Manufacturing Software for the Shop Floor's Office.
Estimating, work orders, materials, quality packages and production visibility in one custom system — built around your process, integrated with the ERP and accounting you keep, and owned by you.
What Is Manufacturing Software for a Job Shop?
Manufacturing software for a job shop or fabricator runs the office side of production: estimating, work orders, job travellers, materials and quality records in one system. AltaPro AI builds custom manufacturing software around how your shop already quotes and schedules work, integrated with the accounting and ERP systems you keep.
- Estimating and quoting
- Work orders and job travellers
- Materials and purchasing
- Quality and certification records
- Production visibility
- ERP and accounting integration
The ERP Covers the Standard Case.Spreadsheets Cover You.
In most fabrication and custom manufacturing businesses the decisions that actually set margin — how a job was estimated, where it really is, what material is committed, which revision the floor is working to — happen outside the system of record. Here is where that costs.
Estimating lives in one person
Pricing a custom part or a fabricated assembly depends on judgement held by one or two estimators and a spreadsheet only they fully trust. Quoting capacity is capped by their availability, and consistency varies with who priced it.
The job travels on paper
A work order leaves the office as a printed packet and its real status lives on the shop floor. Knowing what stage a job is at means walking out to look, or asking someone who was there.
Material and purchasing blind spots
What has been ordered, what has arrived, and what is committed to which job are tracked in separate places. Shortages surface when a job is already staged rather than when there was still time to act.
Certification and quality records
Mill certs, inspection records, weld maps and test results are scanned into folders. Producing a complete package for a customer or an audit is a manual assembly job every time.
Revisions outrun the floor
A drawing or specification changes and the current version does not reliably reach everyone working to it. Rework from a superseded revision is expensive and hard to trace afterwards.
ERP that does not fit the shop
A general manufacturing package covers the standard case and leaves the parts specific to your process to spreadsheets — which is where the real scheduling and costing decisions end up being made.
How Stretched Is Alberta Manufacturing?
Public figures on how many shops there are, how many people work in them, and how long their week runs.
5,068
Manufacturing businesses with employees operating in Alberta in June 2026.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts, June 2026 (Table 33-10-1174-01)
149,500
People employed in Alberta manufacturing in 2025.
Source: Government of Alberta, Manufacturing Industry Profile, 2025
25.7%
Share of Alberta manufacturing employees working overtime in a given week in 2025, against 19.5% across all industries.
Source: Government of Alberta, Manufacturing Industry Profile, 2025
Figures verified against each source in September 2026.
Built Around Your Process.
The workflows a manufacturing build in this category would cover. Scope is set against your operation — and deliberately narrow on a first engagement.
Estimating & quoting
Structured estimating that captures materials, labour, outside processing and margin against a rate card, so quotes come out consistent regardless of who prepared them and the basis of a price is recoverable later.
Work orders & job travellers
A digital traveller carrying the job through its operations — scope, drawings, current revision, stage, and who signed off — updated where the work happens rather than reconstructed afterwards.
Production visibility
A live view of what is in progress, what is waiting, and what is at risk against promise dates, so the office can answer a customer without walking the floor.
Materials & purchasing
Requirements, purchase orders, receipts and allocation to jobs held together, so committed stock and incoming material are visible while there is still time to react to a shortage.
Quality & certification packages
Inspection records, certificates and test results captured against the job that produced them, so a complete documentation package assembles itself instead of being compiled by hand.
Revision control
One current version of each drawing and specification, with supersession recorded, so the floor is working to the revision the office thinks it is.
Built on Work That Runs Today.
Running in production today: structured estimating that took a demolition contractor's bid process from two to three hours down to minutes, and a single operations platform that replaced five systems for a general contractor working across Edmonton and Calgary. Both are client-reported.
Estimating, travellers, document control and integration with accounting carry straight over to a fabrication shop.
The Rules, Built In.
The records your industry is held to are captured as the work happens, not rebuilt when someone asks. Systems can be hosted in Canada when you need it, and your data stays yours. How we handle security and data.
Quality & traceability records
Inspections, certifications, revisions and sign-offs recorded against the job and the part, so the evidence a quality audit asks for — ISO 9001 or a customer's own requirements — is a query, not a hunt.
Safety records
Hazard assessments, incident reports and training records kept with the people and equipment they belong to, ready for an Alberta OHS inspection or a customer's prequalification.
Privacy & anti-spam
Personal information handled to Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act and PIPEDA, and every follow-up message built for Canada's anti-spam law — consent recorded, unsubscribe honoured at once.
Permissions & audit trail
Permission levels by role, a record of who changed what and when, and anything customer-facing that needs a person held for sign-off. That safeguard layer is AltaGate, and it is in every system we build.
Manufacturing Software, Answered.
Would You Replace Our ERP?
Usually not. Most manufacturers we would work with have an ERP or accounting system that handles the standard case adequately and a set of spreadsheets handling everything it does not. The higher-value work is building the layer those spreadsheets are standing in for — estimating, travellers, quality packages — and integrating it with the ERP you keep.
What About MES, SCADA or Machine Data?
We work with the data your MES or machines already produce. Where it sits in a system with an interface, we pull it into the office view so estimates, travellers and job costs reflect what is really happening on the floor.
How Would a First Build Be Scoped?
Narrowly and in phases, with the first phase aimed at a single workflow that is measurably costing you — most often estimating or the documentation package. That gives you working software early, a real basis for judging whether to continue, and a scope small enough that the absence of a prior manufacturing reference is a manageable risk rather than a gamble.
Who Owns the System?
You do, and the data in it is yours and exportable. Hosting, data location, access control and export are settled in the scope agreement before a build starts — the Trust Center sets out the questions we work through on every project.
What Does It Cost and How Long Does It Take?
It depends on what you need first and what it connects to. On the 30-minute call we map how work moves through your operation and give you a rough cost range. Builds are phased so the piece that removes the biggest constraint ships first, rather than waiting on a complete system.
For Alberta manufacturers & fabricators
Book a 30-Minute Call.
30 minutes. We map how a job moves from enquiry to shipped, identify the workflow costing you most, and sketch a first phase against it, with a rough cost range — including an honest read on whether we are the right partner.
Edmonton, Alberta · No commitment · 587-937-6948
Where To Go Next.
Up a level
All Industries
Every sector we build custom operational software for.
More In This Series
Oilfield & Energy Services Software
Field tickets, bids and compliance records for service companies.
Construction & Field Operations Software
RFIs, change orders and progress billing over dispatch, crews and job history.
Software for Realtors
Lead response, follow-up, team hand-offs and transaction files.
Property Management Software
Units, work orders and owner reporting in one system.
Wholesale & Distribution Software
Catalog pricing, multi-channel orders, fulfilment and reconciliation.
Also Worth A Look