Key facts
| Who it suits | Units with 10–150 workers: fabrication, packaging, plastics, garments, auto components, food processing |
|---|---|
| First Build | Orders, job cards, material issue, finished stock and dispatch |
| Typical range | ₹1.7L–₹2.5L with alerts and one export |
| Timeline | 3–4 weeks for a first version |
| Ownership | Code, hosting and data belong to you |
How does a small factory track work today?
An order arrives by call or WhatsApp. The owner or a supervisor writes it on a board, a register or a sheet. Raw material is issued from a store, with entries made when someone remembers. Production is counted at the end of the shift on paper, and dispatch is recorded on the challan.
Everyone knows what is happening because the owner walks the floor. That works until the owner is away, until there are two shifts, or until a customer asks which of their five orders is late and why.
What goes wrong when it lives in registers and sheets?
- Promise dates are guesses, because no one can see the real queue.
- Material runs out mid-job because stock is counted weekly.
- Rework and rejection are noticed late and not linked to a machine, batch or operator.
- Finished goods and dispatch do not match, so billing is delayed or disputed.
- The owner's evening is spent collecting numbers by phone.
A good tracker does not need machine sensors. Most of the value comes from entering four events reliably: order accepted, material issued, quantity produced, quantity dispatched.
What would a first Build contain?
- Customer orders with item, quantity, due date and priority.
- Job cards created from orders, printable and also visible on a phone.
- Material issue and return against a job, with a simple reorder level for each item.
- Production entry per shift: good quantity, rejected quantity and reason.
- Finished stock and dispatch entry, linked to the order, with a challan print.
- An owner view: orders late or at risk, stock below level, rejection by reason.
Roles are usually owner, supervisor, store and dispatch. Start with the one product line that causes the most chasing. Add others after the team trusts the numbers.
What should a factory not build first?
Do not start with costing, payroll, quality certification and purchase accounting at once. Do not try to model every machine. Skip machine integration and IoT sensors in version one: the data will be only as good as the manual process around it, and the manual process is what you are fixing.
Accounting stays in Tally or your current tool. The tracker exports invoices or dispatch data into it. Quality standards you need for certification are set by your auditor or customer. Software stores the records, but it does not make you compliant.
ERP, a ready-made tool, or a custom tracker?
| Route | Good when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-made ERP | Your process is standard and you can change habits to fit it | Long set-up, per-user fees, many modules nobody uses |
| Custom tracker | Your job flow is specific and you want only the screens you use | You must decide the process before we build it |
| Sheets | Fewer than five orders running at a time | No history, no alerts, one person holds the file |
If you have outgrown sheets but are not ready for ERP, a tracker is the middle step. Low-code versus custom software explains the trade-offs.
What does it cost in INR?
| Scope | What it covers | Price | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build: order to dispatch | Orders, job cards, stock, production entry, dispatch | ₹1.7L–₹2.5L | 3–4 weeks |
| Build: with approvals | Adds purchase requests, quality checks and customer status link | ₹1.5L–3.5L | 3–4 weeks |
| Platform | Several plants or lines, BOM, vendor portal, accounting integration | ₹3.5L–8L | 5–8 weeks, then phases |
Work starts with a visit or video walk-through of the floor, so the scope reflects how jobs really move. Read how we build for the steps, and the cost estimator for a quick range.
Frequently asked questions
Will workers use it?
Only if entry takes seconds. We design shop-floor screens with large buttons and test them with your supervisor first.
Can it work on a shared tablet?
Yes. It runs in a browser, so a tablet or a cheap PC at the store counter is enough.
Can it print job cards and challans?
Yes, in your layout. Any statutory format is yours to confirm.
Does it replace Tally?
No. It tracks production and dispatch, then passes data to your accounts.
Does it work without internet on the floor?
The first version needs a connection. Offline entry is a later scope if your network is poor.