Plex Systems vs Realtrac

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Our analysts compared Plex Systems vs Realtrac based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Manufacturing Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Realtrac Software Tool

Product Basics

Plex Manufacturing Cloud uses real-time data to connect and facilitate operations among various business aspects such as finance, distribution and production. It has built-in compliance and approval monitoring tools to ensure that your products are created accurately and with regulations in mind.

With Plex software, you also have the ability to develop customized reports and dashboards to make visualization easier and more streamlined. These reporting tools can make developing insights faster and easier, especially when considering the program’s use of actual minute-by-minute data.
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Realtrac is a manufacturing ERP program with real-time analytics that assists facilities in monitoring jobs, labors, vendors and customers. Its real-time analyses also provide users with existing and historical statuses of their company to formulate knowledgable decisions for complete return on investment and enhanced profitability.

Scheduling, purchasing and inventories, accounting integration, reports and shop management are some of its quintessential tools.

Pros
  • Intuitive interface
  • Comprehensive features
  • Strong inventory management
  • Customizable reporting
  • Dedicated support team
Cons
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Limited mobile app functionality
  • Occasional performance issues
  • Costly for smaller shops
  • Limited integrations
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$500/User, Monthly
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Small
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Small
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Large
Windows
Mac
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Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
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Documentation
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Live Online
Videos
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Email
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Chat
FAQ
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
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Forum
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Increased Efficiency: Plex Manufacturing Cloud uses real-time data and set parameters to maximize production capabilities. Its Advanced Planning and Scheduling tool uses information such as inventory levels, amount of production floor space and maximum productivity levels to generate a best-fit manufacturing schedule. 
  • Accessibility: As a cloud-based manufacturing software, Plex is available anytime and anywhere as long as a user has internet access. This is especially beneficial in the manufacturing center considering manufacturing managers and production line employees can access real-time data from internet-enabled devices while they’re actually on the floor working. 
  • Improved Customer Experience: Customers are the backbone of your business, and Plex software capitalizes on this fact through its customer portal, which provides visualization as a product moves throughout the supply chain. Shipping notifications are also included so that clients have an accurate expectation as to when an item should be delivered. 
  • Heightened Visibility: With increased visibility, you can develop insights more quickly. Plex Manufacturing Cloud contains the ability to use customizable dashboards to reflect minute-by-minute information such as inventory levels and labor allocation, which enables you to make informed decisions based on current processes. 
  • Collaboration: Plex allows for collaboration with clients through the customer portal. It also contains internal collaboration tools that are emphasized through its multi-site functionality for supply chain and financial processes. 
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  • User-Friendly: Anyone from managers and employees to the HR department can utilize all of Realtrac's tracking features with ease. 
  • In-Depth Searches: Realtrac allows users to easily find their parts in the search bar by inputting description, part or drawing number, customer name and more. 
  • Up-to-Date Costing Calculations: Realtrac's job costing constantly refreshes to display the exact labor costs as they arise along with material, subcontractor and other external expenses as they are inputted in the bill screen. Users can review accrued unit costs and hours for any functioning or closed projects. It ciphers every cost based on the existing quantity of pieces finished as exhibited on the router.  
  • Immediately Rectify Issues: Users receive real-time insights into their productivity so they can swiftly catch and rectify errors or issues that appear. 
  • Thorough Costing Reports: Users can initiate the job costing component to create elaborate job cost reports that provide ISO audit trails of operation performance by machine, employee date, time, piece counts and cost-effectiveness. Users can view an instant summary of up-to-date costs and profitability for a particular task, enabling them to pinpoint inefficiencies and construct enhancements in production.  
  • Collect Critical Insights: Employees can effortlessly log in and out of the data collection accessory and chronicle time as activities as they accrue on the shop floor with bar-code scanning or touch-screen data entry on PCs or tablets. The shop floor client element offers paperless methods for users to record operations, tasks and work scheduling data. Users can efficiently increase information to the spec line of a task for necessary feedback.  
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  • Inventory Management: Plex Manufacturing Cloud allows you to track the quantity and location of your inventory, whether you want to look at raw materials, WIP or finished goods. It also supports barcode scanning and label printing in an effort to improve the accuracy of reported inventory levels. Controls are also in place to ensure that products are always developed using the right materials, therefore improving inventory viability. 
  • PLM Functionality: Built-in revision control workflows allow for approved changes to be reflected across the entirety of the product lifecycle. Product specifications can also be developed to expedite processes. 
