Stop Losing High-Quality Leads in the Shop Floor Shuffle Capture and Convert Every Prospect Before They Walk Away
Imagine reclaiming 15+ hours per week your team wastes chasing scattered leads from trade shows, RFQs, and cold calls. Our custom automation turns that chaos into a streamlined pipeline, delivering 30% faster conversions and real ROI from day one.
Join 250+ businesses with streamlined operations and doubled lead conversion rates
The "Lead Leakage" Problem
RFQ emails for custom steel beams buried in overflowing inboxes while welders and CNC machinists scramble for detailed fabrication specs
Trade show leads for aluminum railings scribbled on napkins, forgotten amid post-event rushes to meet deadlines on bridge fabrication projects
Cold call notes on potential rebar supplier deals lost in field reps' trucks, delaying follow-ups on large-scale concrete formwork orders
Manual data entry errors in tolerances for sheet metal parts turning promising HVAC duct supplier inquiries into rejected bids for commercial builds
Disjointed tracking between shop floor demands for welding consumables and sales leads on structural steel, causing overcommitted schedules for high-volume pipe spooling
Delayed responses to custom precast concrete panel inquiries, letting competitors snag jobs from architectural firms on mid-rise building projects
Our Custom AI-Powered Lead Management Built for Your Metal Fab Operation
With over a decade in construction and manufacturing integrations, we've helped shops like yours eliminate lead chaos and scale without the growing pains.
Why Choose Us
Let's be honest, managing leads in metal fabrication isn't just about emails—it's about syncing trade show buzz with your CNC schedules and RFQ deadlines. We build a tailored AI system that captures every lead from phone calls, emails, or even scanned business cards at industry expos. You're probably thinking, 'We've tried CRMs before, but they don't fit our workflow.' That's why we don't slap on templates. We engineer a unified pipeline that qualifies leads based on project specs, urgency, and material needs, then routes them straight to your estimators or sales team. No more manual juggling. It's like upgrading from a rusty conveyor belt to a precision laser cutter—efficient, error-free, and custom to your shop's rhythm.
What Makes Us Different:
Unlock Time Savings That Hit Your Bottom Line
Reclaim 15-20 Hours Weekly on Manual Lead Chasing
Reclaim 15-20 Hours Weekly on Manual Lead Chasing for Custom Fabrication: Your sales team spends too much time digging through emails and voicemails for RFQ details on structural weldments. Our automation captures, tags, and qualifies leads instantly—auto-extracting specs like ASTM standards and material grades—freeing up estimators to focus on bids rather than busywork. Result? Faster turnarounds on custom metalwork proposals for load-bearing components, leading to 25% more closed deals without adding headcount, often within the first project cycle.
Achieve 3x ROI in Under 6 Months Through Efficiency Gains
Achieve 3x ROI in Under 6 Months Through Efficiency Gains in Fab Operations: Here's the thing: scattered leads mean missed opportunities in a competitive market for precast elements. We calculate ROI based on your specific metrics—like converting 10% more trade show leads into repeat orders for galvanized steel framing, with payback tracked via reduced scrap rates from delayed specs. Shops see full recovery in 4-5 months, not years, by cutting no-shows on site deliveries and accelerating from inquiry to invoice for modular assemblies.
Boost Productivity by Streamlining Your Entire Lead-to-Production Flow
Boost Productivity by Streamlining Your Entire Lead-to-Production Flow for Shop Efficiency: Picture this: a lead for a custom bracket project in stainless steel lands, gets auto-scored for feasibility with your MIG welding capabilities and current billet inventory, and pings your foreman only if it fits the schedule for upcoming scaffold fittings. No more productivity killers like double-entry of CAD drawings or overlooked follow-ups on bolt grades. Teams report 40% higher output on assembly lines, turning more leads into shop-loaded jobs without overtime chaos during peak construction seasons.
What Clients Say
"Before AIQ Labs, our leads from the annual FABTECH expo were a total mess—notes on custom I-beam orders half forgotten by the time we fired up the plasma cutters back at the shop. Now, everything's captured via mobile scans and prioritized by urgency for structural steel runs. We landed three big aluminum extrusion contracts for warehouse racking in the first quarter alone, saving us about 12 hours a week on chasing down alloy specs."
Mike Harlan
Operations Manager at Precision Metalworks Inc., a mid-sized structural steel fabricator in Ohio
"I'd get RFQs for custom piping supports emailed to the wrong inbox, and we'd lose bids to quicker shops on refinery projects. Their custom system routes everything right to our estimators with material specs like pipe schedules and flange ratings pre-filled from the inquiry. It's cut our response time in half—from days to hours—and we're seeing a solid 20% uptick in won jobs for custom steel fabrication in the energy sector."
