All-In-One software for Manufacturing Workforce Management with Time and Attendance, Shift Scheduling, HR management, Skills management and many more capabilities.
Manufacturing Scheduling Software
- · Reduce Labour Cost
- · Optimise Workforce Scheduling
- · Automate Clocking Systems
- · Streamline Operations
- · Increase Payroll Accuracy
- · Produce Real-Time Reports
Manufacturing industry faces a delicate balance between managing its workforce efficiently and ensuring that employees remain motivated and engaged. Softworks provides software that helps manufacturers streamline, automate and reduce manual tasks related to Employee Time and Attendance, Employee Scheduling, Skills and Training Management and more.
Efficiently manage and optimise workforce planning and scheduling, track employee working time, facilitate flexible working, achieve legislative compliance and manage absences. Together with a variety of hardware clocking systems, form a complete solution for Manufacturing Workforce Management.
Benefits of Workforce Management Systems
- Track, record and manage employee Time and Attendance.
- Install a Clocking System like Proximity Time Clock or Fingerprint recognition terminal.
- Create and optimise Shifts/Rosters.
- Manage HR or integrate with your existing HR system.
- Quickly fill shifts when unexpected Absences happen.
- Use Employee Self-Service App – Desktop and Mobile.
- Track Project and staff expenses.
- Stay on top of employee Skills, Training and certification.
- Implement Access Control to the factory or manufacturing areas.
- Eliminate time theft and “buddy punching” with biometric or proximity clocking.
- Eliminate errors associated with paper-based scheduling and timesheets.
- Ensure compliance with employment legislation and Health and Safety regulation.
- Integrate with all leading ERP and Payroll Systems.
- Reduce manufacturing costs and increase productivity.
Areas We Help
Manufacturing Clocking Systems
What We Do – The Softworks Story…
From Time and Attendance Tracking to a complete Workforce Management Solution…
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Softworks has worked tirelessly to transform complex manufacturing challenges into simple, streamlined, and networked processes that avoid duplication, human error, and the inflexibility of manual, paper-based functions. The world is rapidly changing, and the most successful businesses are those that can adapt. We’ve designed our Manufacturing Scheduling software to provide a highly customisable, flexible infrastructure that helps you maintain control and visibility into your production line—24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Softworks’ Legacy of Employee Support
Softworks has helped manufacturing businesses optimise their workforce resources and support their employees for over 35 years. We’ve provided countless international manufacturers with more efficient, flexible workplaces that adapt to changing work trends. We help foster a more positive and engaged workplace by focusing on employee well-being—when your workforce feels supported, productivity increases exponentially. Our state-of-the-art Workforce Management infrastructure connects every part of your business, from the factory floor to HR, team management, and payroll, ensuring that your employees are rewarded accurately for their hard work and dedication in compliance with relevant workforce regulations.
Become a Trust Partner
Manufacturing businesses have trusted Softworks for over 35 years, increasing their productivity and reducing their operating costs through superior management, prime scheduling, and unparalleled visibility over their workforce resources.
Businesses trust us because we offer flexible, intuitive solutions that cover every operational function:
- Time & Attendance Software
- Scheduling/eRostering
- Flexible & Remote Working
- HR solutions
- Absence Management
- Project Tracking Software
Each Workforce Management module is deeply integrated, bringing efficiency to your processes by avoiding duplication, reducing errors, and vastly improving your reporting functionality. And we make this all possible while promoting a safer, more positive workplace.
Automating your Work Rules and Pay Policies
We automate the work rules and pay policies already in place within your organisation. This is a core component of our Workforce Management (WFM) infrastructure, streamlining the time-consuming manual tasks that bog down admin departments:
- Employee Time and Attendance
- Absence
- Flexitime
- Skills & Training management
Softworks understands that organisational success comes only with effective management, which is why we’ve developed our suite of industry-leading WFM solutions for manufacturing industries. Our comprehensive approach fosters optimal operational efficiency by putting control in employees’ hands with our Employee Self-Service app. This allows individual workers to manage their time and leave allowances, and managers to plan ahead in compliance with workforce regulations, minimising the complexity of workforce planning.
Optimising your Workforce with Softworks
Scheduling and rostering are some of the most challenging tasks in manufacturing. Get the balance of people wrong on your production line, and even the most advanced machine fails to operate at peak efficiency. This is why we’ve developed our Manufacturing Scheduling software to integrate with our broader WFM platform, ensuring that the right people are on the floor at the right time for maximum productivity and superior workplace management.
Manufacturing Scheduling Software: The Smart Way to Plan
Our Manufacturing Scheduling platform provides a wealth of productivity benefits, putting to bed outdated, time-consuming, and error-prone manual processes. Forget spreadsheets, paper forms, and supervisors reacting to unforeseen changes on the factory floor: the days of fragmented data and missed deadlines are in the past. Our Workforce Management software connects every part of the business, offering data-rich reporting that enables managers to make swift, well-informed decisions—helping you hit deadlines without relying on costly overtime, compliance breaches, or a workforce struggling with uncertainty and resentment.
