For Independent CNC, weld, sheet metal, and make-to-order job shops
Catch material and outside processing cost creep before it eats your quotes
Your metal supplier and your plater raise prices a little at a time. Quotes still use old material and outside processing costs. Invoices get paid because they match the delivery, not the price you quoted on.
What it can cost you
Example: $30,000 a month in material and outside processing running 6% over what quotes assumed = $1,800 a month.An illustration, not a promise. Your Opportunity Scan puts a real number on it.
What the system checks overnight
- Compares vendor invoice prices to the PO price for material and outside processing.
- Compares current material cost per pound or per bar to the cost used in recent quotes.
- Flags new lot charges, minimums, or freight on vendor invoices.
- Tracks each outside vendor's on-time return record.
- Flags open quotes that still use material costs older than your limit.
Where it reads from
- JobBOSS², ProShop ERP, Global Shop Solutions, ECI M1, or Epicor (POs and quotes)
- QuickBooks Online (vendor bills)
- Outlook (vendor price notices)
Published steel, aluminum, and stainless market prices, to show whether a supplier increase follows the market.
What happens when it fires
You or purchasing push back with the vendor and update quote costs. The system drafts the vendor email with the PO and invoice lines side by side.
Autonomy level: Draft for approval. The system prepares the message or task, and you approve it before anything goes out.
What we guarantee
Every vendor invoice line compared to its PO price within a day of entry. We agree on the metric before the Sprint starts and measure it over the first 20 business days after go-live. If we miss it, you get half your Sprint fee back. Dollar savings are tracked in your monthly saves log, reported rather than promised.
Questions
We buy material per job. Does that still work?
Yes. It compares each job's material cost to what that job's quote assumed, and tracks the trend across jobs.
Can it update our quote templates?
It drafts the updated costs for you to approve. Changing the ERP's cost tables stays with your team.
Do I need new software for this?
No. The system reads from the tools you already use, with read-only access by default. A guardrail layer controls exactly which data the AI can see.
What does it cost?
A 3-week Sprint is $6,000 fixed and includes the morning brief plus one automation tied to an agreed metric. Ongoing support is $1,500 a month, or $500 a month to keep it running without new automations. If the agreed metric is missed over the first 20 business days after go-live, half the Sprint fee is refunded.
How is this different from a dashboard app or a free AI kit?
A dashboard app shows numbers when you go look. A free AI kit gives you the parts, and you do the setup, the upkeep, and the checking. Here the alarms are built for your kind of business, they watch outside data like market rates and rule changes alongside yours, and on Run or Keep-Running, the person who built them keeps them working and logs what they caught.
More alarms for machine and fabrication job shops
Seven more things worth watching.
- Jobs running over estimated hoursCompare hours clocked to estimated hours on every open job, operation by operation, so you can step in before the whole job's margin is gone.
- Repeat orders at a losing priceWhen a repeat PO comes in, compare its price to what that part really cost on past runs, so you requote losing parts instead of repeating them.
- RFQs sitting unquotedTrack every RFQ from inbox to quote by estimator and due date, so good opportunities from your best customers do not age out unanswered.
- Orders about to ship lateCompare remaining routing hours, work center load, material, and outside processing to each promise date, so late orders are caught early.
- Machines idle or stuck in long setupsCompare run hours to available hours per machine and track setup time per job, so your most expensive machines spend more time making parts.
- Paid hours not landing on jobsCompare paid hours to hours clocked on work orders by employee and shift, so indirect time and clocking gaps stop hiding in your shop rate.
- Shipped but not invoicedMatch every packing slip to an invoice and every invoice to its PO price, so shipped work does not sit unbilled or go out at the wrong amount.
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