What makes a machine shop hard to schedule
A machine shop is rarely a row of identical CNC machines. It's a mix: manual mills and lathes, a few CNC machining centers, saws, deburr, inspection and outside processing, all on routings that change from job to job. Four things make that mix hard to schedule:
- People are often the real constraint. A manual lathe needs a machinist for every hour it runs. A 5-axis job may need the one person who can set it up. A schedule that only counts machine hours can look fine and still fail at 7 AM, which is why Skody's Plant & Enterprise plan adds people to the model.
- Every routing crosses different equipment. One job goes saw, manual mill, CNC, deburr, inspection. A delay at any step pushes everything behind it.
- The quoted date was made against yesterday's load. Quoting happens in the ERP, often from standard lead times. By the time the job reaches the floor, the shop has changed.
- Change never stops. Expedites, scrap, late material, a machine down for a spindle repair. Each one ripples through the rest of the week.
How Skody schedules a machine shop
- Connect. Skody connects to your ERP and reads jobs, routings and due dates. Live integrations: ProShop, Fulcrum and JobBOSS². Acumatica and SYSPRO integrations are also listed on skody.ai.
- Model the shop as it really is. Manual and CNC work centers, shifts, setup families and outside processing. Machinist skills and availability, pallets and lights-out windows are part of the Plant & Enterprise plan.
- Compute a finite baseline. Skody places each operation only where the machine is available and, on the Plant & Enterprise plan, where a qualified person is on shift when the step needs one, so the plan can actually run.
- Recompute when the floor changes. A machine goes down, material is late, a machinist calls out or a hot job lands: Skody recomputes the whole shop with the same logic, not just the one job that moved.
- Put the plan in front of people. A Gantt view, a bottleneck map, late-job visibility and a capacity forecast, so the floor and the office see the same plan.
Machine shop, CNC shop or job shop: which page fits you
Skody has three pages for closely related searches. Pick the one that sounds like your shop.
| If your shop… | Read | What it focuses on |
|---|---|---|
| Mixes manual and CNC equipment, and machinists are often the constraint | Machine shop scheduling (this page) | Mixed work centers, machinist skills (Plant & Enterprise), the gap between quote and floor |
| Runs many CNC machines, pallets and lights-out work | CNC scheduling software | Spindle time, setups, tooling, pallets, unattended runs |
| Does broad high-mix custom or contract work across departments | Job shop scheduling software | Routing variety, material, rush jobs, firefighting |
From quote to floor: closing the date gap
Quoting stays in your ERP. What Skody adds is capable to promise (CTP): a check of a quoted date against the real load before you commit to it. Add the prospective job, even if it isn't in the ERP yet, as a what-if scenario and see what it does to the rest of the schedule and which work center becomes the bottleneck. Then decide: accept the date, offer a different one, or change the plan (an extra shift, an alternate work center, material in sooner) and run it again.
That is how published Skody customers use it:
- Yeager Manufacturing in Winter Park, Florida runs what-if scenarios on live ERP data in its scheduling meetings to find and fix bottlenecks before they become late jobs.
- Three Sigma Manufacturing in Kent, Washington extended its planning horizon from one week to one year, and the planner accepts the computed baseline about 99% of days instead of rebuilding it.
- Zimmer Manufacturing in Leander, Texas runs Skody dashboards on the shop floor and keeps ProShop as its ERP.
When something else is the better fit
Skody isn't the right answer for every machine shop.
- Your ERP's built-in scheduling already holds through the day. JobBOSS² includes a drag-and-drop Planning Board, a Whiteboard Scheduler, finite or infinite scheduling by work center, what-if scenarios and a Scheduling Advisor for late jobs. ProShop includes visual production scheduling with color-coded purchasing and on-time indicators. If the morning plan still holds at 3 PM and nobody rebuilds it in Excel, don't add a system.
- You want a one-time license and installed software. User Solutions sells EDGEBIC, an installed Windows APS, at $25,000 (APS) or $35,000 (Complete) as a one-time license, with ERP data moved by Excel, CSV or database import-export.
- You can't wait for a new ERP connection. Skody runs live with ProShop, Fulcrum and JobBOSS², plus Acumatica and SYSPRO. Any other ERP typically takes about 3 weeks to connect after you sign. If you need to start sooner, an import-based scheduler may be the practical choice.
- You need something free. Skody has no free trial. A spreadsheet or the scheduling inside your ERP costs nothing extra and may be enough for a few machines and one planner who knows every job.
Pricing
- Shop plan: starts at $1,500 per month, month-to-month. Includes machine capacity scheduling, finite-capacity scheduling, automatic conflict resolution, due-date-first optimization, ERP integration, delivery-risk and late-job visibility, planner overrides and what-if scenarios, and production dashboards.
- Plant & Enterprise plan: custom pricing based on scope. Adds workforce capacity scheduling, skills and personnel availability constraints, machine and workforce optimization, pallet pool and multi-part scheduling, lights-out production planning, MES and machine telemetry integration, multi-department and multi-site deployment, and advanced integrations.
- Pricing is per shop, not per user. There is no free trial; Shop plans are month-to-month instead.
- Every deployment is hosted in ITAR-ready Gov Cloud. SOC 2 Type II.
See pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What is machine shop scheduling software?
Machine shop scheduling software decides which job runs on which machine, in what order and, in more advanced setups, with which machinist, based on real capacity. Good machine shop scheduling software accounts for setups and shifts, can add the people who run the machines, and updates the plan when the floor changes. Skody AI does this on top of your ERP, which stays the system of record: machine scheduling on the Shop plan, machinist skills and availability on the Plant & Enterprise plan.
