Manufacturing System Integration Australia
Connect your factory floor, stock and accounts, and enter each order once instead of three times.
In most manufacturers, the same order gets typed in more than once: into the ERP, onto a job sheet, into a spreadsheet for stock, then into Xero or MYOB for the invoice. Each system does its own job well, but they don't talk to each other, so people do the copying and the numbers drift apart.
We connect the systems you already have. Orders reach the factory floor without retyping, what was actually made, used and spent comes back to update stock and job costs, and invoices land in your accounts on their own.
What you get: less retyping, fewer mistakes, and stock and job cost figures the office and the factory both trust. You keep the systems that work, without the cost and risk of replacing them all.
Connect What You Have, or Replace Everything?
| Question | Connect Your Current Systems | Replace With One New System |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Fixed quote; depends on how many systems are connected | Usually a much bigger project |
| Time | Done one connection at a time, each useful on its own | A long project before anyone sees the benefit |
| Disruption | Low. Staff keep using the systems they know | High. Everyone has to learn a new system at once |
| Fit | Each system keeps doing the job it is good at | Often strong in some areas and weak in others |
| Later changes | You can swap one system without touching the rest | You are tied to one vendor for everything |
| Risk | Low. Keep what works and add the links | High. Big replacement projects often run over |
Sometimes replacing is right. If a system is no longer supported or is holding the business back, we will say so. But if it still does its job, connecting it is usually the cheaper, safer first step.
What Manufacturers Usually Connect
1. Office ↔ Factory Floor
What flows: Work orders go from your ERP to the production floor. What was actually made, the hours worked and the materials used come back.
What you get: You can see where each job is up to, and job costs are based on what really happened, not estimates.
The most common place to start
2. Production ↔ Quality
What flows: Each batch is linked to its quality checks. A failed check puts that batch and its stock on hold in every system.
What you get: You can trace a product back to its raw materials, compliance reports are easier, and faulty stock does not get shipped.
Important in food, pharmaceuticals and medical devices
3. Machines ↔ Maintenance
What flows: Run hours, stoppages and readings from your machines go to your maintenance system and production reports.
What you get: Servicing booked on actual use, early warning before a breakdown, and a true picture of how much time machines spend running.
Works with many older machines too
4. Everything ↔ Reports
What flows: Sales and costs from your accounts, output from the floor, stock from the warehouse and defects from quality, pulled into one set of reports.
What you get: Your key numbers on one screen, kept up to date, without someone building a spreadsheet every week.
Shows what no single system can
5. Scheduling ↔ Orders and Stock
What flows: Sales orders and stock levels feed the production schedule. The schedule goes to the floor and back to the office as delivery dates.
What you get: Delivery dates you can keep, fewer changeovers, and machines and people kept busy.
Matters most for job shops and make-to-order work
6. Customers and Suppliers ↔ ERP
What flows: Customer orders arrive electronically instead of by email or PDF. Suppliers see your purchase orders and send delivery notices and invoices back.
What you get: Less typing of orders and invoices, faster order handling, and fewer "where's my order?" calls.
Often required by large retail and automotive customers
What a Project Can Include
| Type of Project | What's Included |
|---|---|
| Two systems | Using a ready-made connector where one fits, matching up the fields, testing and written notes |
| Several systems | Custom matching of your codes and rules, checks that catch errors, alerts and support |
| Several sites | Information kept up to date across sites and systems, planned as a whole, with ongoing support |
| Older systems | Connecting systems that were never designed to connect, and a plan for when to replace them |
| Ongoing support | Watching the connections, fixing problems, and updating them when your software changes |
Cost: it depends on how many systems are involved and how much needs to be built, so we look at your setup first and give you a fixed quote after a free initial chat. It pays for itself through less re-keying, fewer errors and numbers you can act on.
The Technical Side
For whoever looks after your systems, here are the terms you may hear and how we approach them:
- ERP, MES, WMS, CMMS: business management, production-floor, warehouse and maintenance systems. We connect them through their APIs where they have one, or through database reads and file exports where they don't.
- SCADA, PLCs and IoT sensors: the machine control and sensor layer. We read machine data from it; we never change machine control.
- OEE: overall equipment effectiveness, a standard measure of how well machine time is used, calculated from run time, speed and quality.
- EDI: electronic orders, delivery notices and invoices exchanged with large customers and suppliers.
- Older systems (for example AS/400): connected through file-based exchange or a small API layer in front of the old system.
- Tools: integration platforms such as Boomi, MuleSoft, Jitterbit or Azure Logic Apps when they suit, or custom code (Node.js, Python). Every connection is tested against a copy of your data, logged, safe to re-run and monitored with alerts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stop Typing the Same Order Three Times
Tell us which systems you run and where your team retypes information. We'll tell you honestly what is worth connecting first. Start with a free initial chat, or book a $5,000 Process & Systems Audit for a full written assessment.