Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform is the best shop floor tracking software for most manufacturers, because one annual subscription covers unlimited users and machines and its packages start at plant-level MES. A custom shop floor system built by Black Badger ranks second, and it wins when operators need a screen that matches your travelers and your steps and reports back to the ERP you already own.
The ranking, entry by entry
1 Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform
Best for plants that want every operator and machine reporting
Shop floor tracking fails when people share logins or skip the terminal, and Plex removes the usual reason for both. Its subscription has no named or concurrent user license and Plex says there are no overage charges, so every operator and every machine can report. Packages start at plant-level MES and MOM, below the full-business ERP. Plex says all you need is a web browser and an internet connection.
Watch for. Plex publishes no price. Ask how the plant-level package connects to the ERP you keep, and who builds that connection.
- How it charges
- Annual subscription, quoted, with no per-user license
- Main limit
- Quote only, built for manufacturers, and sold as a plant to business package
2 Custom build by Black Badger
Best for plants that want floor screens matched to their own travelers
A shop floor system is the other thing manufacturers most often ask Black Badger to build, and we publish this guide, so read this entry with that in mind. Custom ranks second because operators adopt a screen that mirrors the traveler they already use, with your steps, your checks and your scrap codes, and ignore one that does not. We build it for tablets or terminals on the floor, feed the results to your ERP and charge no per-user fee.
Watch for. Tracking only helps if the ERP receives it. The written scope has to name the system the floor data lands in and who owns that link.
- How it charges
- One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
- Main limit
- Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one
3 Epicor Kinetic
Best for make-to-order shops that want tracking inside their ERP
Epicor Kinetic ranks third. If you run or plan to run Kinetic, tracking labor and job progress in the same system as the job is the simplest design. Kinetic is aimed at discrete, make-to-order plants. It is third on this list because choosing it for shop floor tracking means choosing it as your ERP, which is a larger decision than putting screens on the floor.
Watch for. Confirm whether the quote covers cloud, on-premises or hybrid deployment. A plant with weak connectivity on the floor should ask that first.
- How it charges
- Quoted by sales, no published price
- Main limit
- Quote only, built for discrete make-to-order manufacturers
4 Infor CloudSuite
Best for sector-specific plants standardizing on one suite
Infor CloudSuite is fourth. Like Epicor, it tracks the floor as part of a full ERP, and its draw is the industry suite. Food and beverage plants and automotive suppliers track different things, and Infor builds a suite for each. The industrial manufacturing suite is described as multi-tenant and runs on the Infor AWS cloud platform, so floor reporting depends on a reliable connection.
Watch for. The Infor AI package, called the Velocity Suite, is an add-on. Ask what floor reporting is included before any add-on is quoted.
- How it charges
- Quoted by sales, no published price
- Main limit
- Quote only, sold as industry suites, so the choice depends on your sector
5 Fishbowl inventory and manufacturing
Best for plants tracking work orders and materials, not machines
Fishbowl ranks fifth. Its Advanced Manufacturing plan, billed at a monthly rate, covers manufacturing control alongside inventory and ties to your accounting package. For a plant whose floor question is what was built and what it used, that can be enough. It ranks below the ERPs because it is inventory and manufacturing control, and it is priced by users, so putting every operator on it raises the quote.
Watch for. Final pricing is quoted to your users and deployment. Decide how many floor users you need before you ask for the number.
- How it charges
- Monthly rate by plan, billed annually, Advanced plans quoted
- Main limit
- Plans include 2 to 10 users, and the Advanced plans need a quote
6 Katana Cloud Inventory
Best for product makers who want production tracking without an ERP
Katana ranks sixth. It tracks inventory and production in one cloud tool, and its Advantage contract includes unlimited users, so the whole floor can use it without a per-seat bill. Implementation and a customer success manager are part of that contract. It sits near the bottom for a manufacturer of 50 or more employees because it has no finance ledger and the only published plan stops at 30 SKUs.
Watch for. Advantage is a quoted annual contract with no published price. Ask what integrations to your accounting or ERP are included in the scope.
- How it charges
- Free plan to 30 SKUs, then one quoted annual contract
- Main limit
- Only a Free plan up to 30 SKUs or a custom Advantage contract
7 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Best for microsoft shops that need basic production reporting
Business Central ranks seventh for shop floor tracking. Manufacturing comes with the Premium plan, so production output can be recorded in the same system as finance. The difficulty is licensing the floor. A full user license is charged per user and paid yearly, and the lower-cost Team Members license is limited to reading data, approving workflows and updating select information. That may not cover what an operator has to enter.
Watch for. Ask the Microsoft partner in writing whether your operators can report production on a Team Members license or need Premium.
- How it charges
- Per user, paid yearly, bought through a Microsoft partner
- Main limit
- Manufacturing needs the Premium plan, and Microsoft sends buyers to a partner
Questions buyers ask
What should shop floor tracking software capture for a manufacturer?
Shop floor tracking should capture, at minimum, who worked on which job and operation, for how long, how many good parts came off and how many were scrapped and why. Plants that capture that reliably can cost jobs and see where the schedule is slipping while there is still time to act.
Do we need a full MES to track the shop floor?
You do not always need a full MES to track the shop floor. A manufacturing execution system does more than tracking. Many plants only need operators to clock on and off jobs and record counts, with the results sent to the ERP. That narrower job can be met by an ERP module, a plant-level package or a custom system.
Why do operators stop using shop floor terminals?
Operators stop using shop floor terminals when the screen asks for more than the work allows or does not match the paperwork that travels with the job. Tracking that takes more than a few taps gets skipped. The fix is a screen designed from the traveler and the actual steps, which is the main argument for building one.