Manufacturing software

For a manufacturer with anywhere from a few to a few dozen people on the shop floor, who currently manages orders in a notebook, Excel or off-the-shelf software that can see the warehouse but not the production process. This year’s enquiries for which we have prepared demos and quotes have come from PVC and aluminium window and door manufacturing, cabinet furniture, laser-cut, press-brake and welded metal products, food manufacturing with distribution, and a pilot shop for farm products with collection at the producer’s site.

Each of them started with the same question: off-the-shelf ERP or custom-built. The answer depends on the process. Saitami's system makes sense when an order passes through several workshops and subcontractors, when costs depend on a recipe or specification, when finished products have a batch number and expiry date, or when customer requests arrive by email every day and someone has to re-enter them.

In the Testen Dom solution, business customers place orders every morning, and their requests from email, Excel and EDI enter the system automatically. The sales representative sees them as orders with statuses, while the production manager arranges them into a plan by lines and shifts for the day. For a window and door manufacturer, the plan is by workshop: the warehouse worker records the profiles and accessories received, the supervisors assign the work in the PVC and aluminium workshops, and the order moves from waiting for materials to ready, with a notification to production when the material arrives.

Drawings and specifications are stored in the customer and order records. We import specifications for profiles, fittings and glass from the drawing software’s export; the actual drawing stays there, and the exchange format is agreed with the person who maintains it.

Each product has a recipe or specification: which materials, in what quantities and with what labour. The system uses it to calculate the cost per unit and per batch, and in a quote it shows the cost and customer price for each line item. For metal products, we defined a product route with operations such as laser cutting, press braking, bending, welding, machining, marking, kitting and packing, with time tracking for each operation. For furniture, the plan is allocated by machine and prepared for the cutting software.

Materials are received against a supplier request and the quantity delivered, while the purchase invoice records the amount and due date. They are issued to the workshop and the order, so stock is actual stock, not a number from an inventory count. Materials below the set minimum are highlighted on the manager’s dashboard.

Finished products in food manufacturing leave the facility with a batch number, expiry date and barcode, and during dispatch the batch that expires first goes out first. This is the same warehouse we show on the warehouse software page, and the same one requested by the pilot farm-produce store: receiving goods from the producer with a scale, label printer and scanner, with traceability by item and batch.

The worker records the operation from a screen on the shop floor or from a phone: which order, which operation, when it started and when it finished, with partial reporting when the shift ends before the item is complete. The subcontractor has a status in the same routing, so the manager can see where the order is without calling. Where installation is involved, installers may not work with devices in the system: the manager records the installation status after a phone call, as requested by the window and door manufacturer. In the pergolas and canopies solution, it works the other way around: field teams have their own view, and the customer has a portal.

The most common question is whether accounting stays in Mikroinvest. It does: data exchange uses the available exchange format or API, and the exact format is agreed with the person who maintains the software. We have connected an online store that reads from the same stock in our warehouse systems. Fleet management with routes to customers, validity of third-party liability insurance, comprehensive insurance, vignette and GTP is included in the Testen Dom solution and in our quotes for window and door manufacturing and distribution; we check GPS and fuel cards with the supplier and include them in the quote.

First, you describe the process: workshops, products, where requests come from and who records what. We come back with questions and a price range, run a demo based on your process before you decide, and only then send a written offer with an exact price and timeline. We launch the first working version-usually requests, planning and stock-in 4 to 8 weeks; a system for several workshops with drawings, accounting and fleet management grows in stages over 3 to 4 months. Our manufacturing offers this year are in the middle of the 3 000-29 300 € range.

Payment is split into instalments: half at the start and half on delivery. We then maintain the system for 100-350 € per month, if you wish, or hand over the code and server so you can operate without a monthly fee to us. When a manufacturer applies for European funding, we prepare the offer and technical specification in the format required by the programme; the programme consultant-not us-determines whether the expense is eligible.