Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for laser cutting shops.
A checklist built from how laser cutting shops work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Quotation by cut length and pierces
- Sheet and plate stock
- Nest and machine queue
- Machine log
- Part sorting and tagging
- Remnant and offcut stock
- Delivery notes and invoicing
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For estimators
- For programmers and planners
- For laser operators
- For unloading and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Cutting hours by laser, material and customer
- Quoted against actual cut time per order
- Sheet used, scrapped and returned as remnant
- Gas, nozzle and lens use per laser
- Customer-owned plate on hand, by owner
- Orders delayed by a rush job
- Deliveries and invoices by customer
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Barcode scanner
- Accounting export
- Spreadsheet import
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- How does it price a part?
- Can one nest carry parts for several customers?
- What happens when customers send their own sheet?
- Can we move a rush job to the front?
- Does it record gas and nozzles?
- Does it read the laser controller?
- Can it manage secondary work such as deburring?
- Can sheet stock and open orders be loaded?
- What does it cost and how can we see it?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Quotes ignore pierce count and nesting yield
- Customer-supplied sheet is not separated
- Consumables disappear with no record
- Parts from different orders are mixed at unloading
- Rush jobs reshuffle the queue unseen
Prefer to talk it through? See the laser cutting shops page.