Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Questions a Metal Fabricator Should Ask a Software Vendor
Ask whether it quotes by section weight and by square foot, and follows material through laser, bending and coating job work. Ask how it keeps customer sheets apart, books offcuts to the job, and tracks stage bills and retention. Then ask what it does not do, and who changes it later.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
Questions about quoting by weight and by area
Fabrication is priced two ways. Gates, trusses and structures go by section weight at a per kg rate for MS or SS. Grills, railings and mesh work go by the square foot.
Ask the vendor to quote one of your recent jobs both ways, live. Watch whether labour, coating and erection can be added as you add them today. Check that the quote is saved beside the drawing it came from.
- Does it hold your own sections and per kg rates?
- Can grills and railings be priced per square foot?
- Are quote revisions kept against one enquiry?
Questions about the job card and the shop floor
Most shops run on a whiteboard. Ask how a job card replaces it, and who updates it. Welders rarely will.
A workable answer has the supervisor marking each stage from his phone, with a photograph of the finished stage. Ask whether the job card records material issued and welder hours. Ask what happens when the shed’s signal is weak.
Questions about job work, customer material and scrap
Sheets leave for laser cutting and parts leave for powder coating or galvanising. They come back in batches over a week, sometimes short. Ask to see a challan sent out and a partial return booked against it.
Customer-supplied material is a matter of trust. Ask how a factory’s own SS sheets are kept apart from your stock. Ask too whether offcuts and scrap can be recorded against the job that made them.
- Quantity sent, returned and still with each vendor
- Customer stock held apart from your own
- Scrap and offcuts booked to the job
Questions about stage bills, retention and actual cost
Builders certify work in stages and hold back retention. Ask whether the software lists stage bills, amounts certified, retention held and a follow-up date. Retention left unchased can sit for a year.
Then ask the harder question. Can it set actual weight, labour and job work against the quoted price? Some systems record those inputs without calculating the final cost. Know which kind you are buying.
Questions about limits, data and support
Every product has edges. A vendor who cannot name what the software does not do has not looked closely at your shop.
Ask who owns the data, and how you get a full copy if you leave. Ask who adds a new stage or rate when the shop changes, and whether that costs extra.
Fabrication software vendor scorecard
A sheet listing the questions above down the side, with a column per vendor for yes, no or partly, and a notes column. Bring one real job with its drawing to every demo. Score each vendor on that job, not on the brochure.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Does GullySystem’s production product work out the actual cost of a finished job?
Not on its own. Costing sits at the quotation, where material, labour and job work are priced. Material issued, rejection and job work for the job are on record for your accountant to set against the quote.
Do we need a full ERP for a fabrication shop?
Usually not. Most shops need job cards, challans and honest job records, not a large ERP with modules nobody opens.
Will welders have to use the software?
No. The supervisor updates the job from his phone and sends a photograph of each finished stage.
Will invoices and challans go to Tally?
Not in the standard set-up. An export to Tally is quoted separately, after your accountant fixes the ledger heads. Ask any vendor the same question before you sign.