Build a fabrication system around your sheets, your bend programmes and your job drawings.
A fabrication job starts as a drawing and a sheet of metal. It passes through cutting, bending, welding and finishing, and many hands touch it on the way.
The records tend to be scattered. Offcuts are not logged, so new sheet is bought when usable stock is on the rack. A welder works from an old drawing. A finished enclosure is hard to match to its order.
A system built at GullySystem would follow each job from the quote to the dispatch note. Sheets, nests, parts and assemblies would be tracked against it.
Fabrication businesses this system could be built for.
A laser cutting shop selling parts by the sheet and a structural steel fabricator working to site drawings have different centres of gravity. The build starts from yours.
- Sheet metal fabricators
- Laser cutting shops
- CNC bending shops
- Metal stamping companies
- Welding shops
- Structural steel fabricators
- Industrial enclosure manufacturers
- Stainless steel fabricators
- Press tool and progressive die users
- Ducting and HVAC fabricators
- Commercial kitchen equipment makers
- Powder coating and finishing units
- Gate, railing and architectural metalwork shops
The modules, and what each one covers.
Nothing here is a fixed package. Each module is built, left out or changed to match how your organisation already works.
Enquiry and quotation
The estimate is built from the drawing, the material and the operations, not from a rate per kilogram alone.
- Enquiry with drawing or DXF attached
- Material grade and thickness
- Weight and sheet utilisation estimate
- Cutting length and pierce count
- Bend count and tooling
- Welding length
- Finishing and coating
- Packing and freight
- Quote revisions
- Accepted quote to job
Drawings and bill of materials
Each assembly lists its parts, their quantities, their material and the drawing revision.
- Assembly and sub-assembly tree
- Part drawings and DXF files
- Revision control
- Material and thickness per part
- Bought-out items such as hinges and locks
- Fasteners and gaskets
- Finish per part
- Bill of materials revision
- Engineering change notes
Sheet and plate stock
Sheets are stock with a grade, a size and a heat or coil number.
- Sheet stock by grade, thickness and size
- Coil and plate batch numbers
- Mill test certificates
- Offcuts returned to the rack with dimensions
- Allocation to a job
- Reserved stock
- Reorder levels
- Remnant search before buying new sheet
Nesting and cutting
Parts from several jobs are nested on one sheet and the cut is booked back to each job.
- Nest files linked to jobs
- Parts per nest
- Sheet used and offcut produced
- Laser, plasma or turret machine
- Cutting programme and version
- Cut time against estimate
- Parts counted after cutting
- Rejected parts and recut
Bending and forming
The bend programme depends on the part, the tool and the press brake, and it has to be repeatable.
- Bend programme per part
- Press brake and tool set
- Bend sequence
- Angle and dimension check
- Setup time and run time
- Springback adjustments recorded
- Hemming and forming operations
- Parts waiting to be bent
Punching, stamping and press work
For stamped parts, the die, the press and the strokes matter.
- Die register by part
- Die condition and maintenance
- Press tonnage and press allocated
- Strokes counted per die
- Coil feeding and blank size
- Die changeover time
- Sharpening schedule
- Blanks and finished parts by lot
Welding and assembly
Weld procedure, welder and joint are recorded for jobs that need a trace.
- Weld joint list from the drawing
- Welder allocated
- Welding procedure used
- Filler material and batch
- Weld inspection result
- Distortion correction
- Assembly fit-up check
- Sub-assembly to final assembly
Job tracking on the floor
Each job card shows the operation it has reached and who has it. No walking the floor to ask.
- Job card with barcode
- Operation start and finish
- Quantity passed on to the next operation
- Parts waiting between operations
- Operators and machines
- Hours against estimate
- Rework and its reason
- Priority and due date
Finishing and coating
Deburring, polishing, galvanising, powder coating and painting are steps in the route.
- Surface preparation
- Pre-treatment and coating line batch
- Colour code and coating thickness
- Curing record
- Outside coating vendor tracking
- Polishing grade for stainless
- Masking instructions
- Coating rejects
Quality checks
Dimensions, weld quality and finish are checked at the stage where a fault is cheapest to fix.
- Inspection plan per part
- Dimensional report
- Weld visual and penetrant test record
- Coating thickness reading
- Customer witness points
- Non-conformance report
- Instrument calibration
- Final inspection before dispatch
Site work and installation
Structural and architectural jobs end at a site, not at the dock.
- Dispatch by drawing mark number
- Site delivery schedule
- Erection and installation crew
- Site measurement records
- Snag list and rework
- Client signoff at site
- Daily site report
Dispatch and invoicing
Delivery notes are matched to the jobs, drawings and quantities in the order.
- Packing list by assembly
- Delivery note
- Tax invoice under your tax rules
- Stage billing for large jobs
- Currency per customer
- Retention and release
- Partial shipments
- Export paperwork
Job costing
Material, machine time, labour and outside work are added up per job and compared with the quote.
- Material cost with offcut value
- Cutting and bending hours
- Welding and fitting hours
- Coating and outside processes
- Overheads allocated by rule
- Quoted against actual margin
- Cost by customer
- Jobs that exceeded the estimate
One connected workflow, end to end.
Every stage below can sit in one system, so nobody re-enters what the last stage already captured.
