Custom software for small manufacturers.

Norsoft builds and fixes the operational software small manufacturers run on: production scheduling, shop floor data, quoting, ERP, EDI, and the old Access database somebody built fifteen years ago that the whole plant still depends on. We are a custom software firm in Mankato, Minnesota, and we have been doing this since 1987.

Most of the manufacturers we work with have the same shape of problem. The standard products almost fit, and the gap between "almost" and "fits" is where somebody spends their whole week in a spreadsheet. Pick the problem that sounds like yours.

The problems we get called about

• Production scheduling, when the schedule lives on a whiteboard, in a spreadsheet, or in one person's head
• Shop floor data collection, when the floor still runs on paper that somebody types in at the end of the shift
• Quoting, when quotes take days and only one estimator knows how the numbers really work
• ERP for small manufacturers, when the business has outgrown QuickBooks and spreadsheets, or the old ERP has to go
• Connecting the systems you already have, when the same order gets typed into three places
• EDI integration, when a big customer requires EDI and the orders are still being retyped by hand
• Replacing an Access database, or any old system the plant depends on and nobody wants to touch
• AI for manufacturers with no IT department, for figuring out where it actually helps

Why custom, and when not

There is good off-the-shelf software for manufacturers, and for plenty of shops it is the right answer. We will say so when it is. Custom earns its keep in the part of your operation that is genuinely yours, which is usually the part you are best at and the part no product has a field for.

The other reason owners call is ownership. With custom software you own the code, the data, and the accounts, so a vendor cannot raise the price, retire the feature you depend on, or hold your history hostage. We wrote about how to decide in custom ERP or off the shelf for a small manufacturer.

What that looks like in practice

A plastic extrusion manufacturer running three production lines was on a legacy ERP that could not connect the front office to the floor. People entered the same data twice, inventory was unclear, and scheduling delays caused downtime. We built a custom ERP and production-scheduling platform with real-time data capture across the lines. Downtime and labor bottlenecks dropped by more than 30%, and the clean records helped the owners get a better valuation when they sold the company. Read the case study.

How we start

We start by watching how the plant actually runs, not by demoing anything. Who needs which numbers, where the paper is, where the retyping happens, and which spreadsheet everybody secretly trusts. Then we tell you what is worth building, what is worth buying, and what is fine to leave alone. A partner leads the work, and the engineers are US-based.