Stop Guessing on Production Runs Get Unified Dashboards That Track Every Weld and Cut in Real Time
Imagine slashing material waste by 25% and boosting on-time deliveries to 95% with insights pulled straight from your shop floor systems—no more chasing paper logs or disjointed spreadsheets.
Join 150+ businesses with crystal-clear visibility into operations
The "Fragmented Data" Problem
Scattered shop floor data from CNC mills, lathes, and manual weld logs
Delayed visibility into steel and aluminum inventory during high-volume structural beam runs
Siloed reports between fabrication teams and project managers
Inaccurate yield tracking on stainless steel plates leading to over-ordering raw metals
Missed deadlines from poor oversight of MIG welding and robotic assembly stages
Cost overruns hidden in disconnected weld quality control and ERP data for structural components
Our Custom Dashboards: Built from Your Blueprints
We've helped over 50 fabrication shops integrate their systems into one reliable control center, drawing from years of field-tested AI integrations in high-stakes manufacturing environments.
Why Choose Us
Let's be honest, running a metal fab shop means juggling CAD files, machine outputs, and supplier feeds—it's like building a skyscraper with mismatched blueprints. At AIQ Labs, we craft unified dashboards tailored to your exact workflow, pulling data from your ERP, IoT sensors on the shop floor, and even handheld scanners. No off-the-shelf nonsense. We start by mapping your production cycles, then build a custom interface that delivers real-time visibility. You're probably thinking, 'How does this fit my setup?' We make it seamless, with deep API connections that evolve as your operations scale. The result? A single pane of glass where you see throughput rates, defect trends, and inventory levels at a glance, empowering data-driven calls that keep your crews productive and profits intact.
What Makes Us Different:
Why This Changes Everything for Your Shop:
Crystal-Clear Visibility Across the Floor
Crystal-Clear Visibility Across the Floor: No more flying blind on job progress. Our dashboards consolidate data from plasma cutters to finishing lines, letting you monitor every stage in real-time. Shops using this see a 30% drop in downtime within the first quarter, as foremen catch jams early—like spotting a misaligned laser cut before it wastes a full 4x8 sheet of 6061 aluminum, preventing costly rework on structural frames.
Smarter Decisions on Material and Labor
Smarter Decisions on Material and Labor: Track yields from sheet metal forming and labor hours in one view, forecasting needs based on upcoming contracts for HVAC ductwork. This isn't guesswork; it's like having a digital foreman who predicts over-runs on 2-inch steel tubing. Expect 15-20% savings on raw materials within six months, with teams reallocating hours from chasing data to actual fabrication tasks like press braking.
Faster Responses to Client Demands
Faster Responses to Client Demands: When a rush order for custom steel brackets comes in, pull up instant insights on capacity from your CNC routers and stock levels of angle iron. This agility turns potential delays into on-time wins, boosting client satisfaction and repeat business—many of our partners report hitting 98% delivery targets after implementation, especially during peak construction seasons.
What Clients Say
"Before AIQ's dashboard, we were buried in Excel sheets from the TIG welders and separate logs from the CNC plasma table. Now, everything's in one spot—last quarter, we cut scrap on galvanized steel duct jobs by 18% and finished a big commercial HVAC run two days early. It's like finally getting the right tools for the fabrication shop."
Mike Harlan
Lead Welder Supervisor, Precision Metalworks Inc.
"Our old system meant constant back-and-forth between sales quotes and floor reality on press brake setups. The custom dashboard they built tracks our hydraulic bending machine outputs live, helping us quote more accurately for structural beams. We saved $12K on over-ordered Grade 5 titanium sheet last year alone—real ROI, no fluff."
Sarah Kline
Production Operations Manager, ForgeFab Solutions
"Integration was smooth; they hooked it right into our Epicor ERP without a hitch, pulling in data from our fiber laser cutters. During peak summer season, visibility into inventory prevented a stockout on 16-gauge copper sheets that could've delayed three commercial roofing projects. Team loves the mobile view for on-the-go checks during shift handoffs—game-changer for our 40-person fabrication crew."
Tom Reyes
Manufacturing Plant Director, Alloy Dynamics LLC
Simple 3-Step Process
Discovery and Mapping
We dive into your shop's workflow—interviewing foremen, reviewing machine data flows, and pinpointing pain points like tracking weld defects. This builds the foundation for a dashboard that mirrors your daily grind.
Custom Build and Integration
Our engineers code the dashboard from scratch, linking your CNC software, inventory trackers, and quality logs into a unified view. We test rigorously on real fab scenarios to ensure it handles high-volume data without a stutter.
Deployment and Optimization
Roll it out with training for your team, then monitor and tweak based on live usage—like adjusting alerts for laser cutting efficiency. You own it fully, scaling as your fab operations grow.
Why We're Different
What's Included
Common Questions
How do your dashboards integrate with our existing metal fab software like Mastercam or ERP systems?
We start by auditing your current setup—whether it's Mastercam for CAD/CAM, an ERP like Epicor, or even IoT sensors on your press brakes. Our team builds custom API connections that pull data securely and in real time, without disrupting your operations. For instance, we can sync machine run times directly into the dashboard, so you see live updates on a bending job's progress. It's all coded to your specs, tested on-site to handle the high data loads from a busy fab shop. No plug-and-play limitations; we make it fit like a custom jig. Most integrations take 4-6 weeks, and we provide full training to ensure your crew uses it from day one.
What makes these dashboards specific to metal fabrication challenges?
Metal fab isn't like other manufacturing—it's all about precision cuts, variable material costs, and tight tolerances. Our dashