I have considered this and tried to think of how to utilize SharePoint but I do not believe you could write to the files. You could research how to update a list but I do not think it will work with files, where the data is embedded in the form. You may be able to change what the document library says but not the actual data in the files.
http://www.infopathdev.com/howto/tutorials/default.aspx?i=7bc880f391b84ea9b3b45c6fbecc07c6You may be able to merge the forms to do a bulk edit. A lot depends on how the form is setup how well this would work.
This is one of the features that our DBXL product was created for. You may want to check it out as we have bulk edit tools similar to what you are looking for plus all the other benefits of databasing your forms. I would think for something as important as production orders you may want the added security and control.