For metal fabrication shops
Quote in hours not days. Track job cost while the job is running. Win more RFQs.
Metal fabrication shops running laser, waterjet, press brake, welding, and CNC machining. Close rate on RFQs is tightly correlated with quote turnaround. Job costing determines whether you actually made money. We fix both.
Serving North America jurisdiction-specific requirements confirmed during scoping
Metal fab shops have a specific front-office pattern. RFQs come in with drawings; an estimator has to calculate material, labor, setup, and any finishing costs; quotes go back to the customer. The time from RFQ receipt to quote sent is often 5-10 business days because estimators are the bottleneck and each RFQ requires pulling historical similar jobs, current material pricing, and current shop-load considerations.
Shops that can respond in 24-48 hours win more RFQs at better margins because they're not competing solely on price. Quote-assembly automation that handles the mechanical work of pulling historical data and current pricing lets the estimator focus on the judgment calls, which jobs to quote aggressively, which to decline, which to flag for the owner.
Job costing is the other big lever. Most fab shops only know whether a job was profitable after month-end when everything reconciles. By then, lessons are lost. Daily job costing surfaced as the work happens lets the shop adjust estimates on similar work and identify margin erosion early.
This page is not legal, regulatory, tax, or professional advice. Data handling and jurisdiction-specific requirements are documented in the engagement scope; no control or certification is implied. Read the scoped data-handling approach.
What we'd automate first
Where a carefully scoped workflow may earn its keep.
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01
Quotes taking 5-10 days, losing to faster competitors
Automated quote assembly from historical jobs, current material pricing, and shop load cuts turnaround to <24 hours.
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02
Job costing a month behind reality
Daily reconciliation against material issue, labor tickets, and quoted hours produces trusted job cost within 2 days of job close.
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03
Material price changes silently eating margin
Vendor price monitoring flags margin risk on active quotes and open jobs before invoice surprises arrive.
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04
Scheduling whiteboard owned by one person
Scheduling assistant watches due dates, capacity, and changeovers for scheduler review.
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05
Certificate of compliance and traceability paperwork
Structured CoC and heat-treat/material-cert assembly reduces QA time per regulated job.
55-employee metal fab shop: quote turnaround
A 55-employee metal fab shop averaged 7 days from RFQ receipt to quote sent. Estimators were a 2-person team and a bottleneck. Close rate was 31%. We built quote-assembly automation pulling historical jobs, current material pricing, and shop-load data into a first-draft quote. Turnaround dropped to 18 hours. Close rate rose to 45%. Sales volume at the same capacity grew materially.
Result: Quote time 7 days → 18 hrs; close rate 31% → 45%Rough numbers first
Estimate the opportunity in your own numbers.
Directional scenario only. This calculator does not validate inputs, estimate implementation cost, provide a quote, or predict a result. Confirm assumptions against your own records.
Common questions
Questions to resolve before implementation.
Do you work with JobBOSS, E2, ProShop, MIE Trak, Global Shop?
Yes, all major metal-fab ERPs.
Does this touch shop-floor systems?
Front-office first. Shop-floor (MES, vision QA, OEE) is usually a later engagement where justified.
Describe what is actually happening in this workflow.
Glen replies in writing with whether a Nano-Pilot fits or the honest answer is “not yet.”
Send a written intakeRelated industry paths
Selected related paths.
- Trace every lot. Document every allergen control. Schedule production against real demand. Food and beverage processors, co-manufacturers, and specialty producers. Regulatory documentation is the baseline; production efficiency is the margin opportunity.
- Quote new tooling faster. Schedule presses against real capacity. Manage resin pricing volatility. Plastic injection molding shops, blow molding, and specialty plastics processors. Tooling economics, press scheduling, and resin pricing are the big three operational pressure points.
- Respond to RFQs faster. Reuse programming intelligence. Document quality for regulated customers. Specialty CNC machine shops, aerospace, medical, defense, industrial precision. High-margin work requires tight operational discipline; the front-office work scales badly without automation.