Insights without interruption.
Know which jobs are about to go wrong, before the customer calls.
Shop Traveler reads the ERP your shop already runs and shows your managers, every morning, the few jobs that need them today and the reason in plain words. Nobody on the floor types anything new, and nothing in the ERP changes.
- Read-only. It never writes to your ERP.
- Refreshed every 15 minutes.
- Hosted, or on your own server.
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Critical
J-1061 Gearbox housing, 40 pcsDue Friday. 14 hours left on the 5-axis, which has 8 free this week.
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Blocked
J-1042 Bracket assemblyCastings arrive Thursday, needed at machining today. Same supplier holds up 2 more jobs.
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At risk
J-1057 Hydraulic manifoldHours 38% over estimate at step 4 of 6. Projected margin 9% against 24% quoted.
The data is already in your ERP. Nobody can see trouble coming in it.
Answers spread across screens
"Which jobs are in trouble?" lives across job, purchase order and cost screens, and someone has to join them by hand.
One late supplier, many late jobs
A late casting quietly holds up several jobs, and nobody connects the two until the due date has passed.
Margin lost step by step
Hours run over estimate one operation at a time, and the money is gone before anyone looks.
Replacing the ERP isn't the fix
It's expensive, risky and slow, so most shops live with spreadsheets and walk-arounds instead.
How it works
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1
A small connector sits beside your ERP
We install it on a machine in your building and give it a read-only database login. It reads; it never writes.
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2
It reads your jobs every 15 minutes
Jobs, operations, materials, purchase orders, costs and sales orders, sent to Shop Traveler over an encrypted connection.
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3
Your managers open one page in the morning
Eleven risk rules flag what's late, blocked, over hours or losing money, and each flag says why.
What your team sees
Exception Brief
The morning page: late, blocked and at-risk jobs, money at risk, and a note when trouble bunches up on one centre, customer or supplier.
The job, end to end
Operations, material, purchase orders, cost breakdown and sales order on one page, already joined, with the reasons it's flagged.
Cost and finish date
Cost to finish and quoted margin against projected. A finish date from the rate the job has really been worked at.
Suppliers
On-time rate per supplier, and the jobs and revenue each one is holding up, with numbers for the supplier call.
Shop Floor Board
Each work centre's queue and hours due against capacity, with a wall-screen mode for the floor.
Numbers you can check
Every ERP read is recorded, and figures can be set beside your ERP's own to the cent, so a stale or odd screen says why.
Built for job shops
Job shops, fabricators and machine shops running a small or mid-tier ERP on SQL Server, such as JobBOSS, E2 Shop System, Global Shop, Made2Manage, ECI M1 or Fishbowl. Mapping your ERP onto Shop Traveler is part of setup, with no custom code for your shop.
Not for construction, project-based, process or batch manufacturing.
- Owner or general manager
- Revenue at risk and margin slipping, without asking anyone.
- Production manager
- The jobs to act on today, and why each one is at risk.
- Purchasing
- Which late supplier is holding up which jobs.
- Supervisor
- The queue at each work centre, on a screen on the floor.
- Customer service
- An early, honest answer to "will my order be on time?"
Your data, handled carefully
Read-only, always
The connector uses a read-only login. Shop Traveler never writes to your ERP.
Walled off
Each customer's data is kept apart in the database, and connector keys are hashed and can be revoked.
Hosted or on site
We host it for you, or run the same containers on your own server if the data must stay in the building.
Deleted on request
A written retention policy says what we keep and for how long, and we delete your data when you ask.
Start with a 90-day pilot
A paid pilot on your own data, judged against success criteria we agree on the first day, with a review at day 60. The question to ask yourself: would catching one job that is losing money each quarter pay for it?
- The connector installed and your ERP mapped
- Our numbers reconciled against your own
- Risk thresholds set for how your shop runs
- A weekly half-hour together in the first month
- No commitment past the first month
Working with us
A direct line to the founder. Your questions go straight to the person who builds it, who answers them and fixes what's wrong. There is no ticket queue.
Pilot shops shape the product. What the first shops need is what gets built next, so it grows around how real plants run.
Request a pilotQuestions
Does it change anything in our ERP?
No. The connector reads through a read-only login and never writes. Your people keep working in the ERP exactly as they do today.
Do operators have to enter anything new?
No. Everything comes from what's already in the ERP. If something isn't recorded there, Shop Traveler says so rather than guessing.
Which ERPs does it work with?
Any ERP that keeps its data in SQL Server, which covers most small and mid-tier job shop systems. Each ERP is described by a mapping file, written during setup. ERPs that only offer a cloud web API need a new connector first, so ask us.
Where does our data live?
Either on our hosted service, kept apart from every other customer's, or on your own server. We delete it on request under a written retention policy.
What does it cost?
The pilot is a one-time setup fee plus a modest monthly fee, with no commitment past the first month. We'll give you exact numbers on the first call.
What doesn't it do yet?
It shows open work, not a scorecard of finished jobs. There are no email or text alerts and no user roles yet, and custom screens or reports are quoted separately.
Request a pilot
Tell us a little about your shop and which ERP you run. We'll reply within one business day to set up a 30-minute look at what Shop Traveler would show you.
Or email [email protected].