Improving Workflow with Optimised Manufacturing Scheduling Software
Manufacturing, by its very nature, needs agility and the ability to respond rapidly to fluctuating customer and production demands. A production line is only as efficient as its weakest link, which is why our networked Workforce Management solutions are invaluable for efficiency and profit.
Effective production relies on a flexible workforce that can respond to supply chain disruptions, which can make scheduling and rostering extremely challenging. Our Employee Self-Service app integrates directly with our manufacturing scheduling software, allowing managers to make swift, well-informed decisions based on production needs, overcoming bottlenecks and downtime.
Addressing Complex Scheduling Challenges
Softworks has designed scheduling software that addresses the complex operational challenges facing manufacturing businesses worldwide. We provide a central hub that consolidates critical workforce information from scattered data. We eliminate manual and paper-based processes, replacing them with super-efficient software that optimises every moment of employee time while ensuring every skill is used and your production goals are met.
Softworks offers:
A Unified, Real-time View & Real-time Monitoring
Our easy-to-use platform delivers a unified view of project progress and employee information, tracking real-time activities and costs. No more spreadsheets, emails, and disparate reports; and no more cross-referencing. Our platform supplies a single, accurate source of truth for your entire manufacturing operation. We offer Real-time Monitoring for managers, delivering event-driven data that informs decisions based on facts. Respond to issues immediately and maintain production, even when problems occur.
Optimised Resource Allocation & Finite Capacity Scheduling
Align your workforce resources precisely with production demand, regardless of task complexity. Many manufacturing businesses rely on employees with specialised skills and on fluctuating production cycles, so you’ll value our Finite Capacity Scheduling functionality, which balances machine capacity with employee availability. Our Material Requirements Planning (MRP) module monitors output and buffer times, reducing overstaffing during slow periods and costly understaffing during peak hours. Schedule for your unique production requirements, ensuring you have the right people with the right skills in place at the right time with Softworks’ Resource Allocation expertise.
Enhanced Reporting and Analytics & Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Our Manufacturing scheduling software generates a wide range of reports that you can view, print or export. Gather insights into project progress, financial performance, and Resource utilisation and empower your managers to drive productivity based on evidence rather than hunches. Identify trends and issues and plan proactively for future production requirements. Stay on top of crucial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), ensuring On-Time Delivery, schedule adherence, and a clear overview of Labour Costs per unit.
Improved Information Accuracy
Reduce human error by automatically capturing time, monitoring activities, and staying on top of costs. Improve your management workflow with precise, reliable data that feeds directly into payroll, helping you monitor your budget and keeping your production in line with projections. Profile Developments is a Softworks manufacturing client that achieved high cost savings and efficiency with our Manufacturing scheduling software, which managed their complex pay rules and eliminated the manual workarounds their payroll department had previously relied on.
Transform your Manufacturing Scheduling with Softworks
Our Manufacturing Scheduling software integrates with our broader Workforce Management platform, delivering a strategic advantage that helps your business hit deadlines while protecting your people. We offer a reactive scheduling platform that ensures regulatory compliance, helping you attract and retain skilled employees and strengthen your business’s future prospects.
Optimise Your Workforce with Our Manufacturing Scheduling Software
Scheduling and rostering are among the most challenging tasks in the manufacturing environment, demanding a strategic approach that balances workers’ skills with customer demand and employee preference. We’ve engineered our Manufacturing Scheduling/Rostering platform so you can plan ahead without the rigidity of conventional manual processes.
We’ve designed our advanced scheduling functions to deliver a range of cutting-edge benefits:
Intelligent, Automated Schedule Creation & Finite Capacity Scheduling
Our eRostering/Scheduling Wizard lies at the heart of our Manufacturing production solution, automatically building optimised, fair, and rule-based schedules that help retain and satisfy future and existing employees.
Our powerful scheduling wizard evaluates a wide range of critical manufacturing factors for optimal production, including:
Our scheduling wizard balances a range of manufacturing variables, including:
- Employee Preference and Availability: Improve job satisfaction and work-life balance with a scheduling solution that accounts for individual employee availability to create fairer rosters.
- Certifications and Skill Sets: Ensure that specialised roles are performed solely by qualified employees who are trained to operate machinery efficiently and safely—vital for managing demanding assembly lines.
- Workforce Laws and Union Agreements: We align our scheduling software with all relevant workforce laws (e.g., European Working Time Directive, FLSA, Canada Workforce Code) and applicable union agreements, assuring compliance.
- Fairness Rules: Combat workforce disputes and resentment by assigning fairness rules for shift distribution, including holidays, weekends, and night shifts. This minimises scheduler stress and promotes a positive working environment.
