Steel fabrication management software and metal fabrication production planning software that schedules cutting, bending, welding and paint
A fabrication shop lives on flow between very different processes: laser or plasma cutting, press brakes, welding bays, finishing and paint. Each one runs at its own pace, and one queue backing up stalls everything behind it. ProductionPlanning.ai is steel fabrication scheduling software that loads every step against real capacity, so you see where the week will jam before it does. It runs next to the estimating and accounting tools you already have, from 149 USD per plant a month with unlimited users.
Free for 14 days on your own orders and machines. No card.
Metal fabrication, This week's schedule, finite capacity per work center
- On time
- Late
- Changeover
On time
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Bottleneck
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Shortages
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Why metal fab scheduling breaks in a spreadsheet
- Every job has a different mix of cutting, bending and welding time
- Welding is often the bottleneck, and it depends on people, not machines
- Paint and powder coat run in batches by colour
- Material thickness and grade drive setups on the laser and the brake
- Customers ask for dates at quote stage, before the job is won
Metal fab software built around your work centers
- Work centers for each laser, plasma table, press brake, welding bay, paint line and assembly area
- Routings per job with minutes per part at each step
- Welding capacity from people on shift, not just bays
- Colour changeovers on the paint line, with grouping by colour (Plant plan)
- Material and thickness changeovers on cutting and bending
- Sheet and profile shortages listed per job and date (Plant plan and above)
The demo on the home page has a fabrication shop ready to load, with cutting, bending, welding and paint.
Sheet metal fabrication software for short runs and repeat parts
Sheet metal work mixes one off jobs with repeat parts for regular customers. Repeat parts reuse their routing, so a new order is scheduled as soon as it is entered, and a one off job needs only its steps and times. Both land in the same finite capacity schedule, and both get a real finish date. For more on make to order work, see job shop scheduling software.
Quote a date the shop floor can keep
Add a prospective job as a draft (in its own plan version on the Plant plan and above), run the schedule, and see when it would ship and what it would delay. Quote from that, not from a standard lead time that ignores this week's welding queue.
Steel fabrication software, a full suite or a scheduler
Fab shops shopping for software usually meet two kinds of product. Suites such as Tekla PowerFab for structural steel, or a job shop ERP such as Fulcrum for sheet metal and precision work, run estimating, purchasing, production tracking and often the books in one system. A scheduler does one part of that: it decides what runs on the laser, the brake and in each welding bay this week, and tells you which jobs will ship late.
| Your week looks like this | What to buy |
|---|---|
| Estimates take days and material buys are guesswork | A fabrication suite or ERP with estimating and purchasing |
| Job costs are unknown until the job ships | An ERP with job costing |
| Quotes and invoices are fine, but welding backs up and ship dates slip | A finite capacity scheduler |
| The paint line runs colours in the wrong order and loses hours to changeovers | A scheduler with changeover grouping |
If you are weighing a full ERP, our Fulcrum Pro alternative page compares one of the most common choices for sheet metal shops honestly, including where it is the better buy. Custom and engineer to order fabricators shortlisting Genius ERP can see what it costs over three years in our Genius ERP pricing breakdown, and where a scheduler fits next to it on the Genius ERP alternative page.
Questions fab shops ask before buying scheduling software
What is the best software for a metal fabrication shop?
It depends on where the shop loses money. If estimating and job costing are weak, a fabrication suite or ERP pays back first. If quotes and invoices are fine but jobs ship late because welding or the brake is overloaded, a finite capacity scheduler fixes the problem faster and for far less, from 149 USD per plant a month.
How do you schedule a fabrication shop?
Give every cutting table, press brake, welding bay and paint line its own capacity from real shifts and crew, give each job a routing with minutes per step, then schedule each step only when the one before it finishes and the next work center has room. That is finite capacity scheduling, and it is what spreadsheets cannot do once jobs share work centers.
Can scheduling software plan welding by welder rather than by bay?
Yes. Welding capacity comes from the people on shift, so you set the hours available per bay from your crew plan. When a welder is out, capacity drops for that day and the schedule moves every affected job and shows which ones will now be late.
How much does steel fabrication scheduling software cost?
Fabrication suites and ERPs are usually quoted, with implementation on top. ProductionPlanning.ai publishes its price: 149 USD a month per plant on Line and 429 USD on Plant, which adds colour grouping, material shortages and spreadsheet import, with unlimited users on both. See the pricing page.
See this week's welding queue before Wednesday
Load the fabrication shop in the demo, or create your account and enter your open jobs.
Your data stays yours. Export or delete it any time. No card to try the demo.