Free offline manufacturing software for small business
Timeline Factory Manager is a free desktop app by Timeline Digital for small factories and workshops. It runs offline on one Windows PC or Mac and covers orders, materials, production, stock, purchasing and delivery.
Version 1.0.0 · Free · Works offline
This page is the overview. The Timeline Factory Manager product page covers the whole app, the features page lists all 15 screens, and the how to use page has 27 short video lessons.
Who this is for
- A workshop or small factory that makes products from bought materials, with a fixed list of materials for each product.
- An owner or office manager who tracks orders, stock and production in spreadsheets or on paper today.
- A site where the internet is unreliable, or where you want the data kept on your own computer.
- A business that wants to try real software with its own data before paying for anything.
Not a fit if
- Two or more people need to enter data at the same time, or on different computers.
- You need machine or shift scheduling, or capacity planning.
- You need batch or lot numbers, serial numbers or traceability.
- You need invoices, quotations or a link to your accounting software.
Key facts
- App
- Timeline Factory Manager, version 1.0.0, published by Timeline Digital
- Price
- Free. No account and no sign-up.
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), or macOS 12 or newer, Apple silicon (M1 or later)
- Internet
- Not needed to use the app. You need it once to download the installer.
- Users
- One computer, one user
- Made for
- Small factories and workshops with about 10 to 200 staff
- Size
- 15 screens, 7 printed documents and 4 reports
- Countries
- 233 countries and territories and 152 currencies, on A4 or US Letter paper
What does a small manufacturer need from software?
Six things: a record of customer orders, a list of what goes into each product, a way to plan and record production, stock figures you can trust, purchasing that follows from low stock, and a delivery document. Timeline Factory Manager has a screen for each, and they share the same stock figures.
Customer orders
In Sales orders you pick the customer, add their reference, the order date and the due date, then add product lines with quantity and price. Each order is open, part delivered, delivered or cancelled, and late orders are marked. The app prints no invoice: a sales order carries prices, and that is all.
Products and what goes into them
Each product has a bill of materials: the raw materials and quantities needed to make one unit. From it the app works out the material cost per unit, using the unit cost you set for each material.
More detail: Free bill of materials software.
Production
On a sales order, Make work orders creates planned work orders for whatever the order still needs. Starting a work order reserves its materials. Each day you enter made and rejected counts in Daily production, and completing the work order moves the good units into finished goods.
More detail: Free production management software.
Stock
Raw materials shows on hand, reserved, available and on order for every material, with a reorder level and a low stock list. Finished goods shows the stock of each product, the quantity in production, the quantity on customer orders and any shortfall. Every change is kept in a stock history with a running balance.
More detail: Free manufacturing inventory software.
Purchasing
Order low stock makes one purchase order, to a supplier you choose, for every material that is low. You can also write a purchase order line by line. When the delivery arrives, Receive goods records it, in full or in part, creates a goods received note and adds the materials to stock.
More detail: Free MRP software.
Delivery
Open the sales order and click Create delivery note. Quantities are filled in from what is in stock, and you can lower them if you are sending less. Saving takes the goods out of finished goods stock and marks the order part delivered or delivered. The printed note has spaces for Received by, signature and date.
How does an order move through the app?
A sales order becomes work orders with one click. Starting a work order reserves its materials, daily production records what was made and rejected, completing it moves materials out of stock and good units into finished goods, and a delivery note sends the goods to the customer.
Sales order
Enter the customer order with products, quantities and a due date.
Make work orders
One click creates planned work orders for whatever the order still needs.
Start
Materials from the bill of materials are reserved. If stock is short, the app names each short material.
Daily production
Each day, enter what was made and what was rejected.
Complete
Materials used leave stock and the good units go into finished goods.
Delivery note
Goods leave finished goods stock and the sales order is marked part delivered or delivered.
If a work order cannot start because a material is short, the app names each short material. Raise a purchase order, receive the goods, then start the work order. The free work order software page follows one work order from planned to done.
What are the free options for a small manufacturer?
There are four types: spreadsheets, the free tier or trial of a cloud MRP subscription, open-source ERP that you host yourself, and a free offline desktop app. Each gives you something different and each has a catch. The table sets them side by side, without brand names.
Spreadsheets
- What you get
- A tool you already own and know. You can lay out orders, stock and production any way you like.
- What to watch for
- Nothing is linked unless you build the formulas yourself: finishing a job does not reduce material stock, and a short material is found on the shop floor. One wrong paste can change a whole sheet.
Free tier or trial of a cloud MRP subscription
- What you get
- Software that runs in a browser, usually built for several users, with planning features a small desktop app does not have.
- What to watch for
- A free tier is normally limited in users, records or features, and a trial ends. Check what the paid plan costs per user each month, where your data is held, and what happens when the internet is down.