How much does machine shop scheduling software cost?
Skody starts at $1,500 per month on the Shop plan (month-to-month), which covers machine capacity scheduling, what-if scenarios and dashboards. The Plant & Enterprise plan, with custom pricing based on scope, adds workforce and skills scheduling, pallets, lights-out planning and multi-site. Installed alternatives use other models: User Solutions publishes EDGEBIC at $25,000 (APS) or $35,000 (Complete) as one-time licenses. Scheduling inside your ERP is included in what you already pay.
Is there free machine shop scheduling software?
Skody has no free trial. Shop plans are month-to-month, so you can pilot on your real jobs and ERP data and cancel if it doesn't prove itself. The no-extra-cost options are a spreadsheet or the scheduling built into your ERP. Those can work for a few machines and one planner, but they don't recompute the shop when something changes.
Is Skody machine shop job management or job tracking software?
No. Job management, travelers, job tracking, quoting and costing stay in your ERP, such as ProShop, Fulcrum or JobBOSS². Skody reads that data and builds the schedule: which job runs where and when.
Which ERPs does Skody connect to?
Skody runs live ERP-connected scheduling with ProShop, Fulcrum and JobBOSS². Acumatica and SYSPRO integrations are also listed on skody.ai. Skody connects to any ERP; for one we haven't connected yet, setup typically takes about 3 weeks after you sign. Your ERP stays the system of record for orders, routings, inventory and costing.
Can Skody schedule manual machines and CNC machines together?
Yes. Manual mills and lathes, CNC machines, saws, deburr and inspection are all work centers in the same finite model. A job's routing can cross any of them, and each operation is placed only where the work center is available. On the Plant & Enterprise plan, steps that need a machinist are also placed only where a qualified person is on shift.
How does Skody handle machinist skills?
Machinist skills and personnel availability are part of the Plant & Enterprise plan; the Shop plan schedules machine capacity. On Plant & Enterprise, each machinist's skills and shifts are part of the model. Skody won't schedule an operation that needs a machinist unless someone qualified to run it is on shift, so a plan never depends on one person being in two places. In a what-if scenario you can add a skill to a person and see whether the delivery date improves.
Can I check a new job's due date before I quote it?
Yes. Skody calls this capable to promise (CTP). Quoting stays in your ERP; before you commit to a date, add the prospective job, even if it isn't in the ERP yet, as a what-if scenario and see what it does to the rest of the schedule and which work center becomes the bottleneck. Then accept the date, offer a different one or change the plan.
How is machine shop scheduling different from CNC scheduling?
CNC scheduling is mostly about machine throughput: spindle time, setups, tooling, pallets and lights-out runs. Machine shop scheduling adds manual equipment and the machinists who run it, so people are often the constraint (machinist scheduling is on Skody's Plant & Enterprise plan). See CNC scheduling software and job shop scheduling software for the related cases.
When is my ERP's built-in scheduling enough?
When the plan you publish in the morning still holds through the day, the planner isn't rebuilding it by hand or in Excel, and the bottleneck is simple enough that nobody needs to see the whole shop recomputed. In that case adding a scheduling layer isn't worth it.
Sources and verification
Checked October 10, 2026. Statements about other vendors come only from their own public pages listed here; statements about Skody come from skody.ai. Vendor capabilities and prices change, so confirm anything critical directly with each vendor.
- Skody pricing: https://skody.ai/pricing: Shop plan starting at $1,500/month (machine capacity and finite-capacity scheduling, conflict resolution, due-date-first optimization, ERP integration, late-job visibility, what-if scenarios, dashboards); Plant & Enterprise plan at custom pricing based on scope (adds workforce and skills scheduling, pallets, lights-out, MES and telemetry, multi-site); month-to-month Shop plans, no free trial, per-shop pricing; every deployment hosted in ITAR-ready Gov Cloud.
- Skody integrations: https://skody.ai/ (integrations list): ProShop, Fulcrum, JobBOSS², Acumatica and SYSPRO.
- Skody case studies: Yeager Manufacturing, Three Sigma Manufacturing, Zimmer Manufacturing.
- JobBOSS² scheduling (ECI Software Solutions): https://www.ecisolutions.com/products/jobboss2/features/scheduling/: Planning Board, Whiteboard Scheduler, finite or infinite scheduling by work center, what-if scenarios, Scheduling Advisor.
- ProShop shop floor management and scheduling: https://proshoperp.com/product/shop-floor-management-scheduling/: visual production scheduling with color-coded purchasing and on-time indicators, work cells.
- EDGEBIC pricing (User Solutions): https://usersolutions.com/pricing: $25,000 APS and $35,000 Complete, one-time perpetual licenses; Windows desktop on .NET 8; ERP integration via Excel, CSV and database import masks.
- User Solutions machine shop page: https://usersolutions.com/machine-shop-scheduling-software: reviewed to understand how the category is described; no claims on this page depend on it.
Editorial methodology
- Skody AI publishes this page and sells the product it recommends for the cases described. We say so plainly rather than presenting it as third-party research.
- Details about other vendors come only from their own public pages listed in Sources, checked October 10, 2026. Where a vendor doesn't publish something, the page says "not published" instead of guessing. "Not published" is not the same as "not available."
- No vendor reviewed this page or paid for inclusion. There are no scores, ratings or reviews on this page.
- Product capabilities and prices change. Verify every critical requirement with each vendor, on your own data, before you buy.