Small manufacturer / maker / fabricator software, built around EPA, DOT and bill of Materials

Arkathos gives a small manufacturer a workspace tailored to how the work actually runs — This workspace is built around turning raw materials into finished goods through costed production runs. Arkathos tailors a small manufacturer workspace around 5 agents: Armory, Treasury, Marshall, Sentinel, Herald.

Compliance a small manufacturer can't afford to miss

Watchtower tracks every license, bond, insurance policy, and continuing-education requirement for a small manufacturer, with renewal cadences and staged reminders so nothing lapses.

• A small manufacturer must maintain a Business Operating License, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Business registration / annual report (entity + trade name), through the State Secretary of State / Division of Corporations, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Manufacturing Sales / Use Tax Exemption Certificate, through the State Dept of Revenue, which renews every two years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Sales & use tax permit (seller's permit / resale certificate), through the State Department of Revenue / Taxation, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Air quality operating permit (Clean Air Act Title V major source, or state minor/synthetic-minor source permit), through the State/local air pollution control agency (EPA-approved) under Clean Air Act Title V (40 CFR Part 70), which renews every 5 years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Seller's Permit / Sales Tax Permit, through the State Dept of Revenue, which renews every two years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Certificate of Occupancy (manufacturing facility), through the Local Building Dept, which has no fixed renewal cycle.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Wastewater / stormwater discharge permit (NPDES individual permit or Multi-Sector General Permit), through the State environmental agency / U.S. EPA under Clean Water Act (NPDES), which renews every 5 years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Air Quality / Emissions Permit, through the State Environmental Agency / EPA, which renews every 5 years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a RCRA hazardous-waste generator EPA ID + biennial report (Large Quantity Generator), through the U.S. EPA / authorized state hazardous-waste agency (RCRA), which renews every two years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a DOT hazardous materials registration (offeror/transporter), through the U.S. DOT PHMSA (49 CFR 107.601-107.620), which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Hazardous Waste Generator Registration, through the EPA / State Environmental Agency, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a FDA food facility registration (food/beverage manufacturers), through the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which renews every two years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Fire Department Operational Permit (flammable storage / spray booth), through the Local Fire Marshal, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a FDA Facility Registration (food / cosmetic / device makers), through the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which renews every two years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Fire prevention / operational permit + certificate of occupancy, through the Local fire marshal / municipal building department (adopted fire & building code), which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a General Liability Insurance, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a ISO 9001 quality management system certification (voluntary, customer-required), through the Accredited certification body (ANAB/IAF-accredited registrar under ISO/IEC 17021), which renews every 3 years.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a General liability insurance (incl. products-completed operations), through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Commercial Property Insurance (equipment + inventory), which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Product liability insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Workers' compensation insurance, through the State-regulated WC carrier / state fund, which renews every year.
• A small manufacturer must maintain a Cyber liability insurance, through the Commercial insurance carrier, which renews every year.

Everything Arkathos runs for a small manufacturer

These are the agents set up first for a small manufacturer — and because it's one platform, every plan includes all 16 Arkathos agents. Also included whenever you need them: Guardhouse, Quartermaster, Scribe, Courier, War Room, Mint Warden, Vault Keeper, Watchtower, Bulletin Board, Client Portal.

• Armory — Inventory & stock tracking, Supplier & purchase orders, Receipt scanning (OCR), Waste & shrink tracking, Low-stock alerts.
• Treasury — Invoicing & payment collection, Expense tracking, Accounting & bookkeeping, Business tax prep & filing, Recurring billing & subscriptions, Financial dashboards & reports.
• Marshall — Payroll runs, Employee & HR records, Tax withholding & filings, Time & PTO tracking.
• Sentinel — Contact & lead management, Deal / estimate pipeline, Task & follow-up tracking, SMS & email outreach, Pipeline reporting.
• Herald — SEO & get-found content, Social media scheduling, Email & newsletter campaigns, Brand voice & content studio, Review & reputation growth, AI-overview & directory visibility.

Your tailored small manufacturer workspace

These are net-new, small manufacturer-specific capabilities — not a generic CRM bolted onto your industry.

