Manufacturing Technology
- 20+ years connecting business systems
- Works with Xero, MYOB and the systems you already use
- Fixed quote after a free chat
The Problem
In most manufacturing businesses, the production manager knows what happened on the floor today, but the ERP won't know until someone keys it in: usually days later, sometimes never. That gap between what's happening in production and what your financial systems report is where margin disappears.
Labour hours go on paper timesheets or basic time clocks, material use is reconciled at month-end, and machine downtime isn't recorded anywhere useful. By the time a job cost report comes out of SAP Business One, MYOB Exo or Pronto Xi, the job shipped two weeks ago and the numbers are a best guess.
We connect your production floor to your ERP so costs are captured as they happen, not estimated after the fact. You see actual against estimated cost before the job ships, and your operations team gets machine performance (OEE) figures it can act on.
What We See
These are the patterns that keep coming up in Australian manufacturing businesses.
Job Costs Are a Guess
You don't know if a job made money until weeks after it ships. With labour in one system, materials in another and overheads in a spreadsheet, the "actual" cost is really the estimate with a few adjustments.
Scheduling Lives in Heads
Production scheduling relies on one person's knowledge and a whiteboard or spreadsheet. When they're away, nobody knows what's actually planned. Machine breakdowns mean manual replanning that takes hours.
BOM vs Reality
Bills of materials in the ERP don't match what's actually used on the floor. Substitutions happen, stock levels are wrong, and production stops while someone walks to the warehouse to check what's actually there.
Paper Quality Records
Inspections are recorded on paper forms and traceability records sit in filing cabinets, so when a customer complains or an auditor visits, it takes hours to find the right records.
Challenges
Manufacturing has unique technology challenges that generic business software doesn't solve.
Real-Time Job Costing
Production Scheduling vs Capacity
Material & BOM Accuracy
Quality & Traceability
How We Help
We don't sell software. We connect your existing ERP — SAP Business One, MYOB Exo, Pronto Xi, NetSuite, or Epicor — to your production floor so data flows where it needs to go.
Real-Time Job Costing
Connect shop floor data capture (barcode scanners, time clocks, machine PLCs) to your ERP so labour, materials, and machine time are recorded against jobs as they happen. Compare actual vs estimated costs before the job ships, not weeks later.
- Automated labour time capture from floor terminals
- Material consumption scanning at point of use
- Machine time and setup cost allocation by actual usage
- Actual vs estimated cost dashboards updated hourly
Production Planning & Scheduling
Integrate your scheduling with ERP capacity data, material availability, and real-time machine status. When a machine goes down or materials are delayed, the schedule adjusts automatically and the ERP knows about it.
- Capacity-aware scheduling linked to ERP work orders
- Material availability checks before production starts
- Automated work order generation and sequencing
- Visual production dashboards for floor and office
Inventory & Material Management
Keep BOMs accurate with version control and real-time tracking of what's used. Reorder points are based on actual usage rather than min/max settings nobody updates, and supplier systems can feed in lead times.
- BOM management with engineering change tracking
- Barcode/RFID scanning for material movements
- Automated reorder triggered by actual consumption
- Supplier lead time integration for planning
Quality Management & Traceability
We link inspection data, test results and non-conformance records directly to production orders, giving you full lot traceability from raw material receipt to customer delivery. That helps you meet TGA, HACCP and ISO 9001 requirements without the paper trail.
- Digital inspection and test recording at each station
- Full lot and serial number traceability
- Non-conformance, CAPA, and SPC management
- Audit-ready compliance reporting (TGA, HACCP, ISO)
Related Services
Manufacturing companies we work with commonly need these services.
Related Comparisons
FAQ
What systems do Australian manufacturers typically need integrated?
Most manufacturers need their ERP (SAP Business One, MYOB Exo, Pronto Xi, or NetSuite) connected to shop floor data collection, production scheduling, quality management, and inventory systems. The biggest gap is usually between what happens on the production floor and what the ERP reports — labour, materials, and machine time tracked separately or not at all.
How much does manufacturing system integration cost?
It depends on how many systems are involved (ERP, production scheduling, job costing, quality, inventory), how much data needs to move, and how much custom logic is needed. We scope every project first and give you a fixed quote after a free initial chat. If you want a deeper assessment first, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps your current systems and gives you a written report on the highest-value integration opportunities.
Can you integrate SAP Business One with shop floor systems?
Yes. SAP B1 to shop floor integration is a common need for Australian manufacturers. We connect barcode scanners, machine PLCs, time clocks, and quality inspection stations to SAP so production data flows in real time — no manual data entry at the end of each shift.
How long does a manufacturing integration project take?
Simple two-system integrations (e.g. ERP to barcode scanning) take 2-4 weeks. Full MES-to-ERP integration with quality management and scheduling typically takes 8-16 weeks. We always start with a discovery phase to understand your production environment before committing to a timeline.
What is OEE and how does integration improve it?
OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) measures how well your machines are being used — combining availability, performance, and quality metrics. Most manufacturers track OEE manually or not at all. Integrating machine sensors with your ERP gives you real-time OEE data per machine and per shift, so you can identify bottlenecks and downtime causes as they happen, not weeks later.
Do you work with food manufacturers and businesses needing HACCP compliance?
Yes. We work with food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and medical device manufacturers that need integrated quality and traceability systems. We connect HACCP monitoring, lot tracking, recall management, and compliance reporting to your ERP so audit-readiness is built into your daily operations — not a scramble before an inspection.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps your current manufacturing systems, identifies the gaps between your ERP and production floor, and gives you a clear roadmap. Or take our free 5-minute assessment to get an instant score.
Or get in touch directly — call 1300 470 091 or email [email protected]
Free Resource: Manufacturing Operations Efficiency Toolkit
Read our guide (PDF) to identifying and eliminating the hidden gaps between your ERP and production floor. Includes an operations assessment worksheet and integration roadmap template.
Get the Free Toolkit