Manufacturing ERP for work that is different every time
Make-to-order work lives or dies on bought-out items and on knowing which step a job is actually waiting on.
What kind of ERP suits a job shop or machine builder?
One built for make-to-order rather than repeat production: bought-out items booked against the specific job, cutting booked against the job so plate utilisation stops being a guess, and progress recorded as a named pending step. Karm Machine Tools went live across its floor in twelve weeks.
Bought-out items are most of the order value
Motors, gearboxes, panel components and hydraulics arrive against one specific machine. When that machine gets reconfigured, they sit on a rack unclaimed and nobody notices until a stock take. Booking them against the job rather than into a general store is the difference.
No two jobs are the same, so standard costing does not apply
Cost lands per job, not per unit. What you need is actual material, actual hours and actual bought-outs against the specific order, then a margin per job you can look at after delivery and learn something from.
Plate and material utilisation is a real margin line
Cutting booked against the job turns offcut from an accepted loss into a number. Without it, utilisation is whatever the cutting supervisor believes it is, and the belief is usually generous.
Progress is a step, not a percentage
Nobody on a shop floor can usefully say a machine is sixty percent done. They can say it is waiting for the panel, or that assembly starts when the gearbox arrives. Progress recorded as a named pending step is the thing a sales person can repeat to a customer.
The drawing revision is part of the job
A design change mid-build has to reach the floor, and the version somebody is cutting to has to be the current one. This is where rework comes from in job shops more often than from bad workmanship.
Production and job tracking
Progress as a named pending step rather than a percentage, with the current drawing revision attached to the job so the floor is not working from a superseded print.
Purchase and vendors
Bought-out items raised against the specific job and visible as in-transit, so a reconfigured machine does not quietly leave stock on a rack with nobody's name on it.
Job costing
Actual material, hours and bought-outs against the order, producing a margin per job after delivery rather than an average that hides the two jobs that lost money.
Inventory and stores
Cutting and issue booked against the job, which turns plate utilisation into a measured number instead of an estimate.
Does Facto work for make-to-order manufacturing?
Yes, and it is one of the sectors we have deployed in most. Jobs carry their own material, hours and bought-out items, progress is recorded as a named pending step rather than a percentage, and margin is available per job rather than averaged across the month.
How are bought-out items tracked against a job?
Purchase is raised against the specific job, so a motor or gearbox is visibly committed to one machine rather than sitting in a general store. When a build gets reconfigured, the items released by that change are visible instead of turning up at the next stock take.
How long does a job shop rollout take?
Expect six to twelve weeks for a focused first phase in genuine daily use. Karm Machine Tools went live across its floor in twelve weeks, including the three weeks where adoption was slow, which we wrote up rather than left out.
