Machining
Manufacturing software for machining shops
Setting up, running, measuring, re-clamping. If nobody captures those times cleanly, you price your work against a feeling instead of against data.
In machining, costing decides the margin. Yet in many shops it rests on standard times estimated years ago and on confirmations that travel from memory onto a slip at the end of the shift. The gap between calculated and actual stays invisible until it shows up in the annual accounts.
Caesar captures setup and run times where they occur: at the machine, by starting and stopping the operation. Costing then reflects what actually happened, and machine scheduling is visible without anyone walking the hall.
What costs money in machining
Setup time disappears into run time
If setup and run are not captured separately, an order with many small lots looks the same as one with a single large lot. Costing is then systematically off.
Standard times from years ago
Times estimated once and never reviewed feed into every quote for years. Whether they hold is noticed only when the margin is missing.
Machine scheduling in someone's head
Which machine frees up when is known by the production manager. When they are on holiday, sequencing turns into improvisation.
Rush orders upend the sequence
On paper, re-prioritising means reprinting, redistributing and hoping nobody still works the old list.
What Caesar takes over in machining
Measure times instead of estimating, control sequence centrally, results into SAP B1.
Setup and run kept separate
The operation is started and stopped at the machine. Setup and run time can be distinguished instead of vanishing into one total.
Good quantity and scrap
Both are captured separately, so scrap rates become visible per order and operation rather than only in a monthly average.
Central sequence control
Prioritisation is set once and visible at every workstation immediately. A rush order costs a click instead of a walk.
Order tracking
Progress across all operations is visible at any time, including for the sales team that has to commit to a date.
Costing on actual data
Because times are measured rather than remembered, the next price can rest on experience instead of gut feeling.
Everything back to SAP B1
Every confirmation runs through the official SAP Service Layer into SAP Business One. No second data store, no reconciliation.
Why separating setup time makes the difference
Machining lives on lot sizes. An order for 500 parts and one for 20 differ mainly in the ratio of setup to run. Capturing both as one total loses exactly the information that matters for pricing — and ends up subsidising small lots with the margin of large ones.
Once setup is visible on its own, sequencing becomes a lever too: placing orders with similar clamping back to back saves measurable time. But only someone who sees the numbers can make that call.
Operable with gloves, at the machine
A capture flow that costs three forms and a minute will not be used at the bench. It gets written on a slip and typed later, which removes every advantage of real-time capture.
Caesar is therefore built for a few seconds per confirmation: large targets, clear states, no hunting through menus. Where a more rugged device is needed, Lorica offers an IP 65 industrial tablet with MIL-STD drop resistance and around twelve hours of battery.
Developed in shift operation
Caesar is built at Efinger-Instruments in Spaichingen in daily shift operation. Features are built where they are needed and reviewed by the people who operate them all day.
That is why nothing in this list sounds good on a drawing board and fails at the machine. What does not prove itself day to day does not make it into the software.
FAQ
Does Caesar capture machine data automatically?
Caesar captures times and quantities through confirmation at the workstation. Automatic connection of machine and sensor data is coming with Brutus, which is currently in development. What works today and what does not, we tell you openly in the demo.
Can we really see setup and run time separately?
Yes, that is the core of the capture. What that looks like for your operations and standard times is best walked through on a concrete order.
We run many small lots. Is capture worth it at all then?
Especially then. With small lots the setup share is high, and that is exactly where the costing error sits when it is invisible. The precondition is that capture takes seconds — otherwise it eats the gain again.
Do we need a device for every machine?
Not necessarily. Caesar runs in the browser on existing PCs and tablets, and several workstations can share one device. What makes sense for your hall layout we work out together.
Does this require SAP Business One?
Currently yes. Caesar is built on SAP Business One and writes back through the official SAP Service Layer. With a different ERP we will tell you honestly whether and when this becomes an option.
Work it through on a real order
30 minutes, live from the reference plant. Bring a typical order with a meaningful setup share and we will go through it together.
