Production software for manufacturers who've outgrown the spreadsheet
Mannin Systems is a software company designed by an engineer. We build production systems for small manufacturers: orders, materials, recipes, tooling and stock, set up around the way your shop already works.
Runs on the PCs and phones you already have, with site-locked access.
- 1Orders, in metres, kilos or pieces
- 2Recipes and BOMs, versioned
- 3Line board, running and next
- 4Stock ledger, one source of truth
Sound familiar?
The big-name systems are priced and built for large factories. Mannin Systems is for everyone else.
- The production plan lives on a whiteboard, or in one person's head.
- There's a spreadsheet only one person understands, and everyone is wary of touching it.
- Nobody is quite sure how much material, or regrind, is really in stock.
- Tooling history is whatever someone remembers about the last run.
- Off-the-shelf software was built for someone else's factory, and it shows.
Software that knows its way round a factory
Every system is built on the same engineered core, then set up for your shop, your products and your names for things. Here’s some of what that looks like.
Scan it once. Never key it again.
Each work station prints a label for what it has just made, and it goes on the product, bundle or stillage. The next station scans it in. Nothing is typed twice, so keying mistakes stop at the source, and every scan records who, where and when against the right job and cost centre.
How scan-and-label worksTrace any batch in seconds
When a customer rings about a delivery, follow the finished lot back to the supplier batches it was made from, and forward to everyone who received it. No digging through delivery notes.
Trace FG-1025 in the demoTooling that warns you first
Every die, mould and fixture keeps its own log of runs, cleans and repairs. Set a maintenance point and the system flags it before the job that needs it, not halfway through the run.
See the die logMistakes put right, never rubbed out
Every stock movement is written once and kept. A mis-keyed delivery is corrected with a reversing entry, so the record stays complete and you can always see who did what, and when.
Open the ledgerBuilt to fit your factory, not a template
Off-the-shelf systems give every business the same screens. Ours are designed from scratch around your people: the colours, the layout, the words on the buttons, even the device they run on.
Bespoke where people touch it, engineered where it counts.
Every screen is shaped around your factory. Underneath, every system runs on the same proven core.Press a button on the line. Watch the office update.
This is the real pattern, running in your browser. The station and the office read the same record, so nothing is ever copied across.
Take the full tour
A working system for Brackwater Extrusions, a made-up two-line PVC extruder with three weeks of orders, jobs and stock movements in it. Sign in as the owner, the planner or a machine operator.
Open the demoBest on a computer, but it works on a phone too. All companies and figures are invented.
- See what needs attention todayA material shortage, a late order and a die due a polish, spotted without opening a spreadsheet.
- Open a job sheetMaterials by lot, scrap, regrind and yield for a job with part of its run held for QA.
- Book it from the shop floorSign in at the Line 1 station, scan material into the running job and book output and scrap.
Technical data
What's under the bonnet of every Mannin system, whichever trade it's built for.
- Record keeping
- One append-only ledger for every stock movement. Balances are worked out from it, never typed in.
- Corrections
- Reversing entries, linked to the original, with the reason kept. Nothing is edited or deleted.
- Traceability
- A lot on every movement, from supplier batch to customer delivery.
- Recipes and routings
- Versioned. Each job is pinned to the version it ran with.
- Quality and process control
- Your own checks, limits and reason codes built in, with automatic holds, downtime and scrap by reason, and OEE worked out from real bookings.
- Labels and scanning
- A label printed at each work station and scanned at the next. Nothing is typed twice, and every scan is recorded against the job and cost centre.
- Shop floor
- A station at each line or machine, on any tablet or touchscreen computer. One job at a time, with operator sign-in by PIN.
- Access
- Roles for the office, stations and viewers, with site-locked access by Wi-Fi, site boundary or scan to sign in. No per-user fees.
- Hosting
- London, with daily backups.
- Your data
- Yours. Export it any time, or take a full copy if you leave.
- Support
- Phone and email, with a reply the same working day.
Who it's for
Small manufacturers, usually between five and fifty people, who make things to order and track it all in spreadsheets.
