Mid-Sized Sawmill Inventory Software

[Bowlerperson]

Greetings,
I am in search of some advice in relation to the inventory management for a medium-sized(30 employees) sawmill in SE Ohio. I was contacted by a friend of a friend who has a business in dire need of updating some general processes to streamline and looking to update a lot of their software. I work a full-time job at a software company and have a small tech fix it business. I took this job on due to the relationship, unknowingly unaware of how dated the technology(and people) are along with the complicated business models of the forestry industry.

I have spend a lot of evenings and weekends so far just learning what is required for the mill to run. Talking with the owner his main concerns are:
Losing track of tagged logs
Not being able to see costs of labor and equipment in relationship to sawing
Having to use paper and hack numbers together with excel
Wants online access

While this forum seems to be focused on smaller operations, there are little other resources besides in person. Does anyone have any experience with inventory software they like? Especially looking for anyone with experience in IT for medium to large sawmills. I have researched online probably the top 5 popular inventory systems and have been deeply troubled with the selection. Either full-blown expensive ERP solutions or smaller but equally as out of date software companies. One company I spoke with required their software is written in VB6 and requires installing of old legacy stuff that can be broken with the next rollout of Windows Updates.  I'm not quite experienced enough to feel confident in trying to get an official quote, nor do I want to haggle with a sales rep right now for gather information.


There is definitely more to the requirements but since the options are limited I'm curious what the current technology can offer if anyone is using it.

[nativewolf]

great question.  There are some specialty software packages but the ones I know are really for the logger rather than sawmill.  Looking forward to hearing others responses.

[Bowlerperson]

Would love to hear about them if you have tried them. Do you use it for data entry when scaling logs? We have several remote log buyers and the connectivity is an issue but an app would be nice. Be curious what it runs on, touch screens in cold wet sweaty saw dust would be an issue.

[logbyr]

Try Timber and Transportation in camden ,tn.   Reliable and reasonably priced software and hardware.  Used all over eastern us.    

[Ron Wenrich]

I believe you might be better served by contacting medium sized mills to see what they're using.  What works and what doesn't.  Pennsylvania Forest Products Assn has a member directory and buyers guide. PFPA 2018 Membership Directory and Buyers' Guide  

This is heavy on advertising, but it covers a wide range of services to the industry as well as listing all the members and their products.  But, do some searching and you probably can find someone that can give you some better answers.