Standard Time® vs E2 Shop System

E2 Shop (by Shoptech/ECI) is a full job shop ERP with estimating, quoting, BOM management, and AR/AP — but it requires an implementation engagement and carries enterprise-level pricing. Standard Time® gives you barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, AI scheduling, and job costing at $8.99/user/month, live in a single day.

See ST Pricing ← All Comparisons
The short answer: If you run a job shop and need to scan barcodes, track labor costs by job, display WIP on big screens, and schedule with AI — Standard Time® does all of it for $8.99/user/month with zero implementation time. E2 Shop System is a mature job shop ERP with estimating, quoting, purchasing, and integrated invoicing, but it requires an implementation project, opaque pricing, and weeks before your team is up and running. Most shops that switch to Standard Time® weren't using the estimating and AR modules anyway — they just needed accurate labor cost data by work order.

Standard Time® — Best for

  • Job shops needing scan-to-start time tracking
  • Shops overpaying for ERP features they rarely use
  • Teams that want to go live this week, not this quarter
  • Operations already using QuickBooks for accounting
  • Companies that need AI scheduling without a consultant
  • Manufacturers who want WIP on shop-floor big screens

E2 Shop System — Better when you need

  • Integrated estimating and quoting in the same system
  • BOM management with work center routing
  • Purchase orders and vendor management built in
  • Customer invoicing and accounts receivable
  • A single system to replace all shop management tools
  • A long-established job shop pedigree and deep community

Pricing — $8.99 vs ~$65+/User/Month

Standard Time® Pro is a flat $8.99/user/month — every feature included, no module fees. E2 Shop System doesn't publish public pricing; cloud subscription estimates typically run $65+/user/month, and on-premise licenses can cost several thousand dollars per concurrent user upfront.

Pricing bar chart: Standard Time $8.99/user vs E2 Shop Cloud ~$65+/user
Plan Per User / Mo What's included
Standard Time® Pro $8.99 All features — barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, job costing, Gantt charts, AI scheduling, inventory scanning, QuickBooks integration
Standard Time® Enterprise Contact us Everything in Pro + dedicated server, multi-site coordination
E2 Shop Cloud ~$65+ Core job shop ERP — estimating, production, scheduling, shop floor data collection; implementation & training extra; pricing by quote only
E2 Shop On-Premise License fee Perpetual per-user license; typical upfront cost several thousand dollars per concurrent user, plus annual maintenance and hardware
Real-world cost for a 10-person shop: Standard Time® Pro = $89.90/month — all features, no setup fees, live in a day. E2 Shop Cloud = estimated $650+/month for the same 10 users, plus implementation time and consulting fees. The on-premise option trades monthly fees for a large upfront license cost that can take years to recoup. Standard Time® costs less in a full year than E2 Shop likely costs in a single month.

Feature Comparison

The shop-floor features manufacturers depend on daily — and which product has them out of the box.

Feature matrix comparing Standard Time and E2 Shop manufacturing capabilities

Standard Time® Strengths

Scan barcodes to start timer for work order
Deep Barcode Scanning

Camera, RFID tap, voice recognition, and dedicated scanner support — one scan starts a timer instantly, no menus required. E2 Shop has a shop floor data collection module, but it requires more setup and lacks voice input.

Gantt chart project planning
AI Scheduling + Gantt Charts

Drag-drop Gantt for production planning, plus AI that reschedules jobs when you describe changes in plain language. E2 Shop has finite scheduling but no AI scheduling capability.

WIP dashboard on large wall display
WIP Dashboards Built for Big Screens

Mount a monitor on the shop floor and display live job status, employee activity, and KPIs. E2 Shop's reporting is designed for office workstations, not wall-mounted production displays.

Job costing dashboard
QuickBooks Integration — Included

Actual labor costs from barcode scans flow into QuickBooks automatically — no connector app, no extra subscription. E2 Shop has a QuickBooks export but it requires additional configuration steps.

Where E2 Shop Has More Depth

  • Integrated estimating and quoting module
  • Bill of materials and work center routing
  • Purchase orders and vendor management
  • Customer invoicing and accounts receivable
  • Certificates of conformance and quality docs
  • Long track record in contract manufacturing shops
The tradeoff: E2 Shop is a complete job shop ERP — if you need estimating, purchasing, and invoicing all in one Windows application, it covers that depth. The cost is opaque pricing that requires a quote, an implementation engagement, and weeks before you're live. Shops with fewer than 50 employees frequently find they use only 20–30% of what they're paying for.

Scan a Barcode. Start a Timer. No Keyboard.

Standard Time® was built around barcode-driven time tracking. One scan starts a job timer — no menus, no typing, no delays. E2 Shop has a Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC) module for time entry, but it's one component of a larger ERP system rather than the core experience. Standard Time® has scan-to-start flexibility that E2 Shop's SFDC module can't match out of the box.

Starting a job timer by scan

Standard Time scan barcodes screen — timer started for work order 10200, Weld operation

Scan the employee barcode, then the work order — the timer starts immediately. The screen confirms: Started: Work Order 10200, Weld. No typing, no menus, no delays.

Stopping the timer

Standard Time scan barcodes screen — timer stopped for employee Buzz

Scan STOP and the timer stops. The screen confirms Timer stopped for Buzz. The time log is written — ready for job costing and QuickBooks sync.

