I'd be very interested in what those upgrade paths are. Most of the large established manufacturers I have visited still operate on a de-facto job-shop mentalit

I'd be very interested in what those upgrade paths are. Most of the large established manufacturers I have visited still operate on a de-facto job-shop mentality with either printed job sheets or whiteboards at each station or with each parts batch, occasionally dedicated screens or a mobile job-tracking solution. Experienced machinists I've interviewed recently have cursed the inefficacy of manufacturing management systems provided by major vendors. I read the literature and attend shows, right now the market to me looks like a dogs breakfast of largely vendor-linked but some independent solutions with all the lock-in concerns associated. I am therefore defaulting to NIH and build-from-scratch but keen to hear of others' experience!