From quote to finished product
The quote is costed in one spreadsheet, the production plan hangs on a board, and only the foreman knows where each order stands. The system connects sales, planning, the shop floor and the warehouse into one flow.
Manufacturing
Where it gets stuck
Costing doesn’t match the real cost
Quotes are priced from experience and old spreadsheets. What the job really cost shows up only after delivery, if at all.
Dates are promised without seeing capacity
Sales confirms a date, but nobody checked which machines and people are already booked. Rush orders then push everything else back.
The bill of materials exists in three versions
Engineering has one, purchasing another, and the shop floor works from a third. A product change doesn’t reach everyone in time.
Nobody knows where the order is
To find an order’s status you walk to the shop floor or call the foreman. Scrap and rework are noted on paper and never make it back into costing.
What the flow looks like in the system
An example flow. We adapt the steps to how your company actually works.
01 Inquiry and costing
Costing is built from the bill of materials, material prices and labour standards. The same calculation becomes the quote without retyping.
02 Order
An accepted quote becomes an order with the agreed date. The system shows straight away whether there is capacity for that date.
03 Work order
The order generates work orders with operations, the bill of materials and technical documents. The shop floor gets the current version, not a copy from a drawer.
04 Material
The system compares required material with stock and proposes purchasing for what is missing. Material is reserved for the order.
05 Planning
Work orders are scheduled across machines, lines and shifts. When a rush job comes in, you see at once which other orders will slip.
06 Production
Operators report start, finish, quantities and scrap per operation on a shop floor terminal. Order status is visible without walking the floor.
07 Quality control
Measurements, non-conformities and rework decisions are recorded against the order. Later you know what was checked, when and by whom.
08 Warehouse and delivery
Finished goods enter the warehouse linked to the customer’s order. The delivery note and invoice come from what was actually produced and shipped.
What the system usually includes
Costing and bills of materials
Multi-level BOMs, labour standards and material prices in one place. Planned versus actual cost for every order.
Capacity planning
Machine and labour load by day. A plan that changes when the situation on the floor changes.
Shop floor order tracking
Operation-level reporting from terminals on the floor. Time, quantities and scrap enter the system as they happen.
Quality control and traceability
Inspection records, non-conformities and the link between material and finished product. Complaints are answered from data.
Frequently asked questions
We make both to order and in series. Can one system cover both?
Yes, as long as both ways of working are described as they really are. One-off orders and series can follow different flows while sharing the same materials, machines and warehouse.
What if our shop floor staff aren’t comfortable with computers?
Shop floor screens are built for the shop floor: few fields, large buttons and only what that operator needs. We agree on the screens with the people who will use them.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
It depends on scope, the number of processes and integrations, so we don’t quote off the cuff. After a conversation and process analysis you get a phased proposal and an individual quote.
Show us how one order moves through your plant.
Send us a short description of your process and the problems you want to solve.