat...Read more about Isolocity
uniPoint Quality Management Software is a modular on-premise quality management solution capable of integrating with other ERP systems. Built on Net Technology, a SQL database, and Crystal Reporting, this system is designed to gro...Read more about UniPoint Quality Management Software
Vicinity Software is a cloud-based or on-premise solution designed for process manufacturers with a specific focus on food & beverage (VicinityFood), chemical (VicinityChem) and breweries (VicinityBrew). Features include MRP, cent...Read more about Vicinity
Genius Solutions delivers a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, including software, implementation services, and field expertise for small to mid-sized custom manufacturers across the US and Canada. Genius ERP is...Read more about Genius ERP
Datacor ERP (formerly Chempax) is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) application designed specifically for chemical process manufacturers and distributors. The solution can ...Read more about Datacor ERP
SafetyChain is a Plant Management Platform that improves yield, maximizes productivity, and ensures compliance for process manufacturers. Trusted by over 1,500 facilities, SafetyChain is the only enterprise solution uniting produc...Read more about SafetyChain
Visibility ERP is a fully integrated and modern ERP solution designed to meet the unique needs of manufacturers of complex products (including To-Order, ETO, CTO, MTO, Project Based, Discrete and Hybrid). It provides manufacturers...Read more about Visibility ERP
Manufacturing software is a tool that provides functionality to plan and execute projects from beginning to end, while automating materials planning, production tracking and scheduling and product lifecycle management.
Benefits of Manufacturing Software
Manufacturing software provides your business with several tangible benefits, including the following:
Widens supply chain visibility. Manufacturing software (or an Enterprise Resource Planning system for manufacturing) can be integrated with other systems for a holistic view to make adjustments based on events throughout the supply chain.
Stronger production planning. Production processes can be optimized when manufacturers analyze data and identify actual costs and time needed to complete specific steps in the process.
Improved compliance management. Manufacturing software keeps a record of activities in the system, including materials used, maintenance tasks and safety measures, which helps you prove compliance during audits.
Competitive Advantages of Using Manufacturing Software
Our digital world requires that businesses adopt a sufficient level of technology just to remain competitive. Manufacturing software designed for your specific type of production helps your company:
Scale your business. If you only have 100 contacts to deal with, then you might be able to keep all of their information straight using a simple Excel spreadsheet, or even pen and paper. Larger companies, however, deal with thousands or potentially millions of contacts and customers, which require CRM software in order to keep that information well-organized and accessible.
Operate more efficiently. When everyone in your company has access to your customer and contact data, you can deal with those customers more efficiently and avoid the dangers of over or under-contacting them. You can also track those interactions and analyze that data for more efficient resource planning.
Protect valuable intellectual property. A manufacturer's most valuable asset is usually their method of production, not the product itself. Software helps preserve and protect these trade secrets when combined with proper security tools.
Business Segments Using Manufacturing Software
Manufacturing software is used by many businesses, across a variety of production types. Each company has its own needs, but you'll likely fall into one of the following segments:
Industrial machinery. These types of manufacturers produce a wide variety of equipment or materials used for machinery or infrastructure, typically for other companies or organizations.
Food and beverage. Producers of food and beverages have stricter regulations and guidelines to follow to ensure product quality, and more importantly, safety and compliance.
Electronics. Electronic device production usually involves partnering with a number of third-parties to perform certain processes or supply parts and materials produced elsewhere. Managing these relationships is crucial to this segment.
Features Guide
A List of Common Manufacturing Features
When comparing manufacturing software, it's important to understand the functionality included in each. The most common functions of these systems are listed in the table below:
Automates the front end of the production process. Functions include planning and costing of materials, labor and equipment; automated quoting; order processing and resource scheduling. Systems should also process advanced shipping notification from suppliers to reduce receiving errors and report any changes in cycle counts for inventory management.
Controls the actual production phase and shop floor operations. Functions include work-in-progress reporting, production tracking, labor tracking, equipment utilization and scrap reporting.
Manages all of the financial transactions and operations for a company. In addition to the traditional accounting functions, which include general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory and payroll, the accounting application offers support for sales orders, purchase orders, change orders, work-in-progress reports and job costing modules.
Creates production schedules, which includes reviewing inventory levels, tracking lead times and making build-versus-buy decisions. This is a subset of MRP; planning and scheduling does not generally include automatic ordering or inventory tracking functionality.
Product life cycle management (PLM)
Organizes all manufacturing information around the designing, producing, supporting and disposing of manufactured goods. May include computer-aided design software, bill of materials data and document management.
Feature Details and Examples
Material requirements planning (MRP): An MRP functions to ensure the various factors that make up the final process and product come together, which involves a bill of materials, labor and equipment costs, reordering for inventory, scheduling production tasks for machines and generating quotes. An MRP is fundamentally used to manage all of the events that drive production efficiency.
Manufacturing execution system (MES): A manufacturing execution system is specifically designed to help companies optimize their production efficiency and quality. An MES takes and executes the production plan created in the MRP, which includes the bill of materials, schedules for production machines, inventory requirements and more. The system also tracks machine use so scheduling can be maximized.
Manufacturing accounting: This functionality manages all the financial records of the company, focusing on the costs and revenue from production. Some items are specific to the manufacturing process—such as sales orders, purchase orders, change orders, work-in-progress reports and job costing modules. When integrated with an ERP or standalone accounting software, this gives you a valuable view into the financial impact of production.
Production planning and scheduling: This feature works to help companies make more analytics-driven decisions about dividing up work, based on available capacity instead of just total capacity. This way, managers can prioritize jobs that are more critical to the business and shift others around intelligently. This functionality is particularly useful for make-to-order or highly complex manufacturing processes.