  • Quality Management: Plex software helps to ensure that you are retaining compliance with standards such as ISO, TS and QS. You can also use supplier scorecards to look at your entire supply chain. For example, your suppliers can use checksheets to validate the quality of their materials before the goods reach your facility, therefore hastening the quality analysis process on your end. 
  • Management of Shipments: The shipping management system ensures that only products that meet acceptable quality specifications are sent to customers and that they are sent to the intended recipient. Plex software's manufacturing system also contains a labeling feature that automatically prints labels using customer information in order to avoid shipping errors. ASNs are automatically sent and formatted as products leave the production facility. 
  • Real-Time Financial Management: Plex software contains continuously updated information on components such as labor hour utilization and point-in-time inventory. The financial management system is designed for order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes and includes multi-site functionality. Financial reports are also easily accessible with this tool. 
  • Customer Relationship Management: This program includes a customer portal that provides visibility of a product as it moves throughout the supply chain and allows for enhanced collaboration ability. Important components such as quotes, estimates, issue resolution and order management are built into the tool along with an integrated EDI. 
  • Advanced Planning and Scheduling: The Plex Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) solution allows you to account for constraints in your workplace such as amount of resources and maximum production capacity to develop optimized production runs. Finite Scheduling includes the ability to plan your development schedule based on factors such as resources, tools and space. The program also allows you to level-load production across different manufacturing centers. 
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  • Generate Quotes and Estimates: Realtrac's quoting tool enables users to expeditiously develop new jobs from estimates, quote several items in one estimate and swiftly pinpoint and copy previous estimates. Users can also evaluate estimates with summary reports to make improvements and print quotes for 10 quantities of an item.  
  • Develop and Seek Job Orders: Users can employ the job order accessory to input new jobs, revise current jobs and allocate shipment schedules for jobs with several send times. This module also enables users to find jobs by part, description or drawing number, customer code, a purchase order (PO), reference or job number and copy orders for a reference in generating new shop orders.  
  • Handle Several Manufacturing Orders Realtrac is also equipped with a distinct sales order tool that can be employed to handle several manufacturing orders to be billed as one invoice or invoices that require extensive descriptions. The sales order feature is ciphered by the system in reference to the estimated time, shop capacity and due date. When parts are completed and delivered, the job part inventory promptly updates. 
  • Effortless Job Routing: The customizable job routing tool permits users to track any procedure they want to track as well as the forecasted time in hours and minutes. Actual times are automatically updated in Realtrac's information collection system. This feature also has an infinite quantity of lines with descriptive information called specs or users can pick a printed router with specs in one extensive document.  
  • Attach Crucial Information to Routings: Users can link pictures and documents to each line of the job route, including computer-aided design (CAD) files, for particular procedures thanks to the routing tool. Users can also activate certain scheduling options for particular manufacturing tasks. This tool can aid users in catching production bottlenecks by monitoring all elements in every manufacturing phase so they can relay precise information to customers.  
  • Manage Shop Floor Proceedings: The shop floor control accessory showcases all jobs and the machines being used to implement those jobs. Users can review the drawing and operation numbers, predicted and authentic numbers, run statuses, employees and their login times. The module instantly updates and enables users to revise work sessions. Also, the active job status screen exhibits the statuses of every active operation on Realtrac. 
  • Stay on Top of Production Time: Users can initiate the shop floor control tool to swiftly assess a job's precise location, if it's ahead or behind production schedule and the estimated, actual or leftover hours. This component permits users to recover particular jobs and draft personalized work-in-progress reports. Users can review, shift or add work sessions into the solution to formulate accurate job costings, employee efficiencies, load hours and part counts and filter this data by machine, job, operation or employee to pinpoint problem areas.  
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Product Ranking

#14

among all
Manufacturing Software

#82

among all
Manufacturing Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

57
we're gathering data
43
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56
we're gathering data
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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Plex Systems
Realtrac
+ Add Product + Add Product
Bill Of Materials (BOM) And Routing Computer-aided Design And Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAD And CAM) Management Engineering Change Control Inventory Management Manufacturing Execution System (MES) Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Product Configuration Production Planning Production Scheduling Quality Management Recipe And Formula Management Reports And Dashboards Shop Floor Control Warehouse Management Work In Process (WIP) Work Order Management 43 0 56 71 80 67 79 36 67 70 80 47 100 70 44 0 44 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 32 reviews
Great User Sentiment 48 reviews
74%
of users recommend this product

Plex Systems has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 74% when considering 32 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

80%
of users recommend this product

Realtrac has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 80% when considering 48 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

3.3 (17)
n/a
4.2 (11)
4.0 (1)
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4.0 (1)
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4.0 (46)
4.3 (3)
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3.0 (1)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Plex Systems and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Reports and Dashboards.

