Built for the industries that have to prove it.
Traceability, quality records, and finite scheduling for regulated manufacturers.
The difference between industries is not the machines. It is what you have to prove after the part ships, and to whom.
An aerospace supplier proves genealogy from heat lot to serial. A food plant proves lot recall inside four hours. A medical device maker proves the device history record. Same scheduling problem underneath, different evidence on top, and the evidence is the part generic software gets wrong.
How aerospace and defense suppliers keep AS9100 quality records, heat-lot to serial traceability, and controlled access on low-volume builds.
Heat lot through serial number, with as-built genealogy per unit
How automotive suppliers hold IATF 16949 quality records, PPAP evidence, lot and serial traceability, and schedule against real capacity.
Received material lot through shipped part lot or serial, with as-built genealogy
How chemical makers trace raw material to finished lot, hold QC test records and hold states, and schedule packaged production.
Raw material lot through finished and packaged lot, with component genealogy per batch
How motor, transformer, switchgear, and control panel makers keep certified BOM control for UL files and serialized nameplates.
Component lot through serialized unit and nameplate, with the as-built bill of material per serial
How electronics manufacturers trace component lot and date codes, hold IPC inspection records, and keep serial genealogy per assembly.
Manufacturer lot and date code through board serial number, with as-built genealogy per unit
How food and beverage plants hold lot genealogy from receiving to shipment, run allergen and hold controls, and finish a trace in minutes.
Ingredient lot through finished lot code and pallet, with mass balance per production run
How furniture and millwork shops cost every project, schedule against real capacity, and keep material lot records on configured work.
Supplier panel and material lot through the finished item and the project it shipped to
How engineer-to-order equipment builders cost a project on every posting, buy long-lead items, and keep as-built serial records.
Serialized as-built record per unit, with component lots and serials beneath it
How shipyards and marine fabricators hold ABS and USCG survey records, weld and material traceability, and cost growth work.
Steel certificate and heat through the block and hull number, with weld and welder records per joint
How device makers build a Device History Record from the job, hold component lot to serial genealogy, and run AQL acceptance.
Component lot through device serial or finished lot, with as-built genealogy per unit
How metal fabrication, stamping, and machining shops trace mill certs and heat lots, track outside processing, and cost scrap and drops.
Mill heat lot through the finished piece, held across outside processing
How nuclear suppliers keep NQA-1 and 10 CFR 50 Appendix B quality records, heat-lot traceability, and commercial grade dedication evidence.
Heat lot and certified material test report through the delivered item, with as-built genealogy per serial
How pharmaceutical plants capture batch production data at the step, hold lot genealogy from API to pack, and schedule around QC release.
Raw material lot through batch number and packaged unit, with mass balance per batch
How injection molders trace resin lots, capture cycle and scrap at the press, and schedule finite capacity machine by machine.
Resin and masterbatch lot through part lot, with machine and tool recorded per run
How turbine, boiler, and pressure vessel shops keep ASME code records, MTR to heat-lot traceability, and weld qualification control.
Heat and material test report through the stamped assembly, with weld and NDE records per joint
How semiconductor makers hold lot genealogy, keep WIP visible across long sequential routings, and tie inspection records to each step.
Incoming material lot through device lot and unit serial, with step-by-step genealogy
Estimating off the last job means estimating off whatever that job was recorded as, which is usually incomplete.
Promise dates come from the person who knows the floor, and the floor changes faster than the spreadsheet does.
A print changes, the BOM changes, and the open jobs keep running to the old one until someone catches it.
The records exist in pieces across the shop, so proving anything means assembling it by hand under time pressure.
Traceability is not a report you run at the end. It is a by-product of recording the work as it happens, on the operation, by the person who did it.
Receiving captures the heat lot. The operator reports against the job. Inspection results land on the operation they belong to. Pull any serial afterwards and the chain is already there, because nobody had to assemble it.
Quoting off real cost
Estimates built from what the last run actually consumed in labor, material, and machine time.
Finite scheduling
Promise dates against the machines and people you actually have, not infinite capacity.
Lot and serial traceability
Genealogy recorded as the work happens, from receiving through shipment.
Inspection on the operation
Results captured where the work was done, so the record is tied to the step it belongs to.
Revision control
BOMs and routings carry revisions and effective dates, so a change reaches the open jobs.
Job costing
Labor, material, and overhead posted against the job as it runs, not reconstructed at month end.
Most shops end up with a general ERP plus a quality system plus a spreadsheet that reconciles them. The industry requirement lives in the spreadsheet, which means it lives with one person.
WorkCell puts the requirement on the record instead. The standard a part is built to, the inspection it has to pass, and the genealogy it has to carry are fields on the job, not a document somebody maintains alongside it.
Does manufacturing ERP software need to be industry-specific?
Less than vendors suggest. The core transaction flow of quote, order, routing, job, inspection, and shipment is the same in aerospace as in furniture. What genuinely differs is traceability depth, the standards you are audited against, and the documents you must produce. Those are configuration, not separate products.
What makes a regulated industry harder to run on ERP than an unregulated one?
Evidence. In aerospace, medical devices, nuclear, or food, the record is part of the product, so a shipment is not finished until the inspection results, lot genealogy, and approvals exist and are retrievable years later. Unregulated work can tolerate records reconstructed after the fact; regulated work cannot.
What is the difference between lot traceability and serial traceability?
A lot traces a batch: one heat of steel, one resin lot, one run of boards, all sharing a certification. A serial traces one unit. Lot control suits chemicals, plastics, and food; serialization suits aerospace, medical devices, and capital equipment. Many shops need both, with lots feeding serials.
Which industries does WorkCell fit best?
Discrete and mixed-mode manufacturers running high-mix, low-volume work to customer prints: metal fabrication, machining, aerospace and defense, industrial and electrical equipment, medical devices, electronics, plastics. Shops of roughly ten to a thousand employees. High-speed continuous process plants and high-volume repetitive consumer goods production are a poorer fit.
How do I know if an ERP vendor actually understands my industry?
Ask which records the standard in your industry requires and have them show you where each one lives. A vendor who knows aerospace can point at first article characteristics, material certifications, and configuration revisions by name. Generic answers about flexibility usually mean you will be building it yourself.