Manufacturing Software Buyers' Top Requested Features
Software buyers typically ask for a few key features most often—ones like MRP and MES, which are manufacturing-specific. Accounting, quality management and supply chain-related functionality are requested to compliment the core systems.
Top Requested Manufacturing Software Features
Pricing Guide
How Manufacturing Software Is Priced and Hosted
Due to the specificity of needs and requirements for which manufacturing software is developed, companies can almost always find a system that fits their budget and deployment model. However, manufacturing vendors don't publish full pricing details on their websites and instead ask you to call for a price quote based on your company's needs.
Pricing models run the gamut, from subscription-based models paid monthly to one-time, upfront payments. While cloud-based software is a popular choice for most industries today, the traditional on-premise deployment—where the vendor installs the system on your hardware—can offer greater control over the data produced on your shop floor.
Alternatively, the cloud-based model offers a greater level of convenience and (typically) a much lower upfront cost.
What Businesses Typically Budget for Manufacturing Software
Looking at a recent sample of manufacturers who call us for software, most (77 percent) say they don't have a preference between cloud or on-premise systems. That's normal—these buyers usually want to weigh other factors before deciding on how the system is delivered.
Cloud-based software is very often subscription-based, but vendors may have monthly pricing or perpetual license for both types of deployment. During discussions with our software advisors, buyers relayed their expected budgets for each pricing model:
(Please note that these prices do not include any potential up-front fees, such as installation and training.)
Budget for Manufacturing Software, Monthly Subscription Per User
Budget for Manufacturing Software, Perpetual License
Hidden Costs of Manufacturing Software
Due to the complexity of a manufacturing environment, a handful of hidden costs exist in the form of services that get the system to perform the way you want and to help your employees and managers to use it correctly.
Training and support services are critical to the long-term value of the system, including hands-on instructions and ongoing upgrades.
Installation costs are likely required so the vendor can help integrate the system with your specific manufacturing situation.
Customization may be necessary to tweak the user interface or make other changes to avoid cumbersome workarounds. This can increase the total cost.
Vendors may also provide hardware, such as sensors or controllers for more visibility and remote management, which are separate purchases.
FAQs
What Are the Key Functions of Manufacturing Software?
To recap, manufacturing software offers some key functionality:
Manufacturing execution system (MES). Gives users control over shop floor operations and tracks key performance indicators for labor, production and asset usage.
Manufacturing accounting. Keeps a record of financial transactions—a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, inventory, payroll and more.
Production planning and scheduling. Helps create production plans while factoring in inventory levels, existing jobs and real-time machine capacity for a more realistic schedule.
What Questions Should I Ask Vendors When Evaluating Manufacturing Products?
Demos of the system can give you a feel for whether the product is a good fit. Evaluate manufacturing software carefully and ask questions based on your specific needs, production type and business goals.
Some of these questions may include:
What features of your system are particularly useful for my type of manufacturing?
Depending on your production situation, you may be able to distinguish among a few top products by the functionality that is designed for your needs.
What parts of the software do users most frequently report problems with?
It's important to get a sense of the common issues users have with the system. This can reveal ongoing problems and the strengths and weaknesses of the vendor's support services.
What are the set-up costs for the software?
This question is especially important for manufacturing vendors. You'll likely need some help integrating the system properly due to the complexity of a manufacturing setting.
What are some popular add-on modules or hardware?
Most vendors offer extra modules that add niche or advanced functionality. Make sure to ask vendors about these options to understand which are most valuable to customers similar to you.
What Are the Differences Among MRP, MRPII and ERP?
The manufacturing software market is evolving, leading to multiple systems with overlapping functionality. It can be confusing, but we have research to make things more clear: MRP vs. MRP II: What's the Difference?
How Can I Develop a List of Manufacturing Needs?
We've delved into the vast amount of options for manufacturing software buyers and laid them out in a couple of reports about ERP modules and ERP feature comparison. Review our research and create a list of necessary features and those you want to implement later.
What Can Enterprise Vendors Offer?
Maybe you're a larger manufacturer and need something robust to help keep your operations healthy. Software giant SAP provides solutions for thousands of companies, but their competitors could be your best option. This report includes a breakdown of SAP's major competitors: Top SAP Competitors: The Best SAP Alternatives for Your Business
Tips & Tools
Relevant Articles
Here are some recent articles about manufacturing software you should check out:
The manufacturing software landscape includes a set of highly-related, but specialized, systems that can be used alone or in combination with your manufacturing software to help you meet business goals:
Material Requirement Planning (MRP) Software: Material requirement planning software provides core functionality that includes cost estimating, materials and production planning and forecasting. Systems may also offer features to generate price quotes and support discrete or engineer-to-order manufacturing processes.
Manufacturing Execution System (MES): Manufacturing execution systems support quality assurance and improvement focused on the production line. Included features allow companies to analyze asset performance to correct inefficiencies.
Manufacturing Accounting Software: Accounting software for manufacturing offers core financial management features, such as a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, inventory and payroll. Industry-specific features like job costing and work-in-progress reports are also included.
Manufacturing Production Planning and Scheduling Software: Manufacturing planning and scheduling software helps production managers by using mathematical models to better simulate and understand the production environment. More advanced than standard MRP tools, best-of-breed manufacturing planning and scheduling platforms help improve production efficiency with apps for capacity scheduling, varied scheduling priorities and forecasting for what-if scenarios.
Manufacturing Inventory Management Software: Inventory management software for manufacturing assists in tracking production components, spare parts and expendable materials to reduce carrying costs and optimize quantities on hand.
