Manufacturing Management Software
A unified product that combines an MES layer with an ERP core. Shop-floor terminals write to the same database where BOMs, routings and orders live — so you see real OEE, real scrap and real lot balances at the moment they happen on the floor.
MES on top of ERP — what it really means
ERP answers "what should we produce and when". MES answers "what is actually happening on the machine right now". Most plants buy one and stitch it to the other with Excel. We ship them as one product — no sync jobs, no late reporting, no gap between plan and reality.
What the system covers
Production orders (MO)
Auto-explosion from sales orders or forecasts, batches and child orders, released / in-progress / completed states with a full audit trail.
Multi-level BOMs
Variants, substitutes, phantom components and engineering change orders. Versions are preserved — you know which BOM produced any serial 18 months ago.
Routings and operations
Work centers, setup and cycle times, drawings and SOPs at the operator terminal. The operator sees what to do, not waits for the foreman.
Shop-floor scheduling and CRP
Finite capacity scheduling, work-center Gantt, automatic re-plan on breakdown or late material. Planners work with reality.
Real-time OEE
Availability, performance and quality computed automatically from machine and operator data. Exact OEE per shift, machine and product.
Scrap, rework and traceability
Scrap by cause, rework routes, real-time material consumption and lot/serial traceability from raw material to dispatch.
Who this manufacturing software fits
Discrete manufacturing
Furniture, metalworking and electromechanical shops with multi-level BOMs and serial numbers. The system tracks actual cycle time against standards and flags when a standard drifts before it costs margin.
Process manufacturing
Food, cosmetics and chemicals — recipes with yields, shelf life and temperature profiles. Recalls identify affected customers in under 15 minutes with full FSSC 22000-grade traceability.
Make-to-order workshops
Mixed high-configurability orders — made-to-measure furniture, project-based industrial equipment. A configurator generates BOM and routing automatically from the selected options, before the invoice prints.
How we build the MES + ERP system
The stack is chosen for a real shop floor: PostgreSQL + TimescaleDB for business and time-series machine data in one database, MQTT and OPC UA for direct machine and PLC integration, REST APIs and webhooks, React/Next.js for the web console and Android terminals at work centers. One source of truth — no sync between MES and ERP, because they are a single product.
For machine connectivity we use OPC UA where vendors support it (Siemens, Beckhoff, Mitsubishi, Bosch) and MQTT through an edge gateway for older machines with discrete I/O. Work-center terminals are rugged Android tablets with barcode scanners — the operator scans the order and serial, taps "start", and the system reports the rest automatically.
Rollout follows four stages: 1) Discovery — 2-3 days on site; 2) MVP — production orders, BOM, terminals (6-8 weeks); 3) Machine integration — OPC UA/MQTT, OEE monitoring (3-4 weeks); 4) Expansion — planning, quality, accounting integration. See our API integrations service.
The system typically runs alongside warehouse management software for inbound and finished goods, and sometimes service management software for after-sales support.
Why Saitami for your manufacturing management software
OEE in 6 months
Average OEE uplift after real-time monitoring goes live — measured on metalworking and food production deployments.
Scrap via early detection
In-process QC at every operation and automatic out-of-spec blocks stop bad lots in the first hour, not after packaging.
Starting investment
Fixed price for the MVP phase, no per-user licensing, no hidden subscription. Source code and database stay your property.
See also our custom ERP development and business process automation for manufacturers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is MES different from ERP for manufacturing?
ERP runs the plan — orders, BOMs, materials, invoices, costing. MES runs execution — which operator started which operation on which machine, with what scrap and downtime reason. Our production software fuses both layers into one database, so the plan and reality never drift apart and you never need ETL between two products.
Can the system read data directly from machines?
It can. We support OPC UA for modern CNC, injection molding and PLCs (Siemens, Beckhoff, Mitsubishi, Bosch) and MQTT via edge gateway for older machines with discrete I/O. The system records cycles, faults, downtime and serial-level output automatically. Where no machine protocol exists, an operator terminal replaces paper with three taps.
Is this manufacturing software suitable for small shops?
It fits shops with 5-15 employees and up. The MVP scope is deliberately light — production orders, BOM and one terminal per work center. Operators learn it in half a day, and the owner sees OEE and scrap live from a phone. Machine integration is an optional phase two.
How much does manufacturing management software cost?
Pricing at Saitami starts from €6,500 for an MVP rollout in a single-cell shop and typically lands between €16,000 and €38,000 for a mid-size plant with multiple cells and OPC UA machine integration. Pricing is fixed against the agreed scope, paid in milestones, and never includes per-user fees. Support is a separate SLA contract.
Ready to see the MES layer live?
Book a 60-minute on-site demo. We watch how production runs, show how our manufacturing management software sits on top of your machines, and leave with a fixed-price phase-one plan.
Book an on-site demo →