AxisIQ for manufacturing

AxisIQ runs a plant: sales orders, BOMs, work orders, shift output and rejects, QC, breakdowns, purchase, GRN, stock, job work and dispatch.

AxisIQ is the system a discrete manufacturer or job shop runs the plant in: customers and their POs as sales orders, items and bills of materials, work orders and shift-wise output with rejects, incoming, in-process and final inspection, machines with their breakdowns and services, purchase orders and GRNs, stock by plant, job work challans to subcontractors, and dispatch against a GST invoice — one live workspace instead of a whiteboard, a stores register and Tally. The Manufacturing template sets it up at signup, and Ask Axis, the built-in assistant, adapts it to your plant.

The work this replaces

In most growing plants the production plan is a whiteboard or an Excel sheet rebuilt every morning. Shift output goes into a register at the machine and gets typed up a day late, if ever. Rejection is a feeling ("that VMC has been giving burrs"), not a percentage. Parts sent for plating leave on a handwritten challan, and when a customer asks on WhatsApp where their order is, someone walks the floor.

Tally knows every invoice, and nothing that happened before one.

What the Manufacturing template sets up

Seven apps and twenty record types, plus the built-in Invoices type extended with a link to its sales order:

The references do the work. A work order points at its sales order, BOM and machine, so "everything for this customer" and "everything on this VMC" are filters, not phone calls. Production entries point at work order and machine, so rejects roll up by machine, reason or customer. An inspection points at a GRN (incoming) or a work order (in-process, final). A job work challan points at the work order whose parts went out, so a job waiting on plating shows why.

It also ships ready to work: auto-numbering (work orders as WO-2610-0001, GRNs, inspections, job work challans and enquiries numbered as they are saved), a Shop floor Work Queue, a published Request a quotation form, and two PDF layouts — a Job card for work orders and a Delivery challan for dispatches.

How a week runs in it

Enquiries. Each Request a quotation submission (once you open the form to the public) lands as a numbered Enquiry and moves through feasibility and quoting to won or lost.

Orders. A customer PO becomes a Sales order with SO lines, each with its own delivery date when deliveries are staggered. Make-to-stock replenishment is a sales order too.

Planning. The production manager raises Work orders against the order, picking the BOM and the machine. Releasing one moves the sales order to in production.

Material. Stores raises Purchase orders for what the BOMs need. Material arrives on a GRN under inspection; an incoming Quality inspection is booked against it and GRN lines record what was accepted. Parts for heat treatment or plating go out and come back on a Job work challan.

The floor. A released work order enters the Shop floor queue on its own — Cutting → Machining → QC → Ready for stores — and its printed Job card travels with the material. Stations scan the WO number to move it; a second scan changes nothing. Each shift the supervisor books a Production entry per machine — produced, rejected, why, downtime.

Quality. In-process and final inspections are booked against the work order. A final rework verdict opens a rework work order for the rejected pieces, so rework is planned like any other job.

Breakdowns. A breakdown Maintenance log takes the machine off the plan until the log is completed, with downtime hours on record.

Dispatch. Finished goods leave on a Dispatch naming the sales order, the tax invoice, the transporter, the vehicle and the e-way bill number you generated on the portal. The Delivery challan PDF goes with the goods, and when the dispatch is marked delivered, the sales order is marked dispatched.

Automations included

Five flows, switched on from the first minute:

• Breakdown stops the machine — open breakdown → machine breakdown.
• Completed maintenance returns the machine — completed log → machine running.
• Released job puts the order in production — released work order → sales order in production.
• Delivered dispatch closes the order — delivered dispatch → sales order dispatched.
• Rework verdict opens a rework job — final rework verdict → rework work order for the rejected pieces.

Each can be edited or switched off; every run is logged.

Roles

• Production manager — plans and releases work orders, owns BOMs, keeps the floor loaded.
• Shop-floor supervisor — books shift output and rejects, moves jobs along, reports breakdowns.
• Quality inspector — incoming, in-process and final inspection, and the verdict.
• Stores & purchase — buying, the gate, stock and job work challans.
• Sales & accounts — orders, dispatches, GST invoices and payments.

Permissions go down to fields: supervisors can see items without standard cost or selling price, on screen, in exports and in reports.

