Manufacturing software for production, quoting and B2B ordering
Australian manufacturers compete on responsiveness and specification rather than on unit cost. Both of those are information problems before they are production problems.
What does High10 build for manufacturing?
Manufacturing software is the production scheduling, quoting, quality record and B2B commerce systems that Australian manufacturers use to run a plant and sell to trade customers. It connects the ERP, the shop floor and the sales channel so a quote, a job and an invoice describe the same thing. It suits manufacturers whose scheduling and quoting still live in spreadsheets.
Get a fixed written quote- Typical timeline
- 10 to 20 weeks
- What drives cost
- How complex your product configuration and pricing rules are, how many systems must integrate, whether shop floor hardware is involved.
- Best for
- Made to order, engineered to order and mid volume Australian manufacturers
- You own
- The application, the production data, the quality records and the hosting
- Built with
- ERP connectors, configurable quoting logic, shop floor interfaces
Your handover
What is actually broken on the factory floor and in the office
The recurring pattern in Australian manufacturing is a capable ERP that nobody fully uses, surrounded by spreadsheets that do the real work. Production scheduling lives in a workbook maintained by one person, and the business genuinely stops when that person takes leave. Quoting for made to order work is done by an estimator who holds the pricing logic in their head and their own file, so quotes vary between people and margin is invisible until the job is finished.
- 01Production scheduling with real capacity and tooling constraints
- 02Configurable quoting for made to order products
- 03Shop floor job tracking on tablets or terminals
- 04Quality, inspection and non conformance capture with traceability
- 05Certificates of conformance generated from captured data
- 06B2B ordering portal with contracted pricing and order status
- ERP and accounting integration with documented data ownership
- Supplier documentation register with expiry tracking
- Operator and administrator training with written documentation
None of this is unusual and none of it is incompetence
On the floor, job progress is reported at the end of a shift on paper and entered the next morning, which means the office is always looking at yesterday. Quality records are signed off on printed forms and filed in a cabinet, so a traceability request from a customer becomes an afternoon of searching. None of this is unusual and none of it is incompetence. It is what happens when an ERP was implemented for finance and the operational reality grew around it rather than inside it.
Each of these is easier when the underlying records are captured as work happens rather than reconstructed later.
The compliance and traceability expectations manufacturers carry
The regime depends on what you make, but the evidence expectation is consistent. Quality systems certified to ISO 9001 require documented control of records, non conformances and corrective actions, and an auditor will ask to trace a specific batch or job through the whole chain. Products manufactured to Australian Standards need the inspection and test evidence that supports the claim. Food manufacturers carry the Food Standards Code, HACCP based programs and allergen controls with cleaning and changeover records. Electrical and building products carry their own certification and, for building products, the National Construction Code evidence chain.
Commercial obligations layer on top
Commercial obligations layer on top. Australian Made certification has rules about how the logo may be used and what qualifies. Supplying the major grocery and hardware chains means meeting GS1 barcode standards and often trading electronically to their specification. Larger businesses report under the Modern Slavery Act 2018, which pushes supplier information collection from an occasional email into an annual data exercise. Each of these is easier when the underlying records are captured as work happens rather than reconstructed later.
- Batch and job traceability from raw material through to despatch
- Inspection and test records captured at the point of inspection
- Non conformance and corrective action tracked to closure
- Certificates of conformance generated from real data, not retyped
- Supplier documentation and approvals held with expiry tracking
- Barcode and labelling to the standards your customers require
How the engagement runs
How a manufacturing project runs
We spend the first stage on the floor with a notebook. Watching a job travel from order to despatch surfaces the informal steps that never appear in a process map, and those informal steps are usually where the value is hiding.
- 01Floor walkFollow a job from order entry to despatch and record every handoff and workaround
- 02System auditWhat the ERP genuinely holds, what it can expose, and what the spreadsheets are compensating for
- 03Prioritise by costRank the gaps by hours lost, margin leaked or risk carried
- 04First sliceBuild the single highest value module and put it in real use
- 05IntegrationConnect it to the ERP with documented ownership of each data field
- 06ExtendAdd the next slice once the first is embedded, not before
- 07HandoverAdministrator training, documentation and a maintenance routine your team can run
Two decisions on your side that keep the project moving
Then we build in slices that each stand alone. A scheduling board that replaces one spreadsheet is worth having on its own. Quality capture on tablets is worth having on its own. Sequencing this way means the business gets return before the whole programme is finished, and it gives everyone a real basis to decide whether the next slice is worth funding.
It also protects you from the failure mode that makes manufacturers wary of software projects. A single large implementation that lands after a year has to be right about assumptions made twelve months earlier, on a plant that has since changed its product mix. Small slices let the specification learn from the floor as it goes, and they let you stop after any one of them without having wasted the work already delivered.
Choose the right level
Build around the ERP or replace it
Manufacturers ask this at some point in every engagement, usually after an ERP vendor has quoted an upgrade. There is no universal answer, but there is a useful test: is the ERP wrong, or is it simply not being used for the thing you need? Most of the time the ERP holds the financial and inventory truth adequately and the gap is operational.
