The laser is down until the engineer arrives on Thursday
The resonator has a fault, or the cutting head has crashed. The engineer can come on Thursday. There are three days of nests queued and two customers with deliveries this week. The office starts ringing other laser cutting companies, emailing DXFs, working out quantities and materials from the nest list, and waiting for prices.
By the time a subcontractor has the files and a PO, it is Wednesday. The parts arrive Friday, mixed in one pallet, without labels, and have to be sorted by hand into the right jobs.
Why overflow is always a scramble
Subcontract cutting only happens when something has gone wrong, so there is no routine for it. The information the subcontractor needs is spread across nests, job folders and the office's knowledge, and the parts coming back have no link to your jobs.
- Files and quantities are pulled together by hand from nests and jobs.
- There is no list of approved subcontractors and what they can cut.
- Quotes come back in different formats and are compared by eye.
- Returned parts are not labelled to your jobs.
- Costs of subcontracting are not recorded against the jobs.
What the scramble costs
Days lost before the subcontractor even starts. Higher prices because you are asking in a hurry, often from one supplier. Sorting parts on return, and mistakes in doing so. And no record of what subcontracting cost each job, which makes the case for a second laser or a maintenance contract harder to make.
The overflow process we build
- Your approved subcontractors are listed with what they cut: materials, thicknesses, bed size, finishes, whether they fold, and how they like to receive files.
- When the laser is down or overloaded, you select the affected jobs or nests. The tool builds a package: DXFs of the current revisions, materials, thicknesses, quantities, and a required date.
- The request is sent to the subcontractors who can do the work, with a reply link or an email reply address.
- Replies are compared side by side on price and date. You choose, and the PO is raised from the tool.
- The subcontractor is asked to label parts with your job and part numbers, using a label list the tool provides.
- Returning parts are booked in against the jobs and go into the brake and weld queues, with the subcontract cost recorded on each job.
| Step | What the tool does |
|---|---|
| Choose jobs or nests | Builds the file and quantity package |
| Request prices | Sends to suitable subcontractors |
| Compare replies | Price and date side by side |
| Order | PO and label list sent |
| Return | Parts booked into jobs, cost recorded |
What changes when the laser stops
Instead of a day of phoning and emailing, one package goes out to several subcontractors from a single screen. Parts come back labelled to your jobs and go straight into bending. You know what the breakdown cost in subcontracting, which feeds decisions about maintenance, spare parts and capacity.
The same process works when the laser is simply full, so planned overflow in busy months becomes routine rather than a crisis.
Over time you also build a record of each subcontractor: how quickly they replied, whether they met their date, and how often their parts needed rework. When the next breakdown comes, you know who to ask first. And because the files sent are always the current approved revisions, a rushed overflow does not become the moment an old DXF slips through.
Is overflow a scramble for you?
- A laser breakdown means a day of phone calls.
- Files and quantities are pulled together by hand.
- Subcontract parts arrive unlabelled.
- Subcontract costs are not recorded on jobs.
- You rely on one subcontractor because asking others takes too long.