Extruders
Recipes, regrind, dies, co-ex and the metres-to-kilos maths.
For extrudersFabricators
Jobs by drawing and revision, material certs, offcuts and subcontract finishing.
For fabricatorsLight engineering
Routings across machines, setup and run times, bar stock and inspection records.
For engineering firmsFree Excel templates
Six practical spreadsheets, useful on their own whether or not you ever talk to us. No sign-up, just download. See all six.
- OEE and downtime trackerFor any factory: OEE by machine and shift, and downtime ranked by reason.
- Regrind and recipe trackerFor extruders: regrind stock, recipe limits and the virgin material you’re saving.
- Job costing sheetFor fabricators: quoted price against actual material, labour and subcontract cost.
- Setup and run time logFor machine shops: actual setup and cycle times against what you quoted.
What are your spreadsheets costing you?
A rough guide, not a promise. Move the sliders to match your business.
Change the assumptions
Likely saving a year
Based on a Core system from £6,500 to set up and £295 a month, software only. The assumptions are deliberately cautious.
Talk your numbers through on a callA software company, designed by an engineer
I've spent my career in manufacturing, on the receiving end of MRP, WMS and ERP systems that were bought to help and ended up getting in the way.
My background is extrusion, process improvement and development, so Mannin Systems starts from the shop floor rather than the software. Fewer screens, fewer clicks, your names for your products, and nothing that slows a line down. I know what a changeover costs, why regrind ratios matter, and how much of a factory runs on knowledge that was never written down.
If it's not helping, it's hindering.
The same goes for compliance. Traceability and ISO records should come out of the way you already work, not sit on top of it as extra paperwork. Log it once, where it happens, and the audit trail builds itself, without costing you output.
How it works
No big-bang switchover. You keep working the way you do now until the new system has proved itself.
Introductory call
A short phone or video call about how you work now, to find out whether Mannin Systems would genuinely help.
Site assessment
If it looks like a good fit, a visit to your site, agreed in writing beforehand, ending in a fixed-price proposal.
Build and run side by side
We build the area causing the most trouble first, and it runs alongside your spreadsheets until you trust the numbers.
Switch over
Then you move across, with support on hand and room to add more areas when you're ready.
Start with a conversation
A short call to understand how you plan, buy and track today, and whether Mannin Systems would make a real difference to your business. If it isn’t the right fit, we’ll say so.
Book an introductory callOr call 07624 429517
- First stepAn introductory call by phone or video, usually around 30 minutes. There’s no charge and nothing to sign.
- If it’s a fitA site assessment, arranged under a short pre-contract agreement that sets out the scope, timings, confidentiality and any costs before anything is booked.
- What you getA written summary of where time and material are going, and a fixed-price proposal to consider in your own time.
- WhereAnywhere on the Isle of Man or in the UK. UK visits are arranged around your production schedule, with any travel costs agreed in the pre-contract agreement first.
Pricing
Every factory is different, so these are starting prices. Your site assessment gives you a fixed price for your system, with no per-user or per-station fees, however many lines and desks you connect.
Starter
One process, done properly
- The area causing the most trouble: stock and traceability, or orders and scheduling
- Office and shop-floor stations, as many as you need
- Your spreadsheets brought across
- Training on site
Core
Your whole production system
- Orders, scheduling and a line board
- Materials, recipes and stock by lot
- Jobs, output, scrap and yield
- Tooling and maintenance log
- Full traceability, supplier to customer
- A station for every line or machine, with no per-station fee
Add-ons
When you're ready for more
- Job costing and margins
- Purchasing, linked to Xero or QuickBooks
- Customer portal for order status and certificates
- Scan-and-label tracking at every station
Full pricing, hardware and questions
Prices exclude VAT. Larger or unusual set-ups are quoted after a site assessment.
Founding customer offer
The first two firms get 40% off set-up (Core from £3,900) and their monthly price fixed for three years. In return: a short case study, the odd reference call, and honest feedback.
Tell us what you're running on now
A few lines about what you make and how you plan production today is plenty to start with, or simply ask for an introductory call. You'll get a personal reply.