• Bill of Materials (BOM) + WIP tracking (Armory): Define a multi-level BOM per finished product, auto-deduct component raw materials when a run starts, hold work-in-progress as its own stock state, and record yield/scrap. This is the defining manufacturing object and has no current home in Items.
• Production work order + job-costing (Treasury): Open a production run/work order, accumulate material + labor + overhead into the job, roll the total into finished-goods cost and COGS, and compare actual vs estimated cost per run. Turns the flat ledger into per-job profitability.
• Shop-floor labor capture against work orders (Marshall): Let kiosk clock-in attach to a specific work order/job so labor cost flows into that run's cost — not just into payroll hours. Closes the labor side of accurate job-costing.
• Manufacturing exemption certificate management (Treasury): Store the manufacturer's own exemption certificates for raw-material and production-machinery purchases and apply them on supplier POs so use tax isn't paid on exempt inputs. Distinct from a reseller's resale cert and tied to the manufacturing exemption.
• Quote-to-production for custom orders (Sentinel): Build a custom-order quote whose price is driven by the product's BOM cost estimate, then on acceptance auto-spawn the matching production work order. Bridges the make-to-order sales flow into the shop floor without re-keying.
• Finished-goods lot numbers + compliance labeling (Armory): Assign lot/batch numbers to finished goods and attach product-compliance fields — UL/ETL listing, CPSC tracking label, FDA facility registration, Prop 65, and country-of-origin — so each run ships traceable and label-ready.

The agents and tabs you get

Armory for a small manufacturer surfaces Overview, Items, Suppliers, Quick Count, Chat. Treasury for a small manufacturer surfaces Financial sheet, Invoices, Transactions, Sales tax, Vendor credits, Chat. Marshall for a small manufacturer surfaces Employees, Time tracking, Payroll, Departments, Kiosk, Chat. Sentinel for a small manufacturer surfaces Overview, Contacts, Tasks, Chat. Herald for a small manufacturer surfaces Get found, Directories, Website tools, ✦Studio, Schedule, Chat, Brand voice.

Frequently asked questions

best software for a small manufacturing business

Small makers use MRP tools (MRPeasy, Katana, Craftybase) or lightweight ERP for inventory, BOMs, and production. Arkathos bundles finances, CRM, scheduling, payroll, and compliance in one flat-priced AI platform, no per-seat fees.

do i need an mrp or erp for a small manufacturing shop

MRP handles production planning and inventory; ERP adds finance, HR, and CRM. Simple small shops often start with MRP. Arkathos gives you the ERP-style breadth without the enterprise cost or per-user pricing.

how do i track raw materials and work-in-progress inventory

Give every material a SKU, use lot numbers for traceability, set reorder points, and run cycle counts so software auto-deducts as you build. Arkathos tracks inventory across locations and links it to your books.

how much does manufacturing erp software cost per month

Cloud MRP/ERP runs roughly $40-$300 per user per month, plus $10k-$50k setup for bigger systems. Per-seat fees add up fast. Arkathos uses flat pricing with no per-seat charge.

how do i quote and price a fabrication job

Add material cost, outside processing, and machine/labor hours at your shop rate, then apply overhead and profit margin. Arkathos builds estimates and converts approved quotes straight into invoices.

what is a bill of materials and do i need one

A BOM is the recipe listing every material, quantity, and cost to make one product. Even tiny shops need one for accurate pricing, repeatability, and reorder planning. It anchors true cost-of-goods.

inventory and cost of goods software for handmade etsy makers

Makers track raw materials separately from finished goods and calculate COGS from actual purchase prices per recipe, syncing Etsy/Shopify sales. Arkathos handles inventory, real COGS, and the bookkeeping together.

can i run a manufacturing business on quickbooks and spreadsheets

QuickBooks handles accounting but not production; spreadsheets break past ~20 materials or multiple sales channels, forcing duplicate entry and errors. Arkathos runs operations and finances together, so data flows once, not three times.

how do i schedule production and manage orders for a small manufacturer

Production scheduling software sequences jobs by due date or capacity, checks material availability, and shows one live queue instead of sticky notes. Arkathos ties scheduling to inventory, CRM orders, and invoicing.

What licenses and insurance does a small manufacturer need?

Arkathos tracks 23 items for a small manufacturer, including Business Operating License, Business registration / annual report (entity + trade name), Manufacturing Sales / Use Tax Exemption Certificate, Sales & use tax permit (seller's permit / resale certificate). Each renewal and expiration is monitored in Watchtower with staged reminders.

Which Arkathos agents does a small manufacturer get?

Arkathos tailors a small manufacturer workspace around 5 agents: Armory, Treasury, Marshall, Sentinel, Herald.

How is the Arkathos workspace tailored for a small manufacturer?

Beyond the standard tools, Arkathos builds small manufacturer-specific features: Bill of Materials (BOM) + WIP tracking; Production work order + job-costing; Shop-floor labor capture against work orders.

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