Sheet metal shops move fast. The schedule has to keep up.
Laser cuts a nest of parts in 20 minutes. Those parts go to the punch for holes and forms. Then to the brake for bends. Then to welding. Then grinding, hardware insertion, paint, and assembly.
The speed of the laser creates a scheduling problem. The laser can feed parts to the brake faster than the brake can process them. Work piles up at the bottleneck. If your schedule doesn’t account for that flow, the laser is always ahead and the brake is always behind.
Machestra shows every machine on one screen. You see the bottlenecks before they happen.
What sheet metal shops deal with
Fast upstream, slow downstream. Lasers and punches are fast. Brakes, welding, and finishing are slower. The schedule has to balance throughput across machines that run at different speeds.
Nesting complicates scheduling. You might nest parts from three different jobs on one sheet. The laser cuts them all at once, but then the parts diverge to different downstream operations. Your schedule needs to handle jobs that share a machine for one step and then split apart.
Material by gauge and type. 16-gauge cold rolled, 14-gauge stainless, 20-gauge galvanized. Each job needs specific material. You need to know what’s on the rack before scheduling a cut.
High job count. Sheet metal shops often run many small jobs alongside a few large ones. 20 to 30 active jobs is common. Each one at a different stage.
Hardware and secondary ops. PEM inserts, spot welding, powder coating, assembly. These secondary operations use different stations and different people. They’re part of the schedule too.
How Machestra works for sheet metal
Every station on the board. Laser, punch, brake, welder, hardware insertion, paint, assembly. All visible on the scheduling board.
Per-operation tracking. Laser cut, punch, form on brake, weld, insert hardware, powder coat, assemble. Each step tracked individually with its own machine, operator, and time slot.
Material tracking. Track sheet stock by type, gauge, size, and quantity. Know what’s on the rack before you schedule the cut. Get alerts when you’re running low.
Conflict detection. Two jobs need the brake at the same time? Machestra shows you the conflict before it backs up your floor.
Mobile access. The brake operator checks what’s coming next from their phone. The laser operator sees the queue. No walking to the office.
If you work specifically in custom steel fabrication and need EN 1090-2 compliance, Eziil covers that niche. For general sheet metal scheduling without compliance overhead, Machestra is simpler and cheaper. And compared to MRPeasy at $49/user/month, you get your whole team on the schedule without per-user fees.
Pricing
No per-user fees. Laser operators, brake operators, welders, office staff, shop foreman. One price.
- Free: 3 machines, 5 users.
- Starter ($12/mo):* 10 machines, 50 users.
- Growth ($39/mo):* 100 machines, 100 users.
Getting started
- Sign up free
- Import your machines and jobs
- Start scheduling
Under 10 minutes. No consultants needed.
*All Machestra prices shown in USD. Actual price may vary based on your location.