An engineering order in Coimbatore usually starts as a drawing and an enquiry. The estimator works out material, machining hours and bought-outs, quotes, and if it converts, the job goes through pattern and casting (often at a foundry down the road), machining (some in-house, some sent out), assembly, testing, and despatch with a test certificate. The question at the end is always the same: did we make money on that job?
ERPNext's manufacturing module is built for exactly this flow: multi-level BOMs, routing with operations and workstations, work orders and job cards, subcontracting, quality inspection, serial numbers and actual costing. Thirvusoft, based in Peelamedu, Coimbatore, has implemented ERPNext for manufacturers such as Laboni and Rakhi Pvt Ltd and product companies such as Niagara Solutions (irrigation automation) and Kitcheen Solutions (kitchen appliances).
Multi-level BOM: pump set down to casting and bar stock
A monoblock pump BOM in ERPNext is a tree. The top level holds the assembly: casing, impeller, shaft, motor, bearings, mechanical seal, hardware and packing. The impeller is itself a BOM, a raw casting from the foundry plus machining operations. The shaft is bar stock plus turning and grinding. Each level carries its own materials, operations and scrap, and cost rolls up so the assembly's cost is built from parts rather than guessed.
For customers who work to drawings, BOMs are versioned against the drawing revision, and the item code can be the drawing number so the shop floor and the ERP speak the same language. Bought-out items such as motors and seals sit on the BOM with supplier and lead time, which feeds purchase planning from the production plan.
Routing, operations, job cards and capacity
Routing in ERPNext lists the operations a part passes through, turning, milling, drilling, grinding, assembly, hydro test, each on a workstation with an hourly rate and available hours. A work order creates a job card per operation, and the operator or supervisor records start, stop and quantity, on a tablet at the machine or from the office. The production plan loads workstations against open orders and shows where capacity runs out before the customer finds out.
- Workstation hourly rate covers power, operator and overhead
- Job card time logs feed actual operation cost
- Pending job cards per workstation form the day's shop-floor list
Subcontracting and GST job-work challans
Coimbatore engineering runs on subcontracting. Castings come from a foundry, some machining goes to a job shop with the right machine, plating or powder coating goes out, and the same unit takes in machining job work from others. ERPNext's subcontracting order sends material out with a stock entry that prints as the GST delivery challan, holds it in a warehouse for that vendor, and receives the processed part with the vendor's charges booked against it.
E-way bills for the outward movement are generated through the India Compliance app on the same document. When your unit is the job worker, the customer's material is received into a warehouse held for that customer, and the job-work invoice is raised for conversion charges alone.
Quality inspection, serial numbers and test certificates
Quality inspection templates define what is checked at each stage: hardness and dimensions on incoming castings, bore and runout after machining, head and discharge on the test bench. Inspection records attach to the purchase receipt, job card or delivery note, and a failed inspection stops the material from moving on. Every finished pump or motor gets a serial number, so the test certificate prints from the inspection record and a warranty claim years later traces back to the exact job and lot.
Actual costing against the quotation
The estimate that won the order lives on the quotation. The work order then collects reality: material actually issued from stock at its valuation, operation hours from job cards multiplied by the workstation rate, subcontract charges from vendor bills, and additional costs such as special tooling or transport. ERPNext values the finished item at that total. The gross profit report compares it with the invoice, order by order, and shows where estimates go wrong.
Machine maintenance with the asset module
Lathes, VMCs, furnaces and test rigs are assets in ERPNext with purchase value, depreciation and location. The asset maintenance schedule lists periodic tasks, oil changes, calibration, belt checks, with a responsible person and due date, and asset repair records breakdowns with cost and downtime. Depreciation posts to the accounts on schedule, so machine cost reaches the product cost and does not sit only in the balance sheet.
Implementation for an engineering unit
Thirvusoft starts with a discovery visit to the works, in Coimbatore or wherever the unit is, to record product families, drawing conventions, subcontractors and the documents that actually move. The item master and BOMs are the largest data task; we migrate them from Excel, then bring ledgers and opening balances from Tally. Training is role-wise, in Tamil or English: stores on stock entries and challans, production on job cards, quality on inspections, accounts on invoicing and GST.
A manufacturing implementation with BOMs, job cards and costing typically takes 8 to 14 weeks. ERPNext has no licence fee; for an SME the implementation typically starts within a few lakh rupees, and we quote a fixed price after discovery. Support runs through hyper-care and an annual maintenance contract, on site in Coimbatore and remotely across India.