A frame 10mm short on the bench
The order came in from the surveyor. The fabrication manager typed the frames into the cutting software, worked out the glass sizes on a calculator and emailed the sealed unit order. One frame's width was typed wrong. The profile was cut short. The glass for another frame was calculated with the wrong bead deduction and arrived too big. Two remakes, and the fitting date moves.
Where the shop loses accuracy
Small and medium fabrication shops often run with good machines and experienced people, but the information reaching the machines is retyped. Every retype is a chance for error, and glass is usually ordered separately from the frame build.
- Frame details are retyped from the order into saw or machining software.
- Glass sizes are calculated by hand from frame sizes and deductions.
- Hardware, reinforcement and gaskets are picked from memory.
- Frames in the shop are tracked on a whiteboard.
- The office cannot see where a job is without walking onto the shop floor.
What shop errors cost
A miscut profile and a wrong-size sealed unit are both wasted material, and they push the fitting date. Missing hardware found at assembly stops the frame. Office staff answering customers do not know when frames will be ready. And the fabrication manager spends time on data entry rather than running the shop.
An order-to-shop link
- Confirmed orders flow from your quoting system with each frame's style, sizes, profile, colour, glass and hardware.
- Cutting lists are produced from your profile system's deduction rules and sent to your saw or machining software where it accepts imports.
- Sealed unit sizes are calculated from the same rules and the glass order is sent to your glass supplier in their format.
- Hardware, reinforcement and gasket pick lists are produced per frame.
- Each frame gets a label with a barcode or QR code, scanned at cutting, welding, cleaning, hardware, glazing and dispatch.
- The office sees each job's frames by stage, and the fitting date is warned if a job is behind.
| Output | Produced from | Sent to |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting list | Frame sizes and profile rules | Saw or machining software |
| Sealed unit order | Frame sizes and glazing deductions | Glass supplier |
| Hardware pick list | Frame style and options | Shop floor |
| Frame labels | Order and frame number | Printer on the shop floor |
Profile rules and deductions come from your system supplier and your fabrication manager. We encode them, we do not invent them.
What the shop looks like after
The fabrication manager checks rather than types. Cutting lists and glass orders are consistent with each other because they come from the same data. Hardware is picked from a list. Everyone can see where each frame is. And remakes caused by transcription become rare.
Where your quoting and machining software already talk to each other, we connect the parts that do not rather than rebuild what works.
Shop floor tracking also improves what the office can tell customers. When a homeowner rings to ask about their frames, the office can see whether they are cut, welded, glazed or on the rack for dispatch, instead of walking onto the shop floor to ask. The fitting diary can be planned around frames that are genuinely ready, not frames that should be ready.
Is your shop floor retyping?
- Frame details are typed into the saw software by hand.
- Glass sizes are worked out on a calculator.
- Remakes happen because of a typed figure.
- Frame progress lives on a whiteboard.