Project management for manufacturing, from approved order to installation.
Every approved sales order becomes a project that carries its drawings, BOM, purchase, production, dispatch and money — and shows how far each stage has got.
In short
Project management software for manufacturing treats each customer order as a project — drawings, BOM, purchase, production, dispatch and installation in one record. In CRE8Rx ERP the project comes from the approved sales order, and each stage's progress is calculated from the BOMs, POs, job cards and dispatches the departments already create.
| Created from | The sales order; moves to Design when approved |
|---|---|
| Stages tracked | Design, Purchase, Production, Dispatch, Installation |
| Progress from | BOMs, POs, job cards, dispatches, installations |
| Money | Contract value, invoiced, received, outstanding |
| Runs on | Cloud — browser and phone, nothing to install |
A manufacturer that builds to order is really running projects. A commercial kitchen, an electrical panel line, a special-purpose machine: each one has drawings to approve, material to buy, parts to make, a dispatch to plan and often an installation at the customer's site. The order is won once, and then a dozen people spend the next three months asking each other where it has got to.
In most factories the answer lives in a WhatsApp group and an Excel sheet that somebody updates on Friday. Design does not know purchase is waiting for them. Production starts on a drawing that changed. Accounts finds out the job is finished when the customer asks for the invoice.
Project management software for manufacturing replaces that with one record per order. In CRE8Rx ERP the project is created from the sales order itself, so it starts with the customer, the equipment and the value already filled in, and its progress is worked out from the work that is actually done — not from somebody remembering to update a tracker.
What you get
Project from the approved sales order
When a sales order is approved, its project moves to In Progress at the Design stage and the order lines become the project's equipment list — nothing is retyped.
Progress that updates itself
Design, Purchase, Production, Dispatch and Installation progress bars are calculated from real BOMs, purchase orders, job cards, dispatches and installations.
The next team is told
When a project moves to its next stage, the department that now owns it gets a notification, so a job does not sit waiting for someone to notice.
One page per project
Tabs for Overview, PO / PI, Equipment, Drawings, BOM, Purchase, Production, Dispatch and Accounts — everything about the order in one place.
Drawings and documents
Upload DWG, DXF, PDF, Word, Excel and image files to the project and send drawings for approval before production starts on them.
Money against the project
The Accounts tab shows contract value, invoiced, received and outstanding. The customer PO / PI tab is visible only to sales, accounts and admin.
Excel and WhatsApp vs project ERP
| Excel and WhatsApp | Project ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the order stands | Asked in a meeting | Stage bars on the project |
| Progress updates | Typed by someone, when they remember | Calculated from real records |
| Drawings | Mailboxes and phones | On the project, with approval |
| Next team told | By phone call | Notified when the stage moves |
| Money on the job | Asked from accounts | Accounts tab on the project |
One order, followed through the project
- 1Sales raises a sales order for a commercial kitchen line and attaches the customer's PO; it goes to admin for approval.
- 2Admin approves. The project moves to In Progress at the Design stage and the order lines become its equipment list.
- 3Design uploads the drawings and BOM to the project and sends them for approval; the Design bar fills as the BOMs are made.
- 4Purchase raises POs against the project; the Purchase bar moves as they are placed and received.
- 5Production works through job cards, then dispatch sends the material — each department notified as the project reaches it.
- 6Installation is scheduled, checked off and handed over, and the Accounts tab shows what has been invoiced and what is still to come.
Why build-to-order factories lose track of projects
A stock product has one route through the factory. A project does not: every order has its own drawings, its own bought-out items and its own delivery promise, and the work for it is spread across five departments that each keep their own list. Nobody owns the whole picture, so the whole picture exists only in meetings.
The result is familiar to anyone who has run a project-based unit. Purchase orders go out late because design approval was not passed on. A part is made to an old drawing. A dispatch is planned before the last item is ready. Each problem is small; together they are why delivery dates slip.
Progress you do not have to type
A tracker that depends on people updating it is out of date the day it is made. In CRE8Rx ERP each stage bar on a project is calculated from the records the departments create anyway: BOMs for design, purchase orders for purchase, job cards for production, dispatches for dispatch and installation records for installation.
The project's stage only moves forward, and when it moves the next department is notified. A manager opening the project sees where it really stands — not where it stood when someone last remembered to update a sheet.
From one order to the whole order book
The same records that drive one project give the overview across all of them: which projects are in design, which are waiting on purchase, which are on the shop floor and which are ready to dispatch. Project reports and the costing view show budget against actual for each one, so a job that is drifting is visible while it can still be corrected.
Who project-based manufacturing ERP is for
It fits any manufacturer where each order is designed, bought and built for one customer: commercial kitchen and canteen equipment, electrical panels, special-purpose machines, HVAC and ducting, storage systems, conveyors and structural fabrication. In these businesses the same product name hides a different drawing, a different bill of material and a different delivery date every time, so a stock-based system that only knows items and quantities cannot answer the questions the owner actually asks.
What those businesses have in common is that the order, not the item, is the unit of work. Purchase buys for an order, the floor builds for an order and accounts bills an order in stages. A project record gives each of those departments the same reference point, which is what lets the owner open one screen and see every live order, its stage and its money, instead of collecting the picture from five people.
Questions people ask.
What is project management software for manufacturing?
Software that treats each customer order as a project — with its drawings, BOM, purchase, production, dispatch and installation — and shows where it stands. Unlike a general task tool, it is connected to the stock, purchase and production records the factory already keeps.
Is a project created automatically from a sales order?
Yes. A project is created with the sales order, and when the order is approved the project moves to In Progress at the Design stage with the order lines as its equipment. Projects can also be created by hand.
How is project progress calculated?
From real records: BOMs for design, purchase orders for purchase, job cards for production, dispatches for dispatch and installation records for installation. Nobody has to update a percentage by hand.
Can different departments see only what they need?
Each department works in its own module, and sensitive tabs are restricted — the customer PO / PI tab, for example, is visible only to sales, accounts and admin users.
Can we upload drawings and documents to a project?
Yes. DWG, DXF, PDF, Word, Excel and image files can be uploaded to the project, and drawings can be sent for approval. PDFs and images open in the browser; CAD files are downloaded to open in your CAD software.
Does it work for engineer-to-order and make-to-order businesses?
Yes — that is who it is built for: manufacturers of kitchen equipment, panels, machinery, HVAC and fabrication, where each order has its own design, material and delivery date.
Can one sales order have several items of equipment?
Yes. Each line on the sales order becomes an item on the project's equipment list, so a kitchen project with forty pieces of equipment or a panel order with several boards is tracked as one project with all of its items.
Related parts of the system
Tell us what you make.
The useful version of a demo uses your own item list and last month's orders, not ours.
Get in touch