For Independent CNC, weld, sheet metal, and make-to-order job shops
See which orders will ship late while you can still reshuffle the schedule
An order looks on track until the last operation, when the bottleneck machine is booked or the plater is late. The customer hears it is late on the ship date. Late shipments cost you scorecards and future RFQs.
What it can cost you
Example: 1 expedite a month at $600 in overtime and freight = $7,200 a year, before counting a customer who stops sending RFQs.An illustration, not a promise. Your Opportunity Scan puts a real number on it.
What the system checks overnight
- Compares remaining routing hours on each open order to time left before its promise date.
- Checks load on each work center the order still needs to pass through.
- Flags orders whose material has not been received.
- Flags orders waiting on outside processing that is not back yet.
- Lists orders already past due with their dollar value.
Where it reads from
- JobBOSS², ProShop ERP, Global Shop Solutions, ECI M1, or Epicor (work orders, schedule, POs)
What happens when it fires
You decide what to move, run overtime on, or warn the customer about. The system drafts the heads-up email to the buyer with a new date.
Autonomy level: Draft for approval. The system prepares the message or task, and you approve it before anything goes out.
What we guarantee
Every open order checked against its promise date each night, with at-risk orders flagged before the ship date. 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 already have a schedule board. What does this add?
The board shows what is running. This looks ahead at every open order and tells you which ones cannot make their date if nothing changes.
How accurate is it if our routings are rough?
It is only as good as your estimated hours. It also tracks how far off routings tend to be, so you see which estimates to trust.
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.
- Material and outside process cost creepCompare vendor invoices for metal, plating, heat treat, and coating to PO prices and quoted costs, so supplier increases get 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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