Katana

Machestra is production scheduling and shop floor management for small manufacturers running 3 to 30 machines. It replaces the spreadsheet, the whiteboard and the shared calendar with one place to see machines, people, materials and schedules. It does four things and deliberately nothing else. Jobs break into operations, and each operation gets its own machine, operator and time window, so you can follow a part through turning, milling and inspection instead of guessing where it is. The scheduling board shows what every machine is committed to and refuses to let you book the same one twice. Every operation records its actual start and finish against the times you planned, so your lead time estimates get sharper with each job. Pricing is flat by machine count with no per-user fees, so putting the whole crew on it costs nothing extra. Starter is $19/month, Growth is $79/month, both adjusted for local purchasing power. Free for up to 3 machines, no card, no time limit.

RunMark is web-based production scheduling and traceability software for small and mid-size process manufacturers running roughly 2 to 20 lines, especially plastics extrusion and wire and cable plants that schedule in spreadsheets today. You set which products each line can run, each line's rate per product, shift calendars, and changeover minutes for each product-to-product switch. The scheduler places orders on eligible lines within shift hours, reserves sequence-dependent changeover time between runs, and accounts for it when placing runs. Large orders can be split across lines. From the same schedule, RunMark generates print-ready PDF traceability labels with product, production date, line, lot number, and quantity. It also includes a visual Gantt scheduler, Excel order import, bill of lading generation, inventory-aware fulfillment, and run and shift reporting. AI order parsing and a production assistant are available on the annual plan and during the free trial only.