Shop floor scheduling software and shop floor management software your operators actually use
A schedule that stays in the office does not run the plant. ProductionPlanning.ai sends the schedule to the floor as a simple queue for each work center, and the floor sends progress back, job by job. Shop floor status is part of the Plant plan at 429 USD per plant a month, with every operator, lead and planner included, so you never count licenses before putting a screen at a machine.
Free for 14 days on your own orders and machines. No card.
Machine shop, Shift 1 queue per work center
Open it in the demo| Work center | Order | Product | Quantity | Time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
On time
0%
Bottleneck
0%
Shortages
0
Factory scheduling software, one queue per work center
Each work center sees only what it needs for the shift: the jobs in the order the schedule chose, with order number, product, quantity, setup notes and the time each job should take.
- Queue per work center for the current and the next shift
- On a screen at the machine, a tablet or a phone
- Large type and large buttons, readable at arm's length
- Setup and changeover jobs shown as their own line
- The next job ready before the current one finishes
Plant scheduling software that knows what is running
- Start and finish with one tap
- Actual quantity and scrap recorded at finish
- Pause with a reason: waiting for material, waiting for setup, breakdown
- Machine down marked from the floor, with the expected return time
- The planner and the plant manager see status on the Gantt chart as it happens
Shop floor status is included on the Plant plan and above.
When a machine goes down mid shift
The operator marks the work center down. The planner sees it on the schedule, reschedules, and the rest of the week moves: jobs slide to the next free window or to an alternative work center, and orders that now miss their date appear on the late list with the number of days. The queues on the floor update with the new sequence. The whole thing takes a minute, not an afternoon of moving rows.
Factory production management software for the morning meeting
- One shared view of what ran yesterday against what was planned
- Late orders and the bottleneck on the first screen
- Operations running longer than planned, flagged per work center
- The same schedule for the office, the floor and sales
Read how the floor feeds back into the plan on the production planning and control software page, and how each machine's sequence is chosen on the machine scheduling software page.
Shop floor control software without a license per operator
Most shop floor management software is priced per person on the floor. MES products such as Autodesk Fusion Operations sell admin seats plus a shop floor license for every worker who logs production, and per user MRP and ERP systems charge for each operator login. That model makes sense for full data collection. It gets expensive fast when all you need is for every machine to know what runs next.
| Plant on two shifts | Per worker licensing | ProductionPlanning.ai Plant |
|---|---|---|
| 3 planners and leads, 12 operators | 15 licenses, each one priced | 429 USD a month, all included |
| Adding a third shift of 8 operators | 8 more licenses | No change |
| A screen for sales and customer service | Often another seat | Included |
| Rescheduling after a breakdown | Depends on the product | One minute, queues update on the floor |
If you need lot traceability, maintenance records and full OEE from every station, a dedicated MES is the right tool, and our Prodsmart alternative page says when. If you need the floor running to a plan that holds, the scheduler is the faster and cheaper fix. All plans are on the pricing page.
Shop floor scheduling questions buyers ask
What is shop floor scheduling software?
Shop floor scheduling software turns the production plan into a job queue for each machine or work center and collects progress back from the floor. Operators see what to run next and in what order, and the planner sees what actually started, finished or stopped, so the schedule reflects reality through the shift rather than only at the morning meeting.
What is the difference between shop floor control and an MES?
Shop floor control covers dispatching work to machines and reporting its status back to the plan. An MES goes further, recording labor, scrap, downtime, lot genealogy and quality data at every station for traceability and OEE. Many small plants need the first long before the second.
Do operators need their own login?
No. On ProductionPlanning.ai a shared screen or tablet at the machine shows that work center's queue, and every plan includes unlimited users, so you can give named logins to operators if you want records per person without paying per seat.
How much does shop floor management software cost?
Per worker MES licensing usually runs from a few dozen dollars a month per shop floor seat to about 2,000 USD a year per admin user, plus implementation. ProductionPlanning.ai includes shop floor status on Plant at 429 USD per plant a month, or 2,574 USD a year, with unlimited users and no setup fee.
Put the schedule on the shop floor
Create your account, publish a schedule, and open the queue for your first work center.
Your data stays yours. Export or delete it any time. No card to try the demo.