Approach
01
Use more of the existing ERP
Works when
The capability exists but was never configured or adopted
The trade off
Cheapest by far, but requires process change the business has already resisted once
02
Purpose built layer over the ERP
Works when
Scheduling, quoting or quality needs do not fit the ERP model
The trade off
Two systems to maintain, so the integration must be designed properly
03
Replace the ERP
Works when
The ERP is genuinely unsupported or cannot hold your data
The trade off
A long, expensive project that consumes the business for a year
04
Best of breed with an integration spine
Works when
Several strong specialist systems already in place
The trade off
Integration becomes a permanent capability you must resource
How we work this out during scoping
The comparison below is what we walk through in scoping. The right choice depends on how much of your value sits in the operational layer, how much internal capability you have, and how honest the business is willing to be about why the last implementation did not stick.
What we build for manufacturers
Four areas cover most of our manufacturing work. Production scheduling that reflects real constraints such as machine capability, tooling, setup time and labour availability, presented so a production manager can drag a job and see the consequence. Quoting and configuration for made to order products, where the rules an estimator carries in their head become logic the system applies consistently. Quality and compliance capture on the floor, on a tablet, in the moment. And B2B commerce so trade customers can see contracted pricing, stock position and order status without ringing internal sales.
The rest of the answer
We generally build around your ERP rather than replacing it, because a replacement is a much larger project than most manufacturers want and usually not the thing causing the pain. The build is a mix of custom software, integration work and, where trade ordering is involved, a supplier or customer portal. Where inventory accuracy across locations is the core constraint, a dedicated inventory system is often the right hub.
When we are not the right fit
We are not the right partner if you need machine level control systems, SCADA, PLC programming or anything touching safety instrumented systems. That is a specialist engineering discipline with its own standards and we will refer you rather than learn on your plant. We also do not implement large ERP products as a primary service. We integrate with them.
The rest of the answer
If your production process is simple and your volumes are steady, an off-the-shelf manufacturing platform will probably serve you better and cheaper than anything custom. And if your problem is that trade customers cannot find you, the answer is a credible site and search work, not a scheduling system. Manufacturers selling direct to consumers as well as trade usually need the pattern described on our retail page, and those selling into construction should look at how builders procure.
Everything included
The handover checklist
The practical artefacts your team or your development partner receives when this phase is complete.
- Production scheduling with real capacity and tooling constraints
- Configurable quoting for made to order products
- Shop floor job tracking on tablets or terminals
- Quality, inspection and non conformance capture with traceability
- Certificates of conformance generated from captured data
- B2B ordering portal with contracted pricing and order status
- ERP and accounting integration with documented data ownership
- Supplier documentation register with expiry tracking
- Operator and administrator training with written documentation
Not sure which level you need?
A 45 minute call, no cost, no obligation. You leave with a scope, an honest timeline and a fixed written quote.
Questions buyers usually ask
Frequently asked questions
Ownership and handover
Can trade customers see their own pricing and order status?
Yes, and it is one of the highest value pieces for most manufacturers. A B2B portal shows contracted pricing per account, stock position, order status, past orders and reorder tools, which removes a large volume of calls to internal sales. Registration can require approval and an ABN check so retail buyers cannot access trade pricing.
What do we own at the end?
The application code, the database with your production and quality records, the hosting account and every third party service, all registered to your business. Traceability records in particular have to remain accessible for years, so we design the export and retention path at the start rather than treating it as a handover afterthought.
Detail and edge cases
How long does a manufacturing system take to build?
Usually 10 to 20 weeks for the first substantial module, then staged additions. We deliberately deliver one slice at a time, such as scheduling or quality capture, so the business gets return before the whole programme finishes. Integration to an ERP is the element that most often extends the timeline, because what a vendor says is available and what is actually exposed can differ.
What drives the cost of manufacturing software?
How complex your product configuration and pricing rules are, how many systems must integrate, whether shop floor hardware is involved, and how many distinct workflows are in scope. Configuration logic is the one that most often surprises people, because capturing an estimator's judgement precisely takes real analysis. We scope per stage and send a fixed written quote for each.
Should we replace our ERP?
Usually not, and we say that against our own commercial interest. Most manufacturers we meet have an adequate ERP holding financial and inventory truth, with an operational gap around scheduling, quoting or quality. Building a purpose built layer over the ERP is faster, cheaper and far less disruptive than a replacement programme. We only recommend replacement when the ERP is genuinely unsupported.
Will people on the floor use it?
Only if it is faster than the paper form, which is the design constraint. That means large touch targets, capture in a few taps, tolerance for dirty hands and poor lighting, and no field that is not genuinely needed. We pilot with one cell or line, fix the irritations in the first fortnight, then expand. Adoption is a design outcome rather than a training outcome.
Related services
Get a fixed written quote for your first module
Tell us which spreadsheet the business would stop without and what your ERP does not do. We come back inside one business day with a view on the work and a fixed price in writing.