Ensure the most qualified person is in the correct place at the right time within your production line with our innovative manufacturing scheduling software. Maximise your staff’s productivity by creating schedules up to a year in advance, helping your workforce manage their time around production needs. Our Finite Capacity Scheduling functionality guarantees that rosters comply with HR rules and are suitable for your production environment while accounting for machine downtime and production flow.
Integrated Skills & Training Management
Your business relies on a highly skilled, agile workforce, which is why we’ve developed our scheduling software to integrate with our wider WFM suite, connecting HR, payroll, and live-tracking functions into a single hub for maximum workforce productivity.
This permits:
- Skills and Qualification Tracking: Keep precise records of each employee’s skills, qualifications, and certifications.
- Skill-Based Scheduling: Our software balances availability with qualifications, even for the most specialised roles.
- Automated Expiration Alerts: Receive notifications when worker skills or certifications are nearing expiration. This is key for Health & Safety and upholding operational standards throughout the production line.
Dynamic Demand Forecasting & Optimisation
Our intelligent scheduling/rostering tools apply Real-Time Tracking to both current and historical data to formulate schedules that meet forecasted production demand.
This means that our tools move beyond simple shift allocation and offer oversight for:
- Minimising Over/Under Staffing: The system maintains optimal staffing Staffing Allocation during peak demand, slower production periods, and downtime.
- Budget Alignment: Our live data platform allows managers to work with their budget to optimise schedules and workforce costs in line with production targets.
Manage your workforce to meet fluctuating manufacturing needs while improving your workforce efficiency. Along with an optimised workforce, our live data feeds into Material Requirements Planning (MRP), guaranteeing your workforce always has the materials to meet production deadlines.
Real-time Gap Management, Bottleneck Identification, & Proactive Alerts
Many things can go wrong on the production line, including unexpected employee absence or short-notice production changes, which can rapidly halt the manufacturing line.
Softworks’ Rota Management software helps overcome bottlenecks and interruptions with live visibility into actual and potential staffing gaps:
- Real-Time Gaps Screen: View timetable gaps by department, area, date, and severity, providing managers with the preventive oversight they need to keep production moving.
- Softworks Vacancy Alerter: Send instant notifications via email or SMS to all available, qualified staff to fill open shifts.
- Bottleneck Identification: Recognise where a lack of skilled personnel might cause production delays.
- Softworks Daily Planner Screen: Keep track of staff production throughout the day once shifts are filled.
Multi-site and Multi-department Capabilities & ERP System Integration
Managing multiple production lines, departments, and locations is a monumental task, which is why we’ve designed our state-of-the-art scheduling software to manage and optimise rosters across your entire operational landscape. Synchronise disparate teams across all units and locations for consistent and efficient production, regardless of your operational footprint. Our manufacturing scheduling software is built for seamless ERP System Integration, linking your global workforce to a single objective with inbuilt Material Requirements Planning (MRP) that drives efficiencies across the entire business.
Visual Scheduling with Gantt Charts
Sequencing and timing are among the most critical facets of the manufacturing process, but they’re often the most difficult to get right. Our scheduling solution offers a range of visual tools, such as Gantt Charts, providing a live overview of the entire production schedule. This helps plan around bottlenecks and keep the production line flowing during supply chain problems and delays. This visibility helps managers make data-based decisions that keep costs down and the production line moving. Additionally, our Manufacturing Scheduling software integrates with your HRIS, ensuring that rostering decisions remain compliant with workforce regulations, leading to a happier, healthier workplace that affects your bottom line.
What is Manufacturing Workforce Management Software?
Manufacturing workforce management software provides a strategic platform that helps managers and HR personnel organise the working day to maximise productivity and profitability. We understand that your workforce is both your greatest asset and your largest controllable expense, and how you treat your staff has a direct impact on productivity. This is why we’ve developed our scheduling solutions that put employee preferences at the heart of rostering decisions.
Automate and Optimise your Diverse Workforce
Manufacturing businesses often operate in multiple locations, catering to diverse workforces with differing needs. We designed our scheduling/rostering solutions to offer company-wide equity in a single, unified platform that manages:
- Time & Attendance
- Labour Scheduling
- Absence Management
- Skills Tracking
Core staffing value arises when you align your labour resources with production demand, but this is a challenging balance to strike. Our software removes traditional barriers to productivity, such as error-prone spreadsheets and paper forms, allowing you to build dynamic rosters tailored to your production requirements.
The key capabilities include:
- Cost Control: Identify and reduce hidden labour costs such as unapproved overtime, absenteeism, and lates. Minimise the need for expensive temporary labour.
- Agility: Real-time data and analytical insights that empower managers to react instantly to internal or external changes. Instantly adjust schedules to meet fluctuating production targets.
