SwitchbackMES
Shop-floor software for precision job shops

The ERP runs the office. Switchback runs the floor.

Switchback sits on top of the ERP you already pay for and fills the gaps it leaves: live machine status, schedules people trust, first-article planning, serialization, inventory, customers and your team, in one system your whole shop can use.

Book a demo See the modules
TitleOrder to ship
MaterialYour ERP
RevA
ScaleAny shop
AerospaceAS9100 · AS9102 FAIR
DefenseITAR · CMMC 2.0
SpaceSerialized · traceable
MedicalLot & cert control
GeneralHigh-mix, low-volume
Why it exists

Your ERP was sold as everything. The floor still runs on whiteboards.

Job shop ERPs are good at quotes, orders and invoices. Out on the floor, they leave the hard part to tribal knowledge, spreadsheets and whoever is shouting loudest.

Symptom 01

Nobody trusts the schedule

It was right on Monday. By Wednesday the real plan lives in a scheduler's head and on a whiteboard by the break room.

Symptom 02

Spindles sit waiting

Waiting on a program, a first article, material certs or a customer sign-off. The ERP knows the job is late. It doesn't know why.

Symptom 03

Paper fills the gaps

Serial numbers in a spreadsheet, quality photos that never got taken, customers calling to ask where their parts are.

On the floor

One screen for every machine, job and person.

Operators start and stop jobs from a tablet or scanner. Leads see what's running, what's in setup and what's stuck, without walking the floor or opening the ERP.

The routing

Start with the core. Add operations as you need them.

Every shop runs differently, so Switchback is configured to your machines, your routings and your people instead of the other way around.

OP 10Core

Floor & job tracking

Operator sign-in, job timers, barcode traveler scanning, piece counts and machine status that updates as work happens.

  • Tablet & scanner ready
  • Live machine board
  • Quantity tracking
OP 20Core

Scheduling

A master schedule your team can actually work from. Drag to reprioritize, plan programming by person, block holidays, stack pallet-pool jobs and see what's at risk before it ships late.

  • Machine & programmer lanes
  • Priorities
  • Team time-off calendar
OP 30Core

Quality & first articles

Plan first articles before they idle a spindle: which machine, who inspects, whether the customer has to sign off. Required inspection photos, spot checks and alerts that reach the right people.

  • FAI planner
  • AS9102-ready workflow
  • Mandatory photos
OP 40Add-on

Serialization & labels Add-on

Customer-specific serial formats, automatic sequencing with no duplicates, and every serial tied to its lot, job, order and PO. Print receiving, WIP, MTR and part labels to the printers you already own.

  • Per-customer formats
  • Laser-ready
  • Full traceability
OP 50Add-on

Purchasing & material certs Add-on

Tooling and supply requests with kanban scanning, a searchable material-cert library, and certs attached to the jobs and receipts they belong to.

  • Kanban
  • MTR library
  • Request tracking
OP 60Add-on

Customer portal Add-on

Your customers see their own open orders, progress and current completion dates, so your phone stops ringing with "where are my parts?"

  • Per-customer access
  • Live progress
  • FAI sign-off status
OP 70Add-on

Warehouse & shipping Add-on

Know what's on the shelf and where. Bin locations, receiving against POs, WIP and finished-goods inventory, cycle counts, and shipping alerts that tell the dock exactly what's coming and where it goes.

  • Bin locations
  • Receiving & inspection
  • Ship / will-call / OSP
OP 80Add-on

CRM & customer quality Add-on

Contacts, opportunities and RFQs in one place, tied to the jobs, quotes and quality history behind each customer. Track each customer's own requirements, from FAI rules to cert and labeling specs, so they aren't lost in an inbox.

  • Contacts & RFQs
  • Customer requirements
  • Order history
OP 90Add-on

People & HR Add-on

A team calendar for time off, call-outs and running-late notices, plus an employee roster, emergency contacts, onboarding checklists and a skills matrix with e-signed training records. Employee records stay in an encrypted vault.

  • Team calendar
  • Skills & training
  • Employee records
OP 100Add-on

Files, maintenance & dashboards Add-on

Controlled documents with revision approval, preventive-maintenance and help tickets, and dashboards for utilization, on-time delivery and the KPIs you actually manage to.

  • Doc control
  • PM tickets
  • KPI dashboards
How it fits

Keep your ERP. Stop working around it.

No rip-and-replace. Switchback connects to the ERP and accounting tools you already run and gives the floor what those systems never did.

Step 1

Connect

We connect Switchback to your ERP and accounting system, so jobs, routings and orders flow in without double entry.

Step 2

Configure

We set it up around your machines, work centers, routings, people and customer requirements. Your shop, not a template.

Step 3

Run

Your team runs the floor from Switchback. Changes flow back to the ERP, and we keep improving it alongside you.

Security

Built for shops that handle controlled data.

Defense and aerospace work comes with rules about where data lives and who can see it. Switchback was designed around them from day one.

US-only hosting

Runs in AWS GovCloud (US), the region built for ITAR and controlled unclassified information.

Modern sign-in

Sign in with your company Google or Microsoft account, with passkeys for admins. No shared passwords.

Role-based access

Every page, folder and customer view is permissioned, with a full picture of who can access what.

Encrypted vault

Sensitive records and credentials are encrypted with managed keys and shared only with the people who need them.

Built on a working CNC floor, not in a conference room.

Switchback started as an in-house tool at an AS9100 machine shop doing aerospace, defense and medical work. It was built to fix the problems the ERP couldn't: late first articles, schedules nobody trusted, untracked serial numbers and customers calling for status.

Every feature earned its place by solving a problem operators, schedulers and quality inspectors deal with every shift.

See it run on a demo shop.

We'll walk you through Switchback on a fictional 5-axis shop doing aerospace and medical work, then talk about what it would look like on your floor.

info@switchbackmes.com

Book a demo Ask a question