Within just about any given industry there are certain standards that likely should be followed where job tracking is concerned. In many situations, Job Tracking Software may have been developed for a certain manufacturing industries for companies within those industries to use. Software does exist for printing plants, furniture manufacturers, makers of finished goods and products within the food industry, and many others. And mechanisms developed as standards within those industries may already be available for those software packages to communicate with one another.

The problem, however, is that these industry-specific Job Tracking Software systems may offer a given manufacturer too much of a good thing in some areas. A system intended for the printing industry may store a number of mechanical specifications for printing presses, including the number of color plates, the gear teeth on a cylinder, the amount of ink to mix for a given job, etc. But while this may be fine for older-style print shops still using offset printing presses, a shop printing on vinyl for high-resolution vehicle wraps will find these specifications in a Job Tracking Software system to be completely useless for their environment.

At the same time, some Job Tracking Software systems don’t quite do enough for a given industry. For example, a given software package might offers quoting and sales orders, warehousing and inventory, and even job costing and scrap reporting. But that same software package might then also not include any kind of scheduling capability for current jobs on the available workcenters and equipment. Needing such a package, a manufacturer might then need to contract with a software developer to expand their current Job Tracking Software capabilities to include the necessary scheduling features.

A custom-tailored Job Tracking Software system, developed for a specific manufacturer within a given industry, could easily cover all the necessary areas needed on the factory floor and in the administrative offices. This same Job Tracking Software system could then be used by other manufacturers within the same industry, with modifications being made for each manufacturer on an as-needed basis. The result would be greater efficiencies within each manufacturer, and better communication within the particular industry itself.