- Compliance and Safety: Adhere to Health and Safety legislation, work-time regulations, and union agreements with our Skills Management module, which tracks employee qualifications and detects training needs, ensuring your operations remain safe and compliant.
Enhance Employee Engagement With Our WFM Software
Our Employee Self-Service tools give individuals control over their schedules and leave allowances, helping improve work-life balance and retain your best people. This is essential in the modern workplace for attracting skilled labour in a challenging job market. We automate the functions that matter to your employees, taking pressure off managers and HR personnel to create a unified workplace with happier teams and excellent staff retention.
Key Benefits of Softworks’ Manufacturing Scheduling Software
Our Manufacturing Scheduling platform reduces your rostering costs and guarantees regulatory compliance—all while empowering your workforce. Our solution combines cutting-edge technology with user-centric design, delivering quantifiable benefits across your operations.
These are the key benefits you’ll enjoy with Softworks software:
Enhanced Compliance with workforce Regulations
Softworks’ software embeds the complex workforce laws, union agreements, and Health & Safety regulations that keep HR personnel awake at night. Create dynamic, compliant schedules that take the headache out of rostering.
Our compliance-based features include:
- Proactive Breach Alerts: Highlight potential regulatory breaches, allowing managers to take immediate corrective action. This significantly minimises legal risks and potential fines.
- Verifiable Audit Trails: Gain a comprehensive, verifiable audit trail of all scheduling/rostering decisions and employee hours—invaluable for internal monitoring and external regulatory audits. This data is essential for tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to compliance.
- Data Security: Our entire platform is ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, guaranteeing that our information security practices meet the highest international standards and comply fully with GDPR, ensuring sensitive employee data is protected.
Reduced Operating Costs & Labour Costs
Avoid over- and understaffing and reduce labour costs with our intelligent rostering tools that integrate directly with our wider Workforce Management platform. Connect time and attendance monitoring directly with payroll and your HRIS software in a unified hub that updates in real time.
Benefits include:
- Elimination of Administrative Burden: Reduce the time and resources traditionally spent on manual administrative tasks. Our automated scheduling/rostering, time tracking, and leave management platforms provide substantial administrative savings.
- Reductions in Payroll Processing Time: Our clients have reported significant reductions in payroll processing time. Our system saves between 5% and 20% on an organisation’s overall costs.
- Minimised Payroll Errors: Automated Time and Attendance tracking, integrated with scheduling/rostering, ensures an accurate payroll—essential for happy and productive employees.
Improved Productivity and Quality
We provide managers with instant visibility into workforce activity. Our Real-time Monitoring module allows supervisors to make fast, data-informed decisions that directly impact their team’s productivity.
This makes trends and planning issues easier to spot, allowing managers to:
- Focus on Strategic Tasks: Allow managers to dedicate time to strategic initiatives, team leadership, and production quality by freeing them from repetitive admin tasks.
- Eliminate Paper-Based Processes: Our system eliminates the inefficiencies and errors associated with manual scheduling and spreadsheets, resulting in a more accurate and efficient workflow.
Enhanced Employee Engagement and Satisfaction (Self-Service)
Our intuitive Employee Self-Service (ESS) Mobile App puts employees in direct control of their working lives. They can view work schedules in advance, request various types of leave, check their flexitime and leave balances, and even state shift preferences or swap shifts.
The benefits include:
- Improved Work-Life Balance: Offer a better work-life balance that decreases stress and burnout, increasing job satisfaction. An engaged and content workforce is more productive, loyal, and likely to remain with your company, helping you attract and retain top talent.
- Effortless Communication: The ESS platform facilitates clear communication between employees and managers regarding schedules and requests, improving responsiveness and decreasing misunderstandings.
AI-Powered optimisation
Softworks is at the cutting edge of AI integration, making light work of the administrative tasks that have haunted HR departments for decades.
Our AI-powered Absence Predictor analyses historical shift patterns and absence trends to forecast likely no-shows once schedules are created. It automatically adjusts your schedules and minimises disruption, helping you meet tight deadlines with a more dynamic workforce that adapts when things go wrong on the production line.
Manufacturing Scheduling Software for Modern Organisations
Softworks’ Manufacturing Scheduling/Rostering Software is a powerful solution for organisations seeking to:
- Maintain stringent control over their production workforce
- Optimise operational efficiency
- Ensure robust compliance
- Significantly reduce costs
- Cultivate a positive, engaged workforce.
Automate your processes and gain precise data for better, more proactive production management, and create a healthier, more productive, and more satisfied workforce.
Software with Clear Investment Returns
Softworks’ Manufacturing Scheduling Software offers a clear return on your investment with a suite of rostering tools that instantly transform your workforce. Explore how Softworks could bring lasting positive impacts to your organisation and employees.
Book a Demo with our expert team to experience the versatility and potential of our Workforce Management solutions.
