Software for workflow at Engineering firm.

Hi guys,

Not sure if this is the correct area to post in, if not i'd be happy if this was moved.

Basically, i've been given the job of finding a suitable software for the company that I work at to upgrade their current paper method of job cards and workflow.

Quite frankly, i don't have any idea where to start or what to look for, so i'm hoping you guys would be able to give me a hand!

The business is an engineering firm that offers machinery maintenance and also a variety of workshop services such as fabrication, milling and turning, casting, laser cutting etc. The company currently employs 30 people. We have two engineers in the office, a factory foreman (who managers workflow everyday), two receptionists and a general manager, the rest of the employees work on the floor (boilermakers, fitters and turners)

The company currently use a paper based system when assigning jobs to workers. This is used as different workers have many different jobs per day, some workers both work on the same job, others do not. After jobs have been assigned and the job is finished, the receptionist then enters the data into MYOB, then the finished job card is filed and retrieved later if needed. The job card includes the job name, company the job is for, hours employees have worked on the job and also materials which are linked to purchase orders. Once the job is finished, the hours are tallied up and the client is charged the rate, then the materials totaled and a percentage allocated on-top which is the profit.

This current method of workflow is slow, has errors and is unreliable.

The company would like to get a system that can do all the above with greater functionality. However some of the accounting and such features should be locked so only the receptionist, general manager and bookkeeper can access. The workers on the floor should only be able to see job allocation and also allocated time. Furthermore when a piece of material is ordered it is listed on the job card, we would also like the status of delivery to display on the system so the workers are able to see if the materials have been delivered or not.

So this is where i'm at, I have done a quick search online however I can't seem to find anything suitable for a reasonable price. I have also looked at getting a Business IT consultant to generate a program for us however that will be costly.

Any suggestions would be fantastic.

 

MS Sharepoint?

 

Thanks for your input. I've had a quick look at Sharepoint, however i don't think its completely suitable for this situation.

 

What you are looking for is an ERP. I don't know anything at the low end of the market that would suit you.

I'd suggest googling ERP's and see if you can find a cheap cloud based one to use.

 

What about work order management? I dont know whether any of the players in that market integrate to MYOB though

 

Quick Google got this: http://www.epitome.com.au/go/service

Integrates with MYOB, does job costing and therefore work orders so could be a fit.

Might be worth a better look or a phone call.

 

One of my engineering firms uses replicon.

http://www.replicon.com/time-tracking-software

works out well.

 

MYOB EXO is an ERP I thought, if they are already using MYOB it may be a solution.

Never used it myself, so cannot directly recommend it.

 

We are also investigating two possible solution for our manufacturing plant atm

traction teampage (on premise) , huddle.com (cloud based)

both have its merits but it will come down to customization, usability and price.

 

I would first investigate why a paper-based method doesn't work and address that. Once the paper-based method works, that's when IMO a digital system can be more efficient.

The easy way out is to ring someone like Xero and get them to recommend a partner.

 

The main issues we have with the paper based method, is the fact that it is slow to find old previous work, if we need to complete the same task again. Some companies come back and require the same job again, so we have to look back in the records to find the old quote/drawings and timesheets.