“We lose track of inventory.”
Start by documenting receipts, stock movements and dispatches. If production is simple, inventory management may be enough; a full MRP system is not automatically the answer.
For small manufacturers · UK + US
Less spreadsheet.
More production.
Make sense of inventory, MRP and production-planning software—starting with what your business actually needs.
Production Shortlist is a new publication for manufacturers ready to move beyond spreadsheets. Our detailed guides and comparisons are in development.
Find your starting point ↓A practical first step
Which problem are you solving?
“We discover shortages too late.”
List each product’s components, quantities and supplier lead times. Test whether a candidate system can connect customer demand to the materials you need to buy.
“We cannot trust our delivery dates.”
Map work stages, capacity constraints and dependencies. Ask vendors to demonstrate a realistic delayed order—not just an ideal production run.
Our editorial approach
Evidence before rankings.
We intend to compare software using consistent, clearly labelled example workflows. We will distinguish published vendor information from demonstrations and hands-on testing.
This starter site does not yet publish product ratings or tested recommendations. We will not present planned tests as completed work.
Build your first shortlist
Bring these to every demonstration
- A representative product and its bill of materials.
- A purchase order with a late delivery.
- A customer order with insufficient stock.
- Your required accounting and sales integrations.
- Your users, migration needs and total budget.
These are starting points, not a substitute for assessing your own business requirements.
About & contact
A clearer shortlist starts here.
Production Shortlist is operated by Hittoku Limited. We focus on software decisions for small manufacturers in the UK and US.
Questions or suggestions?
info@productionshortlist.com
Affiliate transparency
This page contains no affiliate links. Future content may include links that earn us a commission, with a clear disclosure. Programme participation will not itself be presented as evidence of product quality.
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