- Enquiry
- Quote
- Order and drawing release
- Bill of materials
- Sheet allocation
- Nesting and cutting
- Bending and forming
- Welding and assembly
- Finishing
- Inspection
- Dispatch
- Site installation
- Invoice
You do not have to replace everything at once.
Each phase is usable on its own, so the system earns its place before the next part is built.
- 1
Quotes, drawings and stock
The enquiry register, quotes, drawing revisions, bills of materials and sheet stock with its offcuts.
- 2
Cutting, bending and welding
Nests, bend programmes, job cards and entries from each work centre, so the floor and the office see the same status.
- 3
Finishing, quality and dispatch
Coating, inspection records, packing, delivery notes and invoices matched to what the order asked for.
- 4
Costing, sites and reports
Job costing, site installation records, customer portals and dashboards for owners and works managers.
How a build actually runs.
- 01
Follow a job through
We pick one real order and walk it from the quote to the dock with the people who handled it.
- 02
List the records
Nest files, bend sheets, job cards and delivery notes are collected, with the person who keeps each.
- 03
Decide what the system holds
Some shops want nest files stored, some only want the sheets used. We fix this before building.
- 04
Build stock and bill of materials first
Cutting and bending depend on them, so they come before the floor screens.
- 05
Pilot on one work centre
The laser or the press brake team uses it first, and their corrections shape the rest.
- 06
Load your data and train
Stock lists, part drawings and open orders are loaded, and each team learns its own screens.
- 07
Add to it over time
Site work, portals and machine connections follow once the core is in daily use.
What you bring, and when.
The build moves at the speed of the answers. These are the things we ask for, in the order we ask.
- 01
Drawings, cut lists and job sheets
Send customer drawings, bills of materials, cut lists, job sheets and quotations. Sheet stock registers help. Costing and tracking take shape from them.
- 02
Estimator, floor supervisor and quality inspector
They each answer for a stage and try the screens. Estimate and floor figures can differ. The works manager decides.
- 03
Process rates, scrap rules and inspection plans
Material rates, process rates, offcut treatment and inspection plans get confirmed as the build proceeds. Gauge and grade masters join them. A reviewer is assigned to every module.
- 04
Sheet stock and open jobs
Sheet and plate stock with offcuts, open jobs and customer balances move across at the switch. Note the file formats your cutting machines produce. The owner approves.
Systems we can put together for you.
- Quote and estimation tools for fabricated products
- Bill of materials and drawing revision systems
- Sheet and plate stock systems with offcut tracking
- Nest and cut job recording
- Press brake and bend programme libraries
- Die and press register for stamping
- Weld record and procedure tracking
- Job card and floor tracking software
- Coating and outside process tracking
- Inspection and non-conformance records
- Site delivery and installation tracking
- Stage billing and retention tools
- Job costing and margin reports
- Customer order status portals
- Multi-shop fabrication platforms
Questions owners ask before starting.
What is custom sheet metal fabrication software?
A system written for one fabricator’s sheets, machines, assemblies and finishing steps. A general ERP package treats a bend and a weld as generic labour, whereas a custom build records each one as it happens.
Can it work from DXF files and nest files?
It can store them against the job and the part. Whether it reads the file contents or only links to them is agreed once the nesting software is known.
Can offcuts be tracked as stock?
Yes. An offcut can be given dimensions and a grade, and returned to the rack as stock that the next quote can use.
Does it handle jobs with both shop work and site installation?
Yes. Dispatch is recorded by drawing mark number, and a site team can record erection progress and snags against the same job.
Can we record who welded each joint?
Yes, for jobs where it matters. The weld list comes from the drawing and each joint is signed off with the welder and the procedure.
Will it connect to our laser or press brake?
Whether a laser or press brake can send data depends on its make and control software, and we look at that early in the work. Quantities and times can be entered by hand where there is no link.
We cut parts for other fabricators. Is it only for finished products?
No. A cutting-only shop can use quotes, nests, sheet stock and delivery without welding or assembly records.
How is stage billing handled for large jobs?
Stages are set in the order and invoiced as each is complete. Retention is held and released under the terms of the contract.
Can our own team maintain it?
Yes. The code and the data model are handed over with documentation that another developer can follow.
Who owns the data and the source code?
You do. Ownership of both is put in writing before any work begins.
How we work with this trade.
Ready products for this work.
If one of these fits, it is cheaper and faster than building from scratch. We will say so.
Build a fabrication system that knows where every sheet went.
A fabricator buys metal by the sheet and sells it by the part. Margin is won or lost in the distance between those two figures, and few shops can see that distance clearly job by job.
Send one recent job with its drawing, nest and invoice. The written reply covers how the sheet, the offcut and the finished assembly would be tracked.
Tell us how your sheet metal and fabrication companies runs today.
We will tell you what can be digitised, what can be connected, what is worth automating, and what you should leave alone.
What happens after you share your requirements
- A senior engineer reads your answers. Nobody phones first.
- Within one business day you get a written note: what we understood, what we would start with, and the questions we still have.
- If it fits, a proposal follows with the order of work, what we need from you and what you receive at each step.
- No call is booked and nothing is paid until you have read the note. Your details stay with us.
Start with your requirements
Seven short steps that tell us what you need. A senior engineer reads them before anyone gets in touch.
Share your requirements