Production Control Software Solutions for UK Manufacturers

Production control software helps manufacturers plan, schedule, monitor, and manage every stage of the production process—from raw material intake to finished goods. It replaces disconnected spreadsheets and rigid ERP systems with a single, real-time source of truth. For manufacturers dealing with batch complexity, quality checkpoints, and delivery deadlines, it's essential for operational visibility and efficiency.

Traditional ERPs force manufacturers to adapt their processes to a fixed template, often requiring months of implementation and expensive consultants. Keel is built around your actual workflows—your stages, your terminology, your checkpoints. It deploys on serverless infrastructure in weeks, gives you full ownership of your codebase, and lets your team iterate freely without vendor lock-in.

Yes. Keel connects seamlessly with IoT devices such as smart shelves, sensors, and factory floor hardware. It also integrates with your existing tech stack via JSON, GraphQL, and RPC APIs, enabling automated inventory tracking, production triggers, and real-time data synchronisation across all your equipment and software systems.

Most teams go live in a matter of weeks, not months. Keel's Build for Me service pairs your team with Keel's experts to model the platform around your actual business process in real-time. Once built, full ownership is handed over to your internal team, ensuring they can continue to iterate and scale independently.

Yes. Keel's inventory and production management modules include lot and batch tracking, serial numbers, expiry dates and quarantine or hold statuses, with every change logged in a complete audit trail. That traceability supports UK manufacturers in regulated sectors — food and drink producers answering to the Food Standards Agency or Food Standards Scotland, medicines and medical device makers regulated by the MHRA, and teams preparing for ISO 9001 quality audits.

Absolutely. QC checkpoints are embedded directly into the production flow—not bolted on as an afterthought. You define your specifications, tolerances, and approval gates at precisely the stages they belong. This ensures quality is enforced at the right moment in the process rather than discovered at the end of a production run.

Yes. You own your data entirely. You get a dedicated Postgres database with direct database access, a read-only replica and full control over your data model, with no vendor lock-in on storage. You can choose where your data is hosted, including the UK, and Keel is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under reference ZB524558 and bound by GDPR as a data processor.

Yes. Keel is designed for fast-moving teams, including UK SME manufacturers, that have outgrown spreadsheets and no-code tools but can't justify the cost or complexity of a traditional enterprise ERP. One fixed yearly subscription covers inventory, procurement, orders, fulfilment, warehouse management and production planning, billed in GBP with VAT added, so you build exactly what you need and nothing more.

Production planning decides what to make, when and with which materials and resources; production control makes sure it actually happens on the shop floor by tracking progress, quality and output against that plan. Most UK manufacturers need both joined up. Keel builds planning, scheduling, batch tracking and QC checkpoints on one platform, so the plan and what really happened are always in the same system.

Yes, modelled around your process. Keel builds production management around how you actually make things, so your works orders, the raw materials each product consumes and the stages it passes through live in your own data model. Every input, transformation and output is traced from raw materials to finished goods, and production batches are matched to your customer orders and delivery dates.

Either. Some UK manufacturers use Keel as the ERP alternative that bridges spreadsheets and legacy enterprise systems, running production, inventory and procurement in one place. Others keep their existing finance or ERP system and use Keel for the shop-floor processes it handles poorly, connected through API integrations. Keel costs a lot less than traditional ERPs and you won't need to double your budget for consultants.

Through internal tools generated from your Keel schema. Operators get clean, fast screens to book progress against each production batch, record QC results against your specifications and tolerances, and flag holds or quarantine, with no training needed. Supervisors see work in progress in real time, and every update is logged in a full audit trail. Keel also connects with your existing hardware and tech stack.

Yes, as part of your build. Many UK manufacturers use accounting software such as Sage or Xero for costing, month-end and VAT returns. Keel builds API integrations with your financial systems rather than offering a fixed list of connectors, so inventory valued on FIFO, average or standard cost, purchase orders and production output can flow to finance in the structure your accountants already use.

Yes. You choose where your data is hosted, including the UK. Keel supports multi-region data residency and isolated environments hosted in your chosen location, and you own your data model with direct database access. Keel is Planko Ltd, a company registered in the United Kingdom and based in Altrincham, Cheshire, and is registered with the ICO under reference ZB524558.