Top 8 manufacturing apps to improve productivity

With over three million apps available in the Google Play store and more than two million in Apple’s App Store, there’s an app for everything — lifestyle, social, gaming, and entertainment.

There are also countless business and productivity apps to choose from. They simplify business processes; provide a leg up on competition; improve collaboration and communication; and save time, money, and resources company-wide, regardless of size or trade.

Productivity apps in the manufacturing industry are no different. From streamlining inspections and workflow to managing inventory and invoices, manufacturing apps can deliver improvements in several areas:

• Efficiency
• Decision-making
• Product quality
• Uptime
• Asset management
• Resource planning
• Data storage and analysis
• Project management
• Customer satisfaction
• Safety compliance

But with so many on the market, how do you know which manufacturing app is best for your business? Here’s a breakdown of eight options to consider:

1. MRPeasy

Designed for small manufacturing businesses, production management software MRPeasy is a cloud-based, affordable, and user-friendly option. By managing orders, inventory, sales, purchases, and finances with MRPeasy, you can improve equipment utilization, prevent stock-outs, and shorten lead times — all from one centralized, systemized platform.

With MRPeasy, you can better manage your team — whether they work in sales, warehousing, or finance — thanks to accessible, viewable tasks on a PC or mobile device, as well as shop floor reporting and automated, streamlined communication and workflows.

2. Flowtrac

From receiving or transferring inventory to managing workflows or field locations, manufacturing app Flowtrac helps you streamline your entire product and process management system. Using this platform, you can scan products, track assets, collect labor times, and capture proof of delivery quickly and accurately. What’s more, thanks to its in-house development team, Flowtrac’s framework is super flexible, allowing users to modify and customize it to fit their needs.

3. Jotform Apps

Using code-free mobile app builder Jotform Apps, you can easily create, publish, download, and share your own manufacturing app, thanks to the platform’s litany of app templates (including both inventory and business management templates) and 100-plus integrations.

If you’re not looking to create an app from scratch, Jotform offers a ready-made warehouse management app template, which helps you track and record new warehouse inventory (like item names and descriptions and account and payment information from the distribution company). Jotform Apps is easy to use, powerful, and fully customizable, too, enabling users to upload their logo, change fonts and colors, and create a custom app icon to match their company branding.

The right manufacturing app can help you stay organized, meet quality assurance standards, automate workflows, and track and manage everyday processes, whether they’re projects, assets, employees, or all of the above. By choosing the best manufacturing app for your business, you can ensure you grow and scale sooner rather than later.

4. NetSuite

Whether you need to improve your financial operations, reduce handling costs, or streamline order processing, cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software NetSuite can help. With features like customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities, activity logging, product data management, procurement, and production control, users can oversee their business and shop floor, optimize inventory levels, improve customer relationships, and reduce time to market for new goods. It’s powerful, easy to use, and flexible — built to maximize your organization’s productivity from one, simple platform.

5. Hubstaff

Time tracking app Hubstaff is designed to reduce admin work, boost productivity, and easily and automatically pay employees. Using geofencing to record job site time and location, this app makes paper timesheets and incorrect time cards obsolete, providing more accurate project management, budget estimates, and proof of work for clients.

Hubstaff is accessible from anywhere, easy to use, and integrates with more than 30 apps — including ClickUp, Asana, and Slack — to improve productivity and simplify everyday tasks.

6. 4Industry

Designed to increase your operational equipment effectiveness (OEE), manufacturing app 4Industry helps manage shop floor tasks, establish consistent product quality, shorten training time, and reduce accidents through a single, robust platform.

So, if you’re looking to streamline workflows, view and submit inspection forms, provide workers easy access to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and machine manuals, or collect and manage feedback to ensure continuous improvement, 4Industry may be the app for you. And since it integrates with other software and platforms, it gives you the flexibility to create exactly what you need in a digital manufacturing solution.

7. Prodsmart

As an all-in-one management and optimization system for the manufacturing industry, Prodsmart can make sure you never miss a deadline again. It helps you track, record, and analyze every part of your production workflow — orders, employees, machines, materials, and costs — from beginning to end. And because it’s compatible with 500-plus systems (including QuickBooks, Magento, Salesforce, and Shopify), your manufacturing operation will be that much easier to measure and improve over time.

8. MaintainX

Ideal for manufacturing, safety, and plant managers, MaintainX helps users run operations effectively and efficiently using one simple yet powerful platform. This app lets you assign work orders, improve OEE, generate reports, track inspections and corrective actions, manage inventory, and reduce downtime. MaintainX is fast, intuitive, and easy to learn and set up.

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