Katana Reviews

“A good support

Pros

At our company we use Katana on a daily basis to track the flow of supplies across different warehouses and calculate the average value of our stock. Once we completed the main integration, it became easy to use. The Katana team members have always been available to assist us throughout the process, and they continue to support us whenever we need help.

Cons

Since we don't handle our production ourselves, our use of Katana is limited, and we have to adjust the features to fit our business needs. Making small changes, like adapting the interface to our daily customer needs, would be a great bonus.

“Easy tracking of materials and products

Pros

Personally, what I really like about Katana is the ease of visibility it provides. I can easily see what items I have in stock and what I need to order. Additionally, the seamless integration with my accounting software, Xero, eliminates the need for double entries.

Cons

I'm still new to the software, but I have noticed that the response to issues is slightly delayed, likely because the team is overseas. However, the information they provide is great and helps fix any misunderstandings or errors, even if it takes a little longer.

“Katana has made my life easier

Pros

I find this product incredibly user-friendly. Once it's set up, it effectively tracks inventory, and the integrations with woocommerce and Xero are excellent additions. I would highly recommend it.

Cons

The pricing is a bit on the expensive side, especially since it's invoiced in US dollars. As someone who doesn't live in the US, I don't have a fixed monthly price due to currency fluctuations.

“Great MRP tool, some flaws but very responsive and receptive customer service and dev team

Pros

I havee found Katana to be super easy to use, and the pricing is more transparent and streamlined than when we first started using it. The support is great, although they may not always be the quickest. Usually, within 1-2 days, I receive thorough and well-covered answers to my questions. I also appreciate that I can send them suggestions, which they consider for their development schedule. Katana saves us a lot of time, and the fact that we can access it from any computer is really nice.

Cons

Currently (2020) there is no option to add fixed costs to purchase orders, which makes tracking the cost of inventory a bit tougher. I also can't edit purchase order templates. Having these features would make cost tracking and insurance claims easier. Additionally, there is no support for contractor per unit manufacturing, but a simple workaround would be to set contractor tasks and payment by the hour, assuming each unit takes 1 hour to finish. However, this does make it difficult to track the actual time required for production. Luckily we have a good idea of how long something will take without relying solely on Katana.

“Love this option for our manufacturing/ecommerce brand

Pros

Personally, I love how easy it is to set up Katana and integrate it seamlessly with all our other platforms.

Cons

I believe Lot Tracking should be included in the basic plan because it's a health and safety issue. It would be great if it came standard with the software.

“Brilliant System

Pros

I must say Katana has been brilliant for us. It has completely transformed how we manage stock and control manufacturing. What sets it apart is its simplicity without unnecessary extras that take as much time to maintain as a manual system. Katana is efficient and fast. Moreover, its integration with Xero and Shopify is smooth and seamless. I highly recommend it

Cons

Having a mobile app would be brilliant, although it's not essential.

“Katana has made a huge improvement to our business process!

Pros

Katana has significantly improved our ability to track shared ingredients for the products we sell. It's easy to determine the quantity of ingredients to buy and from whom. The automatic integration with Shopify and real-time updates are amazing. The level of customer support we receive is outstanding.

Cons

Learning the software and creating ingredients for each product took some time, but it's definitely worthwhile.

“Excellent

Pros

From our experience, Katana is a game changer for small manufacturers who need to track batch IDs and other inputs. We truly wish we had discovered it when we started our business.

Cons

I'm looking forward to the upcoming batch tracking feature, which is expected to be available in Q1 2021.

“Katana for small specialised manufacturer

Pros

We had been searching for an inventory and production tool to move away from Excel sheets and paper-based systems. Once we set up Katana, it helped us track everything in real-time, enabling faster decision making.

Cons

Setting up the software requires quite an effort. The hardest part is not the actual setup process, but rather thoroughly thinking through the entire system, naming materials and products, and grouping them strategically for convenient setup and easy management. It's important to ensure that team members can quickly learn and use the system effectively.

“Highly Recommend!

Pros

I really appreciate the ease of use, easy implementation, excellent customer service, and reorder options that Katana offers.

Cons

I wouldn't consider this a con, but we're really excited about the planned rollout of the barcode scanning option in 2021

“First Impression KATANA - perfect fit for smaller companies which do not need a complex ERP-system

Pros

The way I can handle inventory, items, products, and ingredients in Katana is incredibly efficient, clear and user friendly. It sets it apart from other MRP/ERP systems. The integration with QuickBooks is superb, automatically triggering invoices once products are marked as shipped in Katana. Additionally, the integration with Shopify for online spare parts sales is a great feature. The customer service is open-minded and always ready to assist in understanding all the features and finding the best workflow for my specific needs.

Cons

There are some functions and features that could use improvement. For example, customizing documents like quotations with individual templates for different areas (machines, spare parts, service, etc.) would be helpful. Having 3-5 custom fields for quotes, sales orders, and products would also be beneficial. Although KATANA is primarily an MRP-system, integrating service articles (not just make or buy articles) would be useful. This would allow adding a possible service portion to a spare parts quote. Additionally, dedicated delivery notes with partial shipments would be a great feature.

“Just what I needed

Pros

Katana integrates seamlessly with my Shopify site, making it so much easier to track bundled products. I also manufacture candles and kits in house, and Katana simplifies inventory tracking, allowing me to know the exact quantity of materials I have at any given time, without the need for guesswork or manual counting.

Cons

It would be nice to have barcodes, and I've heard that this feature is coming soon. It would also be great if selling out of an object that is part of a bundle would automatically make the bundle unavailable on my Shopify site. I believe this functionality is also being worked on.

“Great product

Pros

Tracking the ingredients for my products has never been easier with Katana. It provides a clear picture of my production progress and helps me stay on top of where I stand.

Cons

Although it's still a relatively young product with a few missing features here and there, the Katana team is highly responsive and constantly improving the product.

“Simple inventory solution with BOM

Pros

Katana offers a straightforward solution for tracking ingredients and managing manufacturing operations tied to work orders and final products.

Cons

Katana covers most of the basics but lacks some nice-to-have features, such as custom metadata/fields for orders and the ability to bulk modify delivery dates. I would also appreciate simple ways to adjust work orders and inventory for scrap or loss during production, although there are workarounds available for these issues.

“Katana Review

Pros

I was in search of software that could handle both my purchased and manufactured products, including managing bills of materials (BOM) and raw materials. Katana does an excellent job in this regard, and the added bonus of syncing with Xero and Shopify is fantastic. It's a simple system that works perfectly for my small business.

Cons

Katana is quite basic in terms of what you can record for your products and materials. It would be great to have more flexibility in adding custom fields, such as supplier SKUs and drawing number references. Additionally having the ability to customize the purchase order and sales order format would be a valuable improvement. Being able to add a supplier's SKU to a purchase order would also be beneficial.

“Great software with helpful support

Pros

Implementing this program was a breeze, and it's incredibly intuitive and user-friendly. We did encounter a few initial challenges, but the support team was responsive and helpful in resolving our issues.

Cons

There is a limit to the number of SKUs that the software can support. We managed to find a workaround, but ideally, the system should support 200,000+ SKUs in the future.

“MKUltra Corporation

Pros

The flawless integration between Katana and my Shopify store makes managing materials and stock levels a breeze once everything is set up. The ability to prioritize jobs based on different criteria and quickly rearrange them when needed is crucial for my business, and Katana handles it with ease.

Cons

The setup process was a bit of a chore, but in a way, that's a good thing because there's a lot of data that needs to be taken into account when considering software like this. If you want to use it effectively, every little detail needs to be accounted for. When you have hundreds of SKUs like me, it can feel like a mountain to climb. However, trust me, it's worth it in the end.

“Great for small but growing handmade biz!

Pros

I recently completed the 14 day free trial of Katana and have now started a paid subscription. It took a few days and some frustration to manually input all our products, ingredients, recipes, and pending wholesale orders from outside of Shopify. However, the Shopify integration was a big help. We use multiple wholesale platforms without automated third party integrations, so we knew we had to input orders manually, and Katana serves as our centralized dashboard to track everything. In just two weeks, we've already seen increased production efficiency and reduced turnaround times for wholesale orders since everything is now tracked in one place. I highly recommend Katana for any maker it's never too early to implement automated systems into your business!

Cons

I experienced some glitches with accurate purchase prices not showing up correctly in the overall product list. I described the issue to customer service, but they denied it being a problem. So far, that's the only issue I've encountered. Customer support quality is to be determined.

“Very easy to use and ideal for production and sales

Pros

Katana integrates seamlessly with Shopify and Xero, allowing me to track everything in one place, from sales to invoices to production. It's easy to create customers and invoices and seamlessly transfer them to Xero.

Cons

Currently, there is no batch tracking feature available, and it can be a bit complicated to set up when you have multiple price points for the same SKU and need to reflect this on the product card. Using discounts of one set price isn't ideal for seamless integration with Xero.

“Great Software

Pros

Katana provides all the functionality that QuickBooks lacked while still offering a reliable integration with QuickBooks

Cons

Wehave just started our journey with Katana, and so far, it has everything we need