Itrack MES review

When we decided to move our manufacturing processes from Contract Manufacturers to our captive facility we needed an MES to obtain visibility of the activity on the production floor. We assemble opto-electronic components using semiconductor assembly tools. Yield and throughput is critical as is material trace-ability and serialization. I was familiar with some of the larger commercially available MES and EPR systems but from prior experience was aware of the software maintenance these systems required. I came across Itrack and was pleasantly surprised by the minimal support requirements, ease of set-up and ease of maintenance and ease of adaptability to our processes. We have been using Itrack for 3+ years are are continuing to implement additional functionality as our business requirements change.

Pros

The software provides real time information. In a fast paced manufacturing environment defects or miss-processes are costly and impact large amount of work-in-progress. Itrack provides visibility and enables decision making. The Dashboards can be set up for shop-floor supervisor / lead level with detailed tactical lot information as well as set up for the executive level with aggregated view by product families, as well as anywhere in between. The system is flexible and adaptable to many manufacturing industries where material trace-ability, yield, efficiency and equipment utilization are critical to the companies success.

Best MES I've used

I've used multiple MES Platforms for microelectronics manufacturing and R&D applications as an Engineer. I've also evaluated several for purchase. ToolTrack takes the cake for being good at all of it - even over the ones costing orders of magnitude more. Has the rare duality of being flexible enough for R&D tracking/processing, yet still user-friendly on the manufacturing floor. Scalability is another strong point - for a startup or small business, ToolTrack serves as a capable and cost-friendly system which can easily scale as your company grows. I've found MES entry to be difficult for a startup or small company - if you buy a system you can afford early, it likely won't scale as the company grows, and switching MES's is never fun. But a large-scale MES too early is too expensive, cumbersome and inflexible. Wait too long to get an MES, and you've likely kludged a home-grown 'system'. Finally, the support is fantastic - the folks at I-Track have years of experience in high volume manufacturing and R&D environments, and are eager to help solve your problems. And they are pleasant (even fun!) to work with.

Pros

Usability, flexibility, cost, support. Everything I need and nothing I don't, at a very reasonable price.

Cons

None, really - anything that you don't like or that doesn't seem to work well for you can easily be changed for you!

Control of volume manufacturing optical electronics

Pros

A user friendly interface for managing raw materials consumption into sub assemblies and then the final product.
The ability to create and configure our business and product specific data, via a Super User back end in real time, without having to log a request with the developers.
The options available within I-Track to view reports and access to all of the data for easy download of CSV files.
Ian clearly has an understanding of manufacturing and process control, which helps considerably when we are discussing and developing Continuous Improvements for the business.

Cons

The core product itself, and the requirements given by the business to I-Track at the beginning, have given the business what we have asked for so far - so no problems there.
One area that would help the business would be a quicker turn around for enhancement / development requests. As an individual, I can understand how some tasks can be time consuming and workload requests can pile up. The business leaders however, expect requests and solutions to be delivered in a quick turnaround time.
Having said that, Ian is always supportive and positive with his dealings with us.

I-Track has been great to work with. ToolTrack has an easy-to-use interface with deep capability.

Before we had ToolTrack we were tracking our operation with a combination of paper and spreadsheets. Now I can easily log into the system from anywhere and find real-time status. I can easily pull data from the system to generate all the reports.

Pros

Incredible customer support! They strive to respond within a day for small bugs. For larger issues, such as adding features and customizing reports to meet our specific needs, they have been incredibly responsive.

Cons

Has limited capability for SPC data collection and chart generating. They have worked with us to improve the functionality, but interface is still clunky.

A Great Tool

This is a great tool for keeping track of WIP, Equipment status, Quality Assurance and so much more. Now that we have been using it for a while, its hard to imagine trying to keep track of paper trails. I love being able to customize the features so that they are exactly what we need. It has saved us an enormous amount of time that would otherwise be spent hunting down paperwork. Our business has such specialized projects that we didn't think we would ever be able to find a tracking system that would meet our special needs. We have been very happy with how the system is evolving into the perfect tracker for our company. Thank you!

Easy to use & a huge help to our business

We engaged them to create a specialized document & part number, change control system for us. They have done a fantastic job of putting a system together that is very easy to use and easy to administrate. We also asked for added functionality which they are providing quickly. The system is easy to log in to and easy to search and find what you need. This is helpful for other employees who don't use a document control system on a regular basis. We are very happy with the product so far!

Pros

Easy to use, easy to access, has a pleasing and intuitive presentation.
Any issues or bugs were resolved quickly.
Can access from anywhere.
Very nimble and flexible.

Cons

nothing

The system covered what we needed.

Pros

Customer support service is excellent! I get prompt and precise response to my questions every single time! When I encountered issues with the software or if I needed extra add-on features, I would get them relatively quickly. At the start, we had our routes, operations, recipes etc...arranged in spreadsheets and Ian (the system architect) uploaded these information into the I-track which saved us a bunch of time.

Cons

I think the system could be made a tad bit more user-friendly in some areas. An example would be in the data entry section where the data type (parametric, general, date etc...) have to be entered in corresponding columns.

This software is great for improving operations and visibility in manufacturing/assembly processes.

Pros

ToolTrack has a lot of functionality at a great price and with great customer support.

Cons

There is nothing I do not like about this software.

We are very happy with the product so far.

We were in the market for a MES for document control, consumable trace-ability, statistical process control, and reporting. ToolTrack delivered on all of these aspects and more. I have found that ToolTrack is a very powerful tool with many added features that will come in handy as our company grows.

Pros

Ease of use
Great customer service
Customization
Low cost

Cons

Excellent Product and Service

We choose ToolTrack not only because of the functionality and user-friendly features, but because of the customer service we have received from the team. We are valued, they focus on details and understanding your needs, and in turn have provided us with exactly what we were looking for to fulfill current and future business needs.

Pros

Customization is amazing and quick.

Cons

There's a few things I have to have the software team update that I can't, but in reality, it's probably safer that way.

Gets the job done

We are using this for document control. We're able to maintain historical copies, route changes for approval, and assure only the current version is readily available. Notifications can be set up tailored to people's roles and responsibilities. It's no Agile document control system, but gets the job done and has a very easy learning curve.

Pros

Ease of use. Easy learning curve.