Sarah Kline
Sales Director at ForgeTech Fabrications, specializing in industrial piping and pressure vessel components
"Manual lead tracking in spreadsheets was killing our small team's bandwidth amid constant production runs of rebar cages for foundation work. After implementation in just two weeks, leads from cold calls on concrete reinforcement integrate directly into our ERP—no more errors in bend radii or bar sizes. We've boosted conversions by 35% on site-specific orders and reclaimed Fridays for actual quoting on tilt-up panels instead of data cleanup."
Tom Rivera
Owner of Apex Metal Crafters, a boutique rebar and formwork supplier serving commercial construction in Texas
Simple 3-Step Process
Discovery and Mapping Your Workflow
We dive into your daily grind— from handling trade show cards to processing urgent RFQ emails. No assumptions; we map exactly how leads flow in your fab shop to build something that fits like a custom die.
Design and Build the Custom AI Pipeline
Using advanced frameworks, we craft your lead capture system with AI scoring tailored to metal fab challenges, like prioritizing high-volume sheet metal jobs. It's production-ready from the start, integrated with your tools.
Deploy, Train, and Optimize for Peak Performance
We roll it out seamlessly, train your team on the dashboard, and monitor for tweaks—like fine-tuning for seasonal construction peaks. You'll see efficiency gains within weeks, with ongoing support to keep it sharp.
Why We're Different
What's Included
Common Questions
How does this automation handle the unique chaos of trade show leads in metal fabrication?
Trade shows like FABTECH generate a flood of leads—business cards, quick chats, demo requests—that often get lost in the post-event shuffle back to the shop. Our system uses AI to scan and digitize cards instantly, qualify based on keywords like 'custom welding' or 'sheet metal stamping,' and route them to your CRM with priority tags. We tailor it to your workflow, so a lead for heavy plate fabrication skips straight to your senior estimator. Shops we've worked with report capturing 90% more of these leads, turning them into orders within weeks instead of letting them cool off. It's built to integrate with your existing tools, ensuring no double-entry amid your busy production runs.
What's the typical ROI timeline for implementing lead management in a fab shop?
You're probably thinking ROI sounds great, but when does it hit? For metal fab companies, we see payback in 3-6 months. Take a mid-sized shop handling 50 leads weekly: automation cuts manual processing from 10 hours to 1, freeing your team for bidding. If that boosts conversions by 20%, that's thousands in new revenue from jobs like HVAC components. We base projections on your numbers—lead volume, average job value ($5K-$50K typically)—and track metrics post-launch. One client hit 4x ROI in four months by prioritizing leads that matched their CNC capabilities, reducing wasted estimator time on unqualified RFQs.
Can this system integrate with our existing ERP like Epicor or shop management software?
Absolutely, and that's where we shine over generic tools. In metal fabrication, your ERP isn't just accounting—it's tied to inventory for steel coils or aluminum extrusions. We build deep, two-way API integrations that pull lead details (like required tolerances or quantities) directly into your system, auto-generating work orders for qualified prospects. No brittle Zapier-style connections that fail during peak seasons. We've done this for shops using JobBOSS or Global Shop Solutions, ensuring leads sync with real-time capacity data to avoid overcommitting your welders. The result? Smoother handoffs from sales to production, cutting errors by 40% and speeding up month-end reporting.
How do you ensure the AI understands our specific metal fab terminology and processes?
We don't assume— we train it on your world. During discovery, we ingest your glossaries, past RFQs, and even sample blueprints to teach the AI terms like 'TIG welding,' 'laser cutting tolerances,' or 'powder coating specs.' It's custom-built, so it scores leads not just on generic fit but on your strengths, like expertise in aerospace-grade alloys. Over time, it learns from your conversions, refining to flag high-value leads for architectural metalwork. Clients tell us this specificity alone saves hours weekly, as irrelevant leads (say, plastic molding inquiries) get auto-filtered, letting your team focus on what fills the shop floor.
What if our lead volume fluctuates with construction cycles—does the system scale?
Construction slowdowns or booms are par for the course in fab, so we design for it. Our architecture handles spikes—like 200 leads from a big industry push—without lagging, using scalable cloud frameworks that adjust on the fly. During quiet periods, it optimizes by nurturing dormant leads with automated check-ins on delayed projects. We've scaled systems for shops going from 20 to 150 leads monthly, maintaining 99% uptime even during rush jobs. Plus, it's cost-efficient: no per-lead fees, just a one-time build that pays off as your pipeline grows, ensuring you're ready for the next infrastructure bill or housing surge.
How secure is this for handling sensitive RFQ data in competitive bidding?
Security is non-negotiable in metal fab, where RFQs often include proprietary designs for things like bridge components. We use enterprise-grade encryption, role-based access (e.g., estimators see bids, but not full client lists), and compliance with standards like GDPR or ISO for manufacturing. Data stays in your owned system, not scattered across vendor clouds. Audits are built-in, logging every access to prevent leaks that could cost you a major contract. One shop we partnered with handled a $2M government bid securely, crediting our setup for zero incidents amid tight deadlines—peace of mind that lets you bid aggressively without worry.
Ready to Get Started?
Book your free consultation and discover how we can transform your business with AI.