AxisIQ for engineering job shops

AxisIQ runs make-to-order jobs: work orders against customer POs, job work challans, shift output and rejects, QC and machine breakdowns.

AxisIQ gives an engineering job shop one place to run make-to-order work: every customer PO becomes a sales order, every job a work order against it, every shift's output and rejects a production entry, every lot sent out for plating or heat treatment a job work challan, and every breakdown a maintenance log that takes the machine off the plan. The Manufacturing template sets this up at signup, and Ask Axis, the built-in assistant, adds what your shop does differently.

How a job shop really works

A precision machining or fabrication shop rarely makes the same thing twice in a row. A customer sends a PO and a drawing; the job is quoted, routed across a lathe, a VMC and a grinder, sent out for hardening or zinc plating, inspected, and dispatched — often in part lots, because the customer wanted the first 200 pieces by Friday.

The trouble is that each step lives somewhere different. The PO is in an email. The route is on a traveller that travels. The challan book for the plater is in the stores cabin, and reconciling "sent 1,000, received 960" happens when the plater's bill arrives. Rejections are scrapped and forgotten. When the VMC breaks down mid-job, the only record is a phone call to the service engineer — and the promised date slips without anyone telling sales.

How the Manufacturing template covers it

Enquiry to order. The template's Request a quotation form (published; you decide whether it is open to the public) creates a numbered Enquiry with the requirement and annual volume, which moves through feasibility and quoting to won or lost.

The PO is the order. A Sales order carries the customer's PO number, order date and delivery date, set to make to order, with SO lines for each part and its own delivery date when the customer wants staggered lots. Mark it urgent and it stands out on every list.

The job is a work order. Each Work order gets its number automatically (WO-2610-0001) and points at the sales order, the Item (with drawing number and revision), the Bill of materials and the Machine / work centre it runs on. The BOM's routing field holds the operation sequence your traveller carries. Releasing the work order moves the sales order to in production through a flow.

Output by shift. The supervisor books a Production entry per machine per shift: produced, rejected, the main reject reason (dimension, surface finish, setup, tool wear, machine fault…) and downtime in minutes. Good quantity is computed, and the dashboard's Rejects by reason chart shows whether your scrap is setup loss or tool wear.

Job work, both ways. Parts that go out for heat treatment, plating, powder coating or galvanising leave on an auto-numbered Job work challan naming the job worker, the work order, the process, the quantity sent and the date expected back. Quantity received back and process charges are recorded as the lot returns, so the gap between sent and received is visible on the challan rather than discovered on the bill.

QC before it ships. Quality inspections are booked at incoming (against the GRN of bought material), in-process and final stages, with sample size, rejects, main defect and a verdict. A final inspection that says rework opens a rework work order for the rejected pieces on its own.

Breakdowns take the machine off the plan. A breakdown Maintenance log marks the machine breakdown so nobody loads it; completing the log brings it back to running. Downtime hours and spares cost stay on the log, and Breakdown hours by machine on the dashboard shows which machine is costing you the most.

Where is every job? A released work order enters the template's Shop floor Work Queue — Cutting → Machining → QC → Ready for stores — and the Job card PDF prints as its traveller. Each station scans the WO number in; a second scan changes nothing. Rename the stages to your own (turning, milling, outside processing) and set Ready for stores to accept only from QC, so nothing skips inspection (barcode guide).

What to ask Ask Axis to add for a job shop

• "Add drawing, material grade and cycle time to enquiries, and link a won enquiry to its sales order."
• "Add heat number and material test certificate number to GRN lines."
• "Add an approved-drawing PDF attachment to items." (Files live in Drive.)
• "Show challans that are past their expected-back date on the dashboard."
• "Add an operation-wise route to work orders: operation, machine, cycle time."

The honest limit

AxisIQ records job work challans; it doesn't prepare or file GST ITC-04 returns, and it doesn't schedule machines. The challan data is there for your CA, and planned start and end on each work order are set by your planner, not calculated from capacity.

FAQ

What software do job shops use to track make-to-order jobs? Many use Excel and a whiteboard. In AxisIQ each job is a work order linked to the customer's PO, BOM and machine, with shift-wise output, rejects and inspections against it.

Can I track material sent to a job worker for plating or heat treatment? Yes. A job work challan records the job worker, process, work order, quantity sent and received back, dates and charges. AxisIQ doesn't file ITC-04.

Can AxisIQ record rejections and reasons per shift? Yes. Each production entry carries produced and rejected quantity, the main reject reason and downtime, and the dashboard charts rejects by reason over 30 days.

Can I see which jobs are late? Yes. The home dashboard has a Late sales orders count, a Late orders to chase table and a Work orders on the floor table.

Does AxisIQ calculate machine loading? No. Work orders carry a machine and planned dates, and a breakdown takes a machine out of service, but there is no capacity scheduling.

Start with the Manufacturing template — or see AxisIQ in action. Back to AxisIQ for manufacturing.