Reports and Dashboards Award

No awards.

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Improved Shop Floor Visibility: Users praise Plex for providing real-time insights into production processes, enabling better decision-making and quicker responses to issues.
Streamlined Inventory Management: Plex helps manufacturers optimize inventory levels, reducing waste and ensuring materials are available when needed.
Enhanced Quality Control: The system's quality management features help track defects, identify root causes, and improve overall product quality.
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Streamlined Inventory: Track stock levels, automate reorders, and prevent stockouts.
Actionable Insights: Gain data-driven insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and profitability.
Boost Efficiency: Automate tasks, streamline workflows, and save time on daily operations.
Enhanced Customer Service: Improve customer satisfaction with faster order processing and better communication.
Grow with Confidence: Securely scale your business with a reliable platform that adapts to your needs.
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Reporting Limitations: Users express frustration with the inflexibility and limitations of Plex's built-in reporting features, making it difficult to extract and analyze data in ways that suit their specific needs.
User Interface Complexity: The system is often described as being difficult to navigate and non-intuitive, especially for new users who require extensive training to become proficient.
System Rigidity: Plex is often criticized for its lack of flexibility in adapting to unique or evolving business processes, requiring workarounds or customizations that can be time-consuming and costly.
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Steeper Learning Curve: Requires more training and onboarding for new users.
Limited Mobile App Functionality: Lacks some features compared to the desktop version.
Occasional Performance Issues: Users report occasional lag or slowdowns.
Costly for Smaller Shops: May be too expensive for shops with limited budgets.
Limited Integrations: Doesn't integrate with all popular business tools.
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Want to know if Plex Systems is truly complex or simply complexly awesome? Recent user reviews suggest the former might be closer to the truth. While Plex Systems is praised for its comprehensive suite of features covering everything from planning and scheduling to supply chain management, users often highlight a steep learning curve and a sometimes clunky interface as drawbacks. This complexity can make it challenging for smaller businesses or those with less tech-savvy teams to implement and utilize effectively. However, Plex Systems shines in its ability to connect different aspects of a manufacturing operation, providing real-time visibility into production processes, inventory levels, and quality control data. This end-to-end integration is a key differentiator, allowing businesses to streamline operations and make data-driven decisions. For example, users cite the ability to track production in real-time and identify bottlenecks as a major advantage, leading to improved efficiency and reduced downtime. Ultimately, Plex Systems is best suited for larger, established manufacturing businesses with the technical resources and expertise to navigate its complexities and leverage its powerful features for maximum impact.

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Realtrac user reviews present a mixed bag. Proponents praise its comprehensive features, calling it a "one-stop shop" for streamlining shop management. Its robust inventory tracking and data-driven insights resonate with users, with one reviewer stating, "I finally feel like I'm in control of my stock levels and can forecast demand accurately." The customizable reporting is also a hit, allowing users to tailor data to their specific needs. Notably, Realtrac is commended for its dedicated support team, described as "responsive and knowledgeable" by a satisfied customer. However, Realtrac comes with its hurdles. Critics mention a steeper learning curve compared to competitors like ShopSite, requiring more training and onboarding. The mobile app functionality suffers in comparison to the desktop version, leaving some users feeling tethered to their desks. Performance issues, like occasional lag and slowdowns, also mar the experience. Additionally, Realtrac's cost can be prohibitive for smaller shops, leading some to say it's "better suited for larger operations." Finally, the limited integrations with popular business tools like QuickBooks are a pain point for many users who crave a seamlessly connected workflow. Overall, Realtrac shines for its comprehensive features and dedicated support, but its steeper learning curve, mobile app limitations, and hefty price tag might sway smaller shops towards more user-friendly and budget-conscious options. The decision ultimately hinges on individual needs and priorities.

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