Open-source ERP
- What you get
- A wide range of functions with no licence fee, and the freedom to change the code.
- What to watch for
- It needs a server, installation and setup before anyone can use it, and someone technical to keep it updated and backed up. Plan for that time or for a paid consultant.
Free offline desktop app (Timeline Factory Manager)
- What you get
- An app you install like any other desktop app, with orders, bills of materials, work orders, stock, purchasing and delivery notes already linked. It works without the internet and keeps the data on your computer.
- What to watch for
- One computer and one user. No scheduling, job costing, traceability, invoicing or accounting link. Backups stay on the same computer unless you save a copy to a USB drive.
A fair way to choose: if several people must work at once, look at the multi-user options first. If one person in the office keeps the records and you want to stop finding shortages on the shop floor, a desktop app on that person's computer is the shortest route.
Which kinds of factory does it suit?
It suits small factories and workshops, with about 10 to 200 staff, that make products from bought materials where each product has one list of materials. The app is not built for one industry: units, products and materials are whatever you type in.
These are examples of general fit, not a list of customers.
- Furniture and joinery
- Products with a set list of boards, fittings and finishes. The sample data in the app is a made-up furniture workshop.
- Metal fabrication
- Gates, frames and brackets made from tube, sheet and paint, where the bill of materials is a length or quantity per unit.
- Garments and textiles
- Styles made from fabric, thread and trims, with made and rejected counts entered each day.
- Plastics, printing and packaging
- Repeat products made to customer orders from a known amount of material per unit.
- Food processing
- Orders, recipes as bills of materials, production and stock all work. The app has no batch or lot numbers and no traceability, so it is not enough on its own where food-safety traceability is required.
Which documents and reports does it produce?
The app prints 7 documents and has 4 reports. Each document carries your company name, address, contact details, tax number and logo, and can be printed or saved as a PDF from the preview window. Each report covers a period you choose and exports to CSV.
Printed documents
- Job card, from: Work order pageSample job card (PDF)
- Material issue slip, from: Work order pageSample material issue slip (PDF)
- Purchase order, from: Purchase order pageSample purchase order (PDF)
- Goods received note, from: Goods received note pageSample goods received note (PDF)
- Delivery note, from: Delivery note pageSample delivery note (PDF)
- Production report, from: Reports, ProductionSample production report (PDF)
- Stock list, from: Raw materials, Finished goods or Reports, Stock valueSample stock list (PDF)
Reports
- Production
- Made, rejected and reject rate by product, with a breakdown by day
- Material use
- Used, received and adjusted per material, with the cost of what was used
- Order status
- Every open sales order with ordered, in production and delivered quantities, and late orders
- Stock value
- Raw materials at unit cost; finished goods at material cost and at sale price
How does it work in practice? Watch it.
Three of the 27 free video lessons show the main flow: one order followed from sales order to delivery note, making work orders from a sales order, and ordering low stock. Click a lesson to play it here.
Lesson 28: From customer order to delivery (1:47)
One order followed from sales order to delivery note.
Lesson 13: Make work orders from a sales order (1:05)
Planned work orders for whatever the order still needs.
Lesson 10: Find low stock and order more (1:01)
The low stock list and one purchase order for everything that is low.
All 27 lessons with written steps · Watch the playlist on YouTube
What does the free edition not do?
The free edition is for one computer and one user. It has no scheduling, no job or labour costing, no traceability, no barcodes, no invoicing and no accounting link. Read the full list before you download, so you know where it stops.
Not included in Timeline Factory Manager
- Several users, logins or permissions
- Use on more than one computer, or shared data over a network or the internet
- Online or browser access, a mobile app, or cloud backup
- Machine and shift planning, scheduling or capacity planning
- Job costing, labour costing or profit margins (material cost from the bill of materials is shown)
- Quality checks, batch or lot numbers, serial numbers or traceability
- Barcode or QR code scanning, label printing
- Several sites or warehouses, or stock locations
- Links to accounting software, invoicing, quotations, statements or payments
- Sending email from inside the app
- Multi-level bills of materials (sub-assemblies), routings and operations
- Languages other than English
Other limits: one unit cost per material, with no average or FIFO costing, and CSV import covers products, raw materials and customers only. The app is in English.
What stays on your computer
Your factory data is kept in one data file on your own computer. The app works fully offline, has no account or sign-up, sends nothing over the internet and collects no usage data. It only opens your browser or email program when you click a Timeline Digital link.
Everything on that list is available as custom work from Timeline Digital, starting with a free pilot. Scope and terms are agreed after the pilot. Tell us how your factory works, or read about manufacturing ERP software and custom ERP software.
Custom version
Need Timeline Factory Manager across several sites, or built around how you work?