What Standard Time® Can Scan

  • Employee ID barcodes (username)
  • Work order / job number labels
  • Task labels (Weld, Inspect, Fabricate…)
  • STOP barcode to end any timer
  • Inventory items (INV-SUB, INV-ADD, INV-BUILD)
  • Custom barcodes via Barcode Rules

Camera capture — use any phone, tablet, or notebook camera to scan 1D barcodes and QR codes. No dedicated scanner hardware required.

RFID — tap an RFID tag to start or stop a timer on employee badges or work order travelers.

Voice recognition — speak the job number and the scanner hears it.

E2 Shop SFDC vs ST Scanning

E2 Shop includes a Shop Floor Data Collection module for time tracking, but:

  • SFDC is one module inside a larger ERP — not the core product
  • Camera-based scanning requires additional hardware configuration
  • Custom barcode logic requires IT or consultant involvement
  • No voice recognition input
  • No AI scheduling connected to scan data
  • Windows-based — requires local install or hosted environment

In Standard Time®, barcode scanning is the core of how the product works — not a data-collection bolt-on attached to an ERP.

Job Costing, Timesheets & Gantt Charts

Every barcode scan creates a time log tied to a specific work order and task. That data flows into job cost reports, timesheets, and Gantt charts — automatically.

Time logs by work order

Standard Time time logs view showing start/stop times by work order and employee

Every scan creates a time log with the work order, task, employee, start time, stop time, and actual hours. Work order 10200 shows Weld and Bending time broken out by day and worker — ready for job costing.

Gantt chart — production scheduling

Standard Time Gantt chart showing production schedule across multiple work orders

Drag-and-drop Gantt charts for production scheduling. Rearrange jobs, adjust deadlines, and see the impact across your schedule instantly. Ask the AI to reschedule jobs by deadline priority or employee availability.

Resource allocation & capacity

Resource allocation bar chart showing over and under-allocated employees

See immediately which employees are over- or under-allocated. Standard Time® color-codes capacity so you can rebalance the schedule before it becomes a bottleneck.

Weekly timesheet by project

Standard Time weekly timesheet showing hours per work order and task across the week

The timesheet view breaks down hours by work order and task across the week — exactly what job costing requires. This data syncs to QuickBooks automatically.

One Day vs Several Weeks

Setup time is one of the sharpest differences between Standard Time® and E2 Shop. E2 is a Windows-based ERP that requires installation, data entry, and training before a single scan can happen. Standard Time® is browser-based — sign up and scan on the same day.

Setup time comparison: Standard Time live in one day vs E2 Shop 2–8 week implementation

Standard Time® Setup

  1. Sign up and create your account
  2. Add users and assign employee barcodes
  3. Create work orders and print job labels
  4. Mount a scan station (tablet or PC)
  5. First scan — timers and job costing are live

Live in under one day. No consultant required.

E2 Shop Typical Implementation

  1. Sales call, demo, and scoping with an E2 reseller
  2. Software installation or cloud provisioning
  3. Configure work centers, part numbers, and routings
  4. Enter customer, vendor, and part master data
  5. Train estimators, schedulers, and shop floor workers
  6. Parallel run and go-live validation

Typical timeline: 2–8 weeks depending on shop complexity and data volume. Implementation fees through an E2/ECI reseller add to the total cost.

Shop Floor Tracker vs Full Job Shop ERP

Standard Time® was designed specifically for shop floor time tracking, barcode scanning, and job costing. E2 Shop System was built to run an entire job shop business — from the first quote through the final invoice.

Standard Time purpose-built for shop floor tracking vs E2 Shop full job shop ERP

E2 Shop System has been serving job shops and contract manufacturers for decades. It's a mature product with deep roots in the custom manufacturing space — if you need to manage the entire order lifecycle from quote to cash in a single system, E2 can do that.

The challenge is that most shops come to Standard Time® because they already have QuickBooks for accounting and don't want another system managing their financials. What they need is accurate labor cost data by job — and that means getting employees to scan a barcode when they start and stop working. Standard Time® solves that problem on day one, at $8.99/user/month, without Windows servers, without a reseller, and without a six-week configuration project.

If your biggest shop floor pain is "we don't know what jobs actually cost in labor" or "we can't tell who's working on what right now" — Standard Time® solves both of those today. If you need to replace your quoting, purchasing, and invoicing systems at the same time, E2 Shop is worth evaluating. Just be ready for the price and the implementation timeline.

Manufacturing shop floor with barcode scanning and real-time dashboards

Which One Should You Choose?

🏭

Choose Standard Time® if you…

  • Need scan-to-start time tracking today
  • Use QuickBooks and want to keep it
  • Want to pay less than $10/user/month
  • Can't wait weeks for an implementation
  • Want AI scheduling without a consultant
  • Need WIP dashboards on shop-floor screens
Start Free Trial
🏗️

Consider E2 Shop if you…

  • Need a full ERP to replace all shop systems
  • Do estimating and quoting in-house, daily
  • Manage complex BOMs and work center routing
  • Need integrated invoicing and AR
  • Have time and budget for an implementation
  • Prefer a long-established Windows-based platform
Talk to Our Team

Get the Shop Floor Features You Need — at $8.99/User/Month

Standard Time® Pro includes barcode scanning, WIP dashboards, AI scheduling, Gantt charts, job costing, and QuickBooks integration. Live in one day — no implementation required.

See Pricing & Plans Ask a Question