Production tracking software for job shops and small manufacturers

What a shop actually wants from production tracking

In a shop that works to order, whether it is a CNC machine shop, a mold shop or a machine builder, the same questions come up every day. The answers usually live in the lead hand's head, on a whiteboard or in a spreadsheet someone fills in at the end of the shift. Production tracking software is there to put these answers on a screen:

• Which job is running on which machine right now, and which machines are sitting idle?
• Who is on the job, and when did they start it?
• How many good parts has this batch produced, and how many went to scrap?
• If a machine is down, how long has it been down and why?
• Will this order make its due date, and if not, which department is the bottleneck?

You will see this kind of software called production tracking software, shop floor tracking software, job tracking software or production monitoring software. The broader term is MES, a manufacturing execution system. Whatever the name, the need is the same. The person doing the work records it while doing it, with the time attached. A sheet filled in from memory after the shift is history, not tracking. How an MES differs from an ERP is covered in what is MES.

How work is set up in ModernMES

In ModernMES a customer order is opened as a project. You add the parts and quantities and apply a saved routing to each part. Every step of the routing becomes its own work order and lands in the queue of a resource group such as lathes, mills, welding or assembly. "How far along is that order?" is then answered by how many of its steps are done.

Repeat parts reuse their saved routing. If you also quote in ModernMES, a won quote turns straight into a project. What a work order should carry and the statuses it moves through are covered step by step in work order tracking for job shops.

How data gets in from the floor

Production tracking is only as good as the data going into it. ModernMES takes data from three places, and you can use them side by side.

Operator terminal

The terminal runs in a web browser, so a tablet or an old PC next to the machine is enough and there is nothing to install. The operator scans their badge or types their code. Then they scan the barcode on the traveler, or pick the job from that machine's queue, and use large buttons to start, pause and finish. Pausing asks for a downtime reason, and finishing asks for the good and scrap quantities. Times are recorded automatically.

If the part's previous step is not finished, the terminal warns the operator. If you have uploaded a 3D model of the part and built a visual work instruction for the operation, the operator can step through it right on the terminal.

The operator's own phone

You do not need a terminal at every machine. An operator pairs their phone once with a QR code. After that they scan the QR code on the traveler or the label stuck on the machine and start the job from the phone. They pick a reason when they pause and enter good and scrap when they finish.

Machine signals

If you want, a machine's running or stopped state can come in automatically as well. A PLC gateway, Node-RED or a sensor box sends it over HTTP or MQTT, and you set it up under Settings → Machine signals. A stop nobody recorded becomes a downtime once it lasts longer than the limit you set.

Connecting machines is optional. ModernMES runs on operator records alone, so the brand and age of the machine do not matter. A manual lathe from the eighties is tracked the same way as a new machining center.

What the office sees

• The live shop floor view shows every machine on a 3D layout of your shop, with its state, the job on it and the operator. It refreshes every 15 seconds and can be opened full screen on a TV.
• The Work Monitor puts the waiting, upcoming, running and paused jobs of the resource groups you choose on a TV on the floor, full screen with no menus. Everyone sees the same queue.
• The project page shows percent complete, steps finished and hours worked against hours planned. Its Deadline Assessment card compares the remaining work with each resource group's capacity up to the due date, after the other open work already there, and marks the project "On Track", "Tight" or "Over Capacity".
• The work order page shows planned and actual time, dates and the status history.
• You get an alert when a machine has been stopped for longer than you set, or when a stop with no reason drags on. Rules are set under Settings → Alerts, and alerts land in the bell in the panel.

The Reports menu has three reports. The production status report covers the deadline forecast, workload, the work queue, planned vs actual and operator hours, and the table on screen exports to Excel with one click. The production report shows output and scrap by part, machine and operator for any date range. The quality report shows inspection results and how defects break down by type.

The Enterprise plan adds an AI assistant. You can ask it about late work orders or downtime reasons in plain words. It can also draft a new work order or machine record, but nothing is saved until you confirm it.

Downtime, quality, maintenance and traceability

• Downtime reasons come built in, such as setup, tool breakage, machine breakdown and waiting for material. You can add your own, and stops left without a reason can be classified later. How to keep that list short and useful is covered in machine downtime tracking.
• First-piece, in-process and final inspections are recorded against the work order, and scrap is logged with its defect type.
• Switch on the maintenance module under Settings → Modules and you can set up periodic maintenance plans per machine. A maintenance work order opens by itself when a plan falls due.
• Material lots can be linked to production lots, so you can trace which jobs a heat or batch went into and what material a part came from. See lot traceability.

Which shops it fits

ModernMES is built for small and mid-size shops that work to order, by project or in batches. The structure is the same everywhere. What changes is your routings and your resource groups. These pages walk through the closest examples:

What ModernMES is not

ModernMES is not an ERP or MRP system. It does not hold bills of materials, plan material requirements or handle purchasing, and it has no detailed Gantt scheduler. It tracks how work actually moves through the shop. If you use an ERP or accounting system, the ERP integration add-on can book finished work and scrap in it. If you do not, ModernMES works on its own.

Getting started

1. Sign up. ModernMES is free for 14 days with no credit card, and during the trial you use it with your own data.
2. Pick a pilot area. One resource group, say your CNC lathes, is enough for the first two weeks. Set up the machines and operators in that group.
3. Import your parts list and routings with the Excel template. The file is checked before anything is saved, and invalid rows are shown.
4. Start with new orders. Opening incoming work as projects is easier than moving half-finished jobs across.
5. Print the travelers. Open the terminal on a tablet, or pair your operators' phones with a QR code.
6. Run alongside your old method for a short while. Once the numbers match reality, make ModernMES the only record and add the next groups.

A detailed plan for the switch is in MES vs Excel.

Cloud or your own server

The cloud version runs in the browser, so there is no server to set up. Shops that want their data to stay on site can install ModernMES on their own server instead. Installation is a single command and the license is bound to your server's hardware. For networks with no internet access there is an offline license. Details are in the on-premise section.

Compare the plans and what each one includes in the pricing section.

Frequently asked questions