Running a manufacturing business is no small feat and you know it. You need to make sure you are optimizing your processes and being as efficient as possible. Like most businesses, protecting the bottom line is very essential in manufacturing businesses. By utilizing the right manufacturing software and apps, businesses can save on costs and avoid unnecessary waste.
There are many manufacturing software and apps out on the market. It requires a tremendous amount of time and effort to test and every manufacturing ERP software out there. So we decided to do the hard work for you and present a few of the best apps we know will help your business.
Timeero
First on our list is Timeero, time, and GPS tracking software. With Timeero you can ensure that your employees are accurately tracking time, mileage and location. Every business needs to properly account for employee time and Timeero is a great fit for manufacturing businesses looking to track time.
Features
Timesheet Kiosk
Most manufacturing businesses will have most employees working from a central location. Knowing this, you can mount an iPad on a wall, download the Timeero Terminal app, to let your employees punch in and out. Each employee is given a 4 digit special PIN to prevent other employees from clocking in on behalf of others.
Face Recognition
Timeero also comes with facial recognition technology to help ensure that the person clocking in is really who they claim to be. Many times, other employees may clock in on behalf of others, a trend known as buddy punching. With Timeero’s facial recognition technology, an admin can get notified if someone else clocks in on behalf of others.
Scheduling
Scheduling allows you to assign shifts and schedules to different employees within your business. Your employees get notified through the Timeero smartphone app or via email when they are assigned a shift.
GPS Tracking and Geofencing
If you need location tracking for your team, Timeero can serve that need as well. Track employee location when clocked in so you can know where everyone is, while on company time. Also use geofencing to automatically clock in employees or remind them to clock in.
Integrations
- QuickBooks
- ADP
- Gusto
- Rippling and more…
Reviews
This is a game changing application for keeping track of time at our organization. I haven’t had any problems using the app or the Manager’s web dashboard- they are both straightforward. Timeero also has a great support team. They always answer my calls and answer my questions quickly.
Pricing
Pricing for Timeero is very simple and starts at $5/user/month. You can learn more here.
Fiddle
You can’t talk about manufacturing without mentioning inventory management. Fiddle is the ultimate inventory management software built for manufacturing businesses of all sizes. Unlike some other inventory management software, Fiddle is 100% web based and works on any desktop or web browser.
Features
Inventory Management
Manage and track inventory, with Lot numbers, easily using Fiddle.
Purchase order
Manage purchase orders seamlessly through Fiddle. You will love the modern and simplistic
Activity Stream dashboard
This tells you everything going on in your software. You will be able to tell who is doing what and what has been done or not. This is a great way to keep a log of everything that has been done in processing and meeting orders.
Sales Order and Work Order Tracking
Streamline your sales order management using Fiddle. You will know if you have inventory to fulfill or create a work order if you need to order or purchase from a contract manufacturer. You can track your sales orders and work orders all in one place. The easy and intuitive interface makes it so easy for anyone to use this software.
Integrations
Fiddle integrates with some of the best in class software such as:
- QuickBooks Online
- ShipCaddie
- Shopify
- Amazon
Pricing
Pricing starts at $0/month for the Free forever plan. The free plan allows you to track 25 items and 100 transactions. There are no hidden fees outside of these.
You can learn more about their pricing plans here.
Brahmin Solutions
Brahmin solutions is another cloud-based inventory management and MRP software. Like Fiddle, it integrates with QuickBooks. It is designed for SMBs to manage all operations such as purchasing, inventory, sales and manufacturing. It is your one stop hub to manage your manufacturing business.
Features
Inventory tracking
With Brahmin you are able to track inventory in real time. Any updates you make permeate through all channels so everyone is aware of what is going on.
Barcode scanning
Remove the burden of manual entry by using a barcode scanner. The barcode scanner works with any wired or bluetooth device that can connect to a computer or tablet.
Automated Production Scheduling
Manage scheduling easily with the automated scheduling system and easily manage capacity planning
Dropshipping
If you have a dropshipping service, Brahmin solutions can be a great option for you. You can create drop ship orders and your customers can receive updates automatically, adding more transparency to your transactional processes.
Integrations
Brahmin connects with many systems such as Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce. It also integrates with accounting software such as QuickBooks and Xero.
Reviews
Brahmin has a 4.7/5 star rating.
Extremely easy to use and it has an abundance amount of features for the price. Great support team that understands the customer, really works with you to make sure your business is running as smoothly as possible.
Pricing
There is no free plan for Brahmin Solutions. The price starts at $199, for the growth plan. The growth plan is ideal for companies doing $500k – $1M in sales. The next pricing level is $399/month which is for companies bringing in $1M – $5M in sales revenue. The highest plan is $599/month.
Each plan has a maximum user limit and additional users come with a $50/month fee. You can learn more about their pricing here https://www.brahmin-solutions.com/pricing.
JobBOSS
Next on our manufacturing software stack is JobBOSS. If you are looking for an Enterprise Resource Planning solution for your manufacturing business, you may want to look at JobBOSS. JobBOSS is one of the most flexible shop management apps on the market. It keeps you in control of every step of every job everyday from quote to cash and everything in between.
JobBOSS is available as an on-premise and cloud solution. The different options come with different pricing models.
Features
Job Quoting
JobBOSS gives you accurate quotes by helping you immediately access true labor and material costs. You no longer have to guesstimate profitability as your current estimates are accurate in real time.
Cost Analysis
Are you paying your customer to build a product or is your customer paying you to build a product. You can know how profitable each job is. Being able to generate a cost analysis can help you decide if you should even take on a customer project or not.
CRM/Workflow ERP
You can win more deals and track sales trends with the built in CRM. The built in CRM gives you a 360-degree view of all activities and communication related to sales opportunities and relationships. Your customers are able to log in to a central portal to manage their assignments and tasks as well.
Advanced Dashboards
One of the cool things about JobBOSS is the ability to create, customize and share insightful dashboards from your JobBOSS data. This creates a powerful view of what’s going on within your shop. The ability to visualize your processes and activities is a great asset for any manufacturing business.
Integrations
- QuickBooks Desktop
- Sage50
Reviews
I swear there are some jobs that, we are paying the customer to make them, because we are not making any profit. So if we didn’t have any of this implemented or without job costing then we wouldn’t know if we made profit on the job. You think about your profit margin and you are wondering why I didn’t make $100,000 last month. Well you are not going to know unless you have all of this already set up and you have job costing and JobBOSS has been huge. – Alex Walsh
Pricing
The pricing really depends on if you want cloud or on-premises. To learn more about JobBOSS pricing, you will need to contact a representative. You can learn more about their pricing here.
If you have read this far, we hope you’ve had a good understanding of some of the best manufacturing software and apps out on the market.