Writing
From the field.
Notes on owned software for industrial businesses: ERP, the shop floor, traceability, and putting language models to work inside a real operation.
Filtered by tag: Manufacturing ·
RAG vs Knowledge Base: Which One Your Shop Is Missing
A knowledge base is your shop's documents. RAG is how someone finds the answer in them. How to tell which one you are missing before you pay for either.
Lot Traceability Software: What It Has to Do When a Supplier Calls
A supplier calls about a bad heat lot. Can you say where it went within the hour? What lot traceability software has to do, where it breaks, and how to test it.
Outgrowing QuickBooks? Keep the Books, Fix the Spreadsheets
Job costing in a spreadsheet, inventory that never matches the floor? You may have outgrown the spreadsheets, not QuickBooks. How to tell, and what to change.
ERP Data Migration: What Breaks When You Move Your Old Data
A new ERP means moving years of customers, jobs and drawings. What goes wrong, the check most teams skip, and why moving everything is the wrong default.
How Much Does a Custom ERP Cost? Work Out Your Own Number
Nobody can price a custom ERP before seeing your shop. The 5 things that set the number, and how to check it against what you pay your vendors now.
ITAR Compliant ERP: Who Can Read Your Drawings, and Where They Sit
No ERP is ITAR certified. ITAR limits who can read your drawings and where they sit. What that asks of your software, and 5 questions to ask any vendor.
ERP for Job Shops: Why Most Systems Fight One-Off Work
Most ERPs assume you make the same part again. A job shop quotes one-offs and reroutes them daily. Where that breaks, and what to look for instead.
Why ERP Implementations Stall, and How to Spot It Early
You signed in Q1, go-live slipped, and the floor still runs on spreadsheets. The 5 reasons ERP projects stall, and how to spot each one early.
AS9100 Software Requirements: What Your System Has to Prove
No software is AS9100 certified. Your quality system is. What an auditor asks your system to prove, where most ERPs fall short, and 5 questions to check yours.
MES vs ERP: Which One Does a Mid-Size Shop Need?
ERP runs the orders and the money. MES runs the floor. Most shops shopping for an MES first need floor numbers nobody retypes. How to tell which you need.
Can I Build My Own ERP? Cost, Timeline and Who Owns It
Yes, a shop can build its own ERP. What each of the 3 ways costs, how long it takes, who keeps the code and the data, and where each one breaks.
Manufacturing Data Sovereignty: Do You Own Your Data or Lease It?
Your ERP contract says you own your data. The 4 tests that decide whether you do, where NetSuite and SAP land, and 6 questions to score your own shop.
RAG for Manufacturing: Ask Your Own SOPs, Prints and Records
Can AI answer floor questions from your own SOPs, prints and quality records? What to load first, what to leave out, where to run it, and how to trust it.
AS9100 Audit Prep: Turn Weeks of Evidence Hunting Into Hours
AS9100 audit prep often means weeks of hunting evidence across SharePoint, the QMS and email. How to keep the records so prep takes hours, not weeks.
Why Manufacturing AI Projects Stall After a Good Demo
An AI pilot demos well, then cannot answer what your best engineer knows from the paper file. The model is fine. Your shop's records are the problem.
Why Your Manufacturing Floor Still Runs on Spreadsheets
Your shift reports and job numbers live in a workbook one person keeps. Why the spreadsheet survives, what it really costs, and how shops get off it.