Manufacturing workflows

Manufacturing workflows that people actually follow

Job tracking, traceability, quality, purchasing and maintenance, designed as a scan and a couple of taps for the person doing the work, and connected so nothing is entered twice.

Book a Discovery Call See the workflows

Designed for: Operators, stores and inspectors
Built on: Zoho Creator and Deluge
Connected to: Stock, CRM and accounts

Approach

Workflows are designed for the person doing the work

A workflow fails when it asks a machinist to type a twelve-digit job number into a form copied from a paper sheet. It works when the job card is scanned, one number is entered and a large button is pressed.

We design from the floor inwards. The first screen built is the one an operator uses, and it is trialled at one bench before anything else exists. Dashboards come last, because they can only show what the floor records.

Scan to identify
Three fields or fewer
Reasons from a list
Holds with an owner
Approvals by value
Escalation when late
One record, shared

Scope

The workflows we build

Map of manufacturing workflows grouped into sell, buy and store, make, check, and ship and bill — The workflows we are asked for most, grouped by where they sit in the business.

Anatomy of a workflow in four parts: trigger, steps, rules and record — Every workflow we design has the same four parts. The second column is where most of the design effort goes.

Catalogue

Eight workflows in detail

Each entry gives the trigger, what people do, what is recorded and what it connects to, with a link to the full guide where we have written one.

Production tracking

Make

Trigger: A confirmed sales order, or a stock order raised by the planner.
Steps on the floor: Scan the job card to start a stage; record good and scrap quantities to finish it. Put the job on hold with a reason if something is wrong.
Records created: Work order, stage logs with times, scrap with reasons, holds.
Connects to: CRM for order status, stock system for materials issued and finished goods.

Build guide: production tracking in Zoho Creator →

Inventory and cycle counting

Buy and store

Trigger: A scheduled count list for the day, or a movement on the floor.
Steps on the floor: Scan the bin, scan the item, enter the count. Differences beyond tolerance go to a supervisor before stock is adjusted.
Records created: Count records, adjustments with a reason, accuracy by week.
Connects to: Stock system for quantities; dashboards for record accuracy.

Guide: why stock records drift →

Purchasing and approvals

Buy and store

Trigger: Stock falls to its reorder point, or a job needs a material bought to order.
Steps on the floor: The buyer reviews a suggested order, adjusts and submits. Approval follows value bands. Stores receive against the order.
Records created: Purchase order, approval history, goods receipt, three-way match.
Connects to: Stock system and accounts for bills.

Guide: reorder points and approvals →

Batch and lot traceability

Make

Trigger: A delivery arrives, a batch starts or a pallet ships.
Steps on the floor: Scan the supplier label at goods in, scan each lot into the batch, scan pallets to orders.
Records created: Lot receipts, batch records with lots consumed, dispatch links, mock recall results.
Connects to: Stock system for lots and expiry dates; label printer.

Guide: what to record at each step →

Inspections, NCR and CAPA

Check

Trigger: A planned inspection point, a failed check or a customer complaint.
Steps on the floor: Record the result with a photo. A fail raises an NCR and holds the stock. A named person chooses the disposition.
Records created: Inspection results, NCRs with cause and disposition, corrective actions with effectiveness checks.
Connects to: Stock system for holds and scrap; production for rework steps.

Guide: digital quality control →

Maintenance requests

Check

Trigger: An operator notices a fault, or a planned service falls due.
Steps on the floor: Scan the machine tag, choose the problem, say whether the machine is stopped and add a photo. The technician accepts and closes the job with notes.
Records created: Requests, downtime, parts used and a history per machine.
Connects to: Production holds, so a stopped machine shows on the board.

Quote to order

Sell

Trigger: A customer accepts a quote.
Steps on the floor: Sales marks the quote as won. Items, quantities and the promised date carry through without retyping.
Records created: Sales order with one number used on every later record.
Connects to: Production for the work order, stock for reservations, accounts for the invoice.

Guide: connecting sales, production and accounts →

Pick, pack, ship and invoice

Ship and bill

Trigger: A job is marked ready, or stock is available for an order.
Steps on the floor: Pick from the list, scan items or pallets to the order, confirm the shipment.
Records created: Shipment with lots or serials, proof of delivery, draft invoice.
Connects to: Stock system to reduce stock, carriers, accounts for the invoice.

What it looks like

Concept screens

Concept approvals inbox listing four items waiting for a manager: a purchase order, a use-as-is decision, a hold release and a stock adjustment — Concept screen A concept approvals inbox. One place for every decision a manager owes, with waiting time shown.

Two concept phone screens for maintenance: reporting a machine fault by scanning its tag, and a technician’s list of open requests — Concept screen Concept maintenance screens. Reporting a fault takes one scan, one choice and a photo.

Concept dispatch screen with counts of orders ready, picking and shipped, and a pick queue showing customer, lines, carrier, ship-by date and status — Concept screen A concept dispatch queue. Posting the shipment reduces stock and drafts the invoice in one step.

These are concept mockups with example data, drawn to show the level of simplicity we aim for. They are not screenshots of Zoho products or of a customer system.

Design rules

What makes a shop-floor workflow stick

The last rule on the left matters most. While the paper sheet is still on the bench, people will fill in both, trust neither and blame the app. Agree the date the old method is removed before the trial starts.

Technology

What these are built with

Most of these workflows are apps on Zoho Creator, which provides forms, native mobile apps, barcode and QR scanning on phones and tablets, approvals, Blueprint stages, schedules and role-based access. Logic is written in Deluge. Stock and purchasing sit in Zoho Inventory or your existing system, connected through integrations. Where a process does not fit a platform, we build custom software.

Zoho Creator
Deluge
Zoho Inventory
Zoho Flow
Zoho Analytics
REST APIs

See it applied

Solution blueprints

Job tracking

Job Tracking for a Custom Joinery: A Solution Blueprint

A solution blueprint: how a 25-person custom joinery could replace its whiteboard with scan-based job tracking on Zoho Creator, linked to orders.

Arunkumar V · 7 min read

Traceability

Batch Traceability for a Bakery: A Solution Blueprint

A solution blueprint: how a 40-person bakery could move from paper batch sheets to scanned lot and batch records with a timed mock recall.

Zudo Works development team · 7 min read

AI and automation

AI-Assisted Purchase Order Intake: A Solution Blueprint

A solution blueprint: reading customer purchase orders into draft sales orders with AI extraction, validation rules and human confirmation.

Zudo Works development team · 8 min read

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Which workflow should we automate first?

The one that causes the most daily pain and is simple enough to finish in a few weeks. For most small manufacturers that is production tracking or quality records.

Do operators need their own devices?

Usually not. One shared tablet or handheld per work area is enough. Operators scan a job card or machine tag and tap one or two buttons.

Will it work without internet on the shop floor?

Zoho Creator offers offline access on mobile with restrictions, so it depends on the workflow. We check coverage and test on your devices during the trial, and keep a paper fallback for outages.

Can these workflows connect to our existing ERP?

Yes, if the ERP has an API or supports imports. The workflow app records the work and passes results to the ERP, which remains the system of record.

How long does one workflow take to build?

A single workflow with a floor screen, rules and a board typically takes three to five weeks including a trial. Integrations and reporting add to that.