Your home dashboard

Plant overview opens with four numbers — Dispatch value, Open work orders, Late sales orders and Rejection % over the last 30 days — then Good output by day, Rejects by reason, Breakdown hours by machine over 90 days, and three worklists: Late orders to chase, Work orders on the floor and Raw materials to reorder. Every widget is an editable SQL query in Analytics.

Platform apps that come switched on

• Work Queues — the Shop floor queue and its scan stations; rename or add stages to match your floor.
• Invoices & Payments — Razorpay payment links through your own account.
• Accounting ledger — double-entry, exact decimals, entries immutable once posted.
• Messaging — email, SMS and WhatsApp through your own provider, for dispatch notices and payment reminders; WhatsApp uses Meta-approved templates.
• Forms and PDF templates — the quotation form and the job card and challan layouts.
• Calendar, Sheets, Knowledge Base and Functions — service dates, a grid for the planner, SOPs, JavaScript.

Switched off: In-Store Checkout, Marketplaces, Content Studio and Web Campaigns — a plant sells on POs, not over a counter or a storefront. Settings → Apps turns any of them on.

Make it yours

After signup Ask Axis asks what is different about your plant, and you answer in plain words:

• "Add heat number and material grade to production entries."
• "Add a tool room department that tracks dies and fixtures, with a shot count per die."
• "Notify the maintenance in-charge whenever a breakdown is reported."
• "Add a dashboard widget for rejection % by customer this quarter."
• "Add a Painting stage to the Shop floor queue after Machining."

Ask Axis changes your live workspace under your own permissions and asks before anything destructive. Example data makes the dashboard readable on day one and never fires the automations; Settings → Industry template → Clear example data removes only those rows, in one click. Started blank? A template can still be applied from Settings while the workspace is empty. Items, customers and open orders come in by CSV (migration guide).

What AxisIQ doesn't do

• No MRP run. BOMs are records; nothing explodes a sales order into material requirements and nets them against stock.
• No finite capacity scheduling. Work orders carry a machine and planned dates; nothing sequences jobs or tells you a promised date is impossible.
• No IoT or machine data capture. Output and downtime are booked by people, not read from a PLC.
• Stock does not move on its own. Production entries and GRNs don't change stock levels unless you add a flow for it; Ask Axis can set one up.
• No GST return filing, e-invoicing (IRN) or e-way bill generation. HSN, GST rates and GSTINs live on the records and the e-way bill number is recorded on the dispatch; the ledger balances and your CA files from it. Job work challans are records, not ITC-04 filings.
• No Tally sync or export, no payroll, no offline mode — a scan station is a browser page and needs a connection.

Sub-verticals

• Engineering job shops — make-to-order jobs against customer POs, job work challans, QC and breakdowns.
• Auto component manufacturers — OEM schedules, rejection %, final inspection and rework, PPAP files, dispatch.
• Furniture manufacturers — boards and hardware BOMs, custom orders, furniture stages on the queue, dispatch and installation.

All industries are at /industries. Weighing a full ERP? See AxisIQ vs Odoo or signs you've outgrown Tally.

FAQ

What is the best ERP for a manufacturing company in India with under 200 people? AxisIQ covers enquiries, orders, work orders, shift output, quality, maintenance, purchase, stock, job work and dispatch with GST fields. It has no MRP run or capacity scheduling; if you need those, a full ERP fits better.

Can AxisIQ track production output and rejection per shift? Yes. A production entry records produced and rejected quantity, reject reason and downtime per machine per shift, and the dashboard shows rejection % and rejects by reason for the last 30 days.

Does AxisIQ support bills of materials? Yes, as records: a BOM with revision, output quantity and routing, and BOM lines with quantity per batch and scrap %. It does not explode BOMs into purchase requirements automatically.

Can I track parts sent to job workers? Yes. A job work challan records the job worker, work order, process, quantity sent and received back, dates and process charges. AxisIQ keeps the record; it does not file ITC-04.

Can operators scan job barcodes on the shop floor? Yes. The template's Shop floor queue takes released work orders, and any keyboard-style barcode scanner moves a job from stage to stage; a duplicate scan changes nothing.

Does AxisIQ update stock when production is booked? Not by default. Stock levels are kept by stores; a flow that adjusts stock on production entries or accepted GRNs can be added, and Ask Axis can set it up.

Start with the Manufacturing template — or see AxisIQ in action.