The free edition is an offline desktop app for a single site. When you need it across several sites, in the cloud, connected to your other systems or shaped around your own workflow, we build a custom version for you. The pilot is always free. We start with your most important modules, so you can judge the work before you commit.
How do you download and install it?
Download the Windows installer or the Mac disk image below and install it like any desktop app. First start is a short setup of three steps: your company name, your country and formats, then an empty factory or sample data. The sample data is a made-up furniture workshop you can clear later.
Windows
Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). The file is Timeline-Factory-Manager-1.0.0-windows-setup.exe, about 111 MB. Open it and follow the steps. No administrator password is needed. The installer is not code-signed, so Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.
Mac
macOS 12 or newer, Apple silicon (M1 or later). The file is Timeline-Factory-Manager-1.0.0-mac-arm64.dmg, about 123 MB. Open it and drag the app into Applications. The app is not signed or notarized, so macOS warns the first time you open it. No Intel Mac download is published at present.
Version 1.0.0 · Free · Works offline
Full install steps and checksums are on the free manufacturing software for Windows page and the free manufacturing software for Mac page.
Free manufacturing software questions
Is there free manufacturing software for a small business?
Yes. Timeline Factory Manager is a free offline desktop app by Timeline Digital for small factories and workshops with about 10 to 200 staff. It covers sales orders, bills of materials, work orders, daily production, stock, purchasing and delivery notes on one computer. There is no account and no sign-up. See the Timeline Factory Manager product page.
Is Timeline Factory Manager really free, or is it a trial?
Timeline Factory Manager is free. There is no account and no sign-up, and the app works fully offline on one computer for one user. Timeline Digital also builds custom software. If your factory later needs several users, costing, traceability or accounting links, that is paid custom work, and it starts with a free pilot.
Which computers does it run on?
Timeline Factory Manager runs on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and on macOS 12 or newer, Apple silicon (M1 or later). There is no Intel Mac download at present, and Windows 7, Windows 8 and 32-bit Windows are not supported. The app is for one computer and one user. The Windows page and the Mac page have the files and the install steps.
Does it work without the internet?
Yes. Timeline Factory Manager works fully offline. It has no account, sends nothing over the internet and collects no usage data. Your data is kept in one data file on your own computer, and the app only opens your browser or email program when you click a Timeline Digital link.
Can several people use it at the same time?
No. The free edition of Timeline Factory Manager is for one computer and one user. There are no logins or permissions and no shared data over a network. A version for several users or shop-floor tablets is custom work that Timeline Digital builds to your requirements.
Can I bring in my products and materials from Excel?
Yes, as CSV files. Timeline Factory Manager imports products, raw materials and customers from a spreadsheet saved as CSV. A preview shows which columns were recognised and which rows have problems, and nothing is saved until you confirm. Every list can also be exported to CSV. Lesson 24 shows the import.
Does it print invoices?
No. A sales order in Timeline Factory Manager carries prices, but the app prints no invoice, quotation or statement and has no link to accounting software. It prints 7 documents: job card, material issue slip, purchase order, goods received note, delivery note, production report and stock list.
Is it suitable for a food factory?
Only in part. Timeline Factory Manager can hold recipes as bills of materials and track orders, production and stock for a food business. It has no batch or lot numbers and no traceability, so it is not enough on its own where food-safety traceability is required.
How is my data backed up?
Timeline Factory Manager makes an automatic backup once a day while the app is open and keeps the latest 14. You can also back up at any time and save a copy to a USB drive or network folder. Do that regularly, because the automatic backups stay on the same computer.
Download the free manufacturing software
Install the app, load the sample data to look around, then start an empty factory and add your own materials, products and customers. If you need several users, costing, traceability or a link to your accounts, that is custom work: tell us how your factory works and we will say what we would pilot.
Version 1.0.0 · Free · Works offline
About this page
Published by Timeline Digital, the maker of Timeline Factory Manager. Every feature described here was checked against the user guide for version 1.0.0 of the app on . The screenshots show made-up sample companies. They are not real customers, and the names and amounts in them are invented.
Author
Usama Asif
CEO and CTO, Timeline Digital.
More about Timeline Factory Manager
Timeline Factory Manager
The product page: all 15 screens, screenshots and system requirements.
Read this nextDownload for Windows
The Windows installer, the checksum and the install steps.
Read this nextDownload for Mac
The Apple silicon disk image and how to open it the first time.
Read this nextVideo Lessons
27 short lessons, about 34 minutes in total.
Read this nextAll Features
Every screen, from sales orders to backups.
Read this nextFree MRP Software
The material side: reserving, shortages, reorder levels and Order low stock.
Read this nextFree Production Management Software
Work orders, daily production and the Production report.
Read this nextFree Manufacturing Inventory Software
Raw material and finished goods stock with a full history.
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