Manufacturing automation, built around how your floor runs.

In short

Manufacturing automation means production data entered once at the machine and visible live, stock levels that match the shelf with reorder flags, and dispatch documents, e-way bills and customer messages generated from one event. SBD builds this around the ERP and accounting system you already run, starting with a $500 audit on the floor that is credited to the build.

What it costs today

Where manufacturing loses the hours.

• Production data lives in three places

  Floor registers, a spreadsheet and a chat group. Nobody can answer where an order is without asking three people, and the answer is already an hour old.

• Dispatch waits on paperwork

  Invoices, delivery notes and transport documents are typed after the goods are ready, so vehicles wait and finance reconciles from memory at month end.

• Stock is right until the count

  Consumption is not recorded as it happens, so the system drifts from the shelf. It shows up as a shortage mid-run or as cash tied up in raw material nobody needed.

• Quality records are an afterthought

  Inspection results sit on paper until a customer audit or an ISO surveillance visit, then someone spends a week assembling them.

• One supervisor holds the status

  Live status lives in one head. When that person is on leave or on another shift, decisions wait.

• The ERP does not reach the floor

  The ERP holds master data and orders, but the floor works around it because entering a batch takes six screens.

By company size

Manufacturing at 10 people, and at 1,000.

1. 1 to 10

   The owner walks the floor and keeps the numbers in a notebook. It works until a second shift starts.

2. 11 to 50

   One production sheet, a stores register and a dispatch book, kept by three people who do not see each other's.

3. 51 to 200

   An ERP that holds the master data, a floor that runs on WhatsApp and paper, and a daily report typed from both.

4. 201 to 1,000

   Several lines or sites, an ERP nobody fully trusts, and a planning meeting spent agreeing what was made yesterday.

What we build

What we build for manufacturing teams.

1. 01

   Production entry at the machine

   A tablet screen per line or cell: quantity, scrap, downtime reason, operator. Entered once, written straight to the record, no end-of-shift typing.

2. 02

   Live production dashboard

   Output by line, shift and product, late jobs, scrap rate and downtime, visible to supervisors and management from the same numbers at the same time.

3. 03

   Stock tied to consumption

   Raw material issued against work orders and finished goods booked at completion, with reorder flags that fire before a line stops.

4. 04

   Dispatch documents from one event

   Mark an order ready and the invoice, delivery note and transport document generate in your country's format, labels print, and the carrier and customer are told.

5. 05

   Quality records captured at inspection

   Checks recorded against the batch with photos and measurements, so audit evidence exists the day it happens.

6. 06

   Supplier and inbound tracking

   Purchase orders confirmed, delivery dates tracked and delays flagged to planning before they become a stoppage.

The workflows

The manufacturing workflows, and what sets each one off.

1. 01
   Production entry at the machine

   When a batch or shift is completed

   Then

   Quantity, scrap and downtime entered once on a tablet, written to the record

2. 02
   Live production dashboard

   When any production record changes

   Then

   Output by line, shift and SKU refreshed; late jobs and scrap rate flagged

3. 03
   Dispatch paperwork

   When an order is marked ready

   Then

   Delivery challan, invoice and e-way bill generated; transporter and customer messaged

4. 04
   Stock and reorder

   When goods in or consumed

   Then

   Raw material and finished stock updated; reorder flag raised below the threshold

5. 05
   Supplier and ETA tracking

   When a purchase order is raised

   Then

   Supplier confirmation requested, ETA tracked, delay flagged to planning

The numbers we move

How a manufacturing build is judged.

Every build has a number written into the blueprint. These are the ones manufacturing builds are measured by, and how we measure them.

Proof

Proof from builds like this.

• Customer story

  Multi-user production dashboard

  A copper wire manufacturer moved from manual production tracking to a live multi-user dashboard, 45% faster order processing and 60% better data accuracy across 10+ modules.

  Read the story →
• Customer story

  Order and dispatch management system

  A building material supplier replaced manual order and dispatch coordination with a single system across multiple stakeholders.

  Read the story →

Questions

What people ask about manufacturing automation.

Reading

• Operations

  Who noticed when the workflow stopped?

  Most automation failures are silent. The run shows green, the trigger is armed, and nothing happens for six weeks. How silent failure works in Zapier and n8n, what it costs, and the four checks we put on every build.

• Systems

  Invoice intake with an agent: the first thirty days

  What the first month of an invoice intake agent looks like from the inside: how the queue behaves, which invoices escalate, what the finance team changes, and the three settings that decide whether it survives month two.

Related

• Industry

  Distribution and logistics

  Collections on a schedule, proof of delivery the same day, one stock count across every channel, and customers who hear before they ask.

• Function

  Back office

  The admin layer that quietly consumes your team’s week, handled by systems instead.

• Function

  Compliance and risk

  Make the audit trail a by-product of doing the work, not a project you run afterwards.

By industry: Distribution and logistics, Consulting and agencies, Service and e-commerce, Healthcare, Real estate, SaaS, Professional services