manubes

What manubes is

manubes is a cloud platform for production management, and the company's article on citizen development presents it as its own example of a manufacturing-focused no-code platform for citizen developers. It is developed by inray Industriesoftware GmbH, which the home page says has been building software for industry for more than 30 years. It was developed specifically for industrial use, and the home page says it connects machines, systems and people on one platform. The reader it addresses is the plant or production specialist who knows the process: operators, production engineers and the people who run a shop floor. The headline reads "Transparent production: simple, fast, independent." Teams build real-time dashboards, automated processes and mobile applications themselves, "By drag and drop, without programming and without servers of your own."

The site lists 3 reassurances beside its call to action: "No server needed", "Ready in minutes" and "German-language support". You start with a browser, and the first values appear as soon as the first data source is connected. An edge node installed in your network carries the values from machines, databases and systems into the cloud. Access is worldwide via a web browser, with no installation on the end devices.

What you build and how

The core is a set of no-code editors that work on one shared data model. The Page Designer creates web-based pages that show every production area in real time. The company says HTML, CSS and other code are not required, and offers drag-and-drop modules and simple selection dialogs instead. The Workflow Designer assembles automations from ready-made building blocks by drag and drop, covering database operations, notifications, and communication between machines, devices and software applications. The home page describes workflows as the way to hand over the manual work: data transfers, feedback and routine steps run in the background, which saves time and prevents transcription errors between equipment, spreadsheet and system.

A third editor arrived in Release 1.6. The process diagram designer lets you connect traffic lights, tanks and pipes by drag and drop into a process diagram with live data from your plant. The site pitches it as a way to see the plant, always and everywhere, with every measured value sitting where it belongs.

Dashboards are the most visible output. The home page describes real-time dashboards that show metrics, machine status and orders live on any screen, and lists push notifications and OEE visualization as typical examples. Reporting is described as reports that are created automatically and always stay up to date. Alerting and push notifications make sure the people responsible know immediately when something goes wrong. An AI assistant answers questions about production data, with answers "in seconds".

Underneath sits data modeling. The Datamodel Designer structures production data so that dashboards, workflows and reports can use it, and the home page says OPC UA, MQTT, REST and databases come together in one shared data model, so production, quality and management work with the same figures. The typical examples listed include system connectivity and an OPC UA Client. The site also pitches paperless uses: a digital shift log, digital work instructions, shopfloor boards and data capture by code scan, with records kept directly on the device so they are traceable and searchable without retyping afterwards.

Application management covers what happens after you build. Finished solutions can be bundled, reused and kept under version control. The page puts it as "One application, one instance per line, plant or site", with every application versioned so changes remain traceable. Release goes through manubes staging, "from development through to production", so you test first and go live afterward. The claim is that what works on one line works on the next without starting from scratch, and that data sources, users and applications can be added for further sites without setting up the solution again.

The finished application runs on the same pages in several places: desktop, smartphone, factory-floor monitor and operator panel. The home page says decisions are made "where the work happens, and not only in the next meeting".

Internal tools in this sense mean production-facing ones. Dashboards, automations and mobile screens are built by the specialists who run the plant, which is the site's own answer to the usual wait for a development order.

Trial, pricing and security

The home page lists existing systems staying in place as a design principle: "Connectors for OPC UA, MQTT, REST and databases link existing equipment and software." You do not have to replace anything to get started, "not even older machines". Getting started takes 3 steps. Step 1 is Connect: install an edge node and choose a data source. Step 2 is Build: put together a dashboard, workflow or user interface by drag and drop, "without a line of code". Step 3 is Use: the finished application goes to your teams on any device.

On trial and cost, the site invites you to "Try manubes for free" and to request a product demo. It adds that "A test account is created in a few minutes; you neither have to install nor operate the platform itself." The stated benefit is that you test first and decide afterwards, instead of pre-financing a project. The home page adds that you can create an account within minutes and "test all functions in your personal environment", and that the team is available at any time with questions. The site publishes no prices; the menu offers a quote request instead.

On security and operation, the home page says inray is part of the Cloud Services Made in Germany initiative, an association of German cloud providers, and offers service level agreements under German law and German-language customer support. Production is connected exclusively through outbound connections, so no ports for inbound connections have to be opened in the production network, and access rights, infrastructure and operation are set out in a separate security concept. The FAQ says software from inray is in use worldwide across a wide range of manufacturing and process industries, and that one point of contact covers consultation, implementation and ongoing support, in German and without intermediaries.

The company's recent news includes Release 1.6 with the process diagram designer and a nomination for the Smart Production Innovation Award, with a call for votes. The explainer article on citizen development describes low-code platforms as needing at least a little technical knowledge and no-code platforms as needing no code input at all, and places manubes in the second group. It names the Workflow Designer and Page Designer as its graphical tools. The same article lists what an application built this way should have: one clear objective, an authorization concept, interfaces suited to end users on desktop and mobile, data interfaces to machines, databases, email and ERP software, and documentation. That is the article's general advice for citizen developers, not a feature list of manubes.

Who it suits and who it does not

manubes suits a manufacturer that already has the data in machines and systems but not on a screen where people can act on it. A production lead who wants a live order board, a digital shift log or a push alert when a tank misbehaves can build it without an IT project. It also suits a company that plans to roll the same solution out to several lines or sites, because of the one-instance-per-line model and versioning. A team that works in German gets German-language support.

It is narrower than a general internal-tools builder. The site is all about production management, so a finance team or a sales team looking for forms and a customer database would not find that story here. The edge node is a real step: you have to install it in your network before the first data source arrives, though the company provides a step-by-step guide for it. Costs come through a quote rather than a public price list, so budgeting starts with a conversation. A team that wants to write its own code will find the platform framed around avoiding it.