Systematization and digitization of manufacturing processes by introducing information technology (IT) tools is regarded as a key approach for increasing manufacturing companies' competitiveness. In order to support them to build manufacturing software applications for their own use, we have developed a component-based software development framework, named "MZ Platform". It provides manufacturers with a set of software components that carry out unit functions. Users can develop an IT tool by integrating those small software components into a large software system. Its advantage of reducing the time and the cost of building manufacturing software system has been proven through several case studies.