My factory ran 16 hours a day, but I had no idea which jobs were actually making money. Was that rush order for a small client eating all our margins? Was the downtime on machine #3 due to setup or a broken part? We were flying blind, and the production manager was running on gut feel.
We needed visibility, not more reports
Before ERPNext Consulting arrived, we had paper job cards, whiteboards for shift schedules, and a weekly Excel report that was always two days late. They showed us a different approach: track every job from raw material issue to finished goods receipt, with time stamps at each gate. The key was capturing data at the source—on tablets mounted at each machine station.
- Reduced machine setup time by 35% by identifying the top three changeover bottlenecks
- Eliminated rework on a high-volume product by enforcing a digital checklist before each batch
- Cut WIP inventory by 22% because we could now see what was actually waiting
The real surprise was how simple the fix was
ERPNext Consulting didn’t install complex algorithms. They taught our shift supervisors to use a simple kanban board inside the system. Now every morning, the production planner looks at one screen: jobs due, materials ready, machines free. We went from 68% on-time delivery to 94% in six months. And for the first time, I know exactly which product lines earn 35% gross margin and which ones are just keeping the lights on.
If your shop floor feels like a black box, start by tracking one critical metric—like setup time—for a week. You’ll be shocked at what you find. That’s exactly what ERPNext Consulting did for us.