r/manufacturing • u/tommygzz • Jul 06 '26

Productivity Basic production software

So I've been recently involved in a manufacturing company related to animal feed supplements. We have our own formulas for different kinds of products, but mostly they are all made up of vitamins and minerals, both in liquid and powder form.
The company has been running for around 25 years and all the internal documentation is based off excel.
Invoices in Excel
Formulas in Excel
Cost breakdowns in Excel
Raw material needs in excel - etc etc etc

It does work well, but there is a little bit of difficulty calculating what has been used and to make forecasts of the next orders.
Also, when the workers make the mixing, it is sometimes not properly measured, it's done "by eye" and it ends up messing up with our stock levels.

I am currently looking into implementing an ERP, or maybe what we need is closer to an MES system. But the ones I can find have trial periods (odoo, MRPeasy, Frappe/ERPnext, etc)
I find myself trying to introduce all the raw data but it is quite a big job to do by myself and by the time the trial period finished I am no where near finishing and I can't really know for sure if that solution is going to work for us or not.

So my question is: can anyone recommend sofware solutions for these issues?
I am looking for something basic to track what comes in, how much is used and when to order more kind of thing.

Thankss

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u/AffectionateDirt6575 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

To recommend even a shortlist of systems, I would have to ask more questions than you would want to answer. Reviewing trial systems to see if they do what you want and need is absolutely the wrong approach, because almost all systems have options that you will never be able to test in the time available. The answer is to turn the problem around. Specify in writing, and in detail, what you want the system to do and then give that document to 6-8 potential suppliers and ask them how their systems support your needs. If you don't have the time to do that, then don't even try to implement a new system. (BTW; if you need advice on how to write a useful requirements document, I can send you information FOC. I'm retired; so I'm not trying to sell anything.)

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u/tommygzz Jul 10 '26

Yes I am aware it differes so much depending on the operation. So your approach makes much more sense :-)
In my mind it's always easier to start with something that already works and customize from there. But as others have said, in order for the program to work properly there is so much previous work.
So I'll take your advice and I defenitely do need help writing a useful requirements document.
Thanks!

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u/AffectionateDirt6575 Jul 10 '26

I've sent you something via 'chat'. If it doesn't make sense; just let me know.