What is the best ERP for machine shops?

A machining job is mostly time. Bar or billet is a known cost; what decides the margin is how long setup took, how long the cycle ran and how many parts were scrapped at inspection. So the system has to capture time at the machine, by operator, without slowing the operator down. It also has to hold the routing for each part, so a repeat order starts from the last routing and its real times rather than from an estimate. Material is simpler than in fabrication but traceability is often stricter: heat numbers and certificates travel with the part.

If operators cannot log time easily, the data will be guessed at the end of the shift and the job cost will be fiction. Look for printed job cards with a barcode, a scan to start and stop each step, and a work-centre rate that turns minutes into money without a spreadsheet. Setup and run should be separate, because setup is the number that quoting gets wrong most often. The result you want is simple: a job closes, and the next morning you can read its cost per piece, its hours by machine and the difference from the quote.

Customers in aerospace, automotive, medical and defence supply chains ask for records rather than promises. The system should hold them against the job. Without them, every audit becomes a search through paper folders and e-mail, and the time spent is never charged to the customer.

• First-article and in-process inspections recorded against the job, with photos where useful.
• Non-conformance reports and corrective actions linked to the item and the job.
• Lot or heat-number tracking from receipt to shipment.
• An audit log that shows who changed what and when.

These are the names machine shops mention most, with what each is generally known for. Test labour capture and job cost with your own job before trusting any of them. The one that can show setup and run time on a closed job, without a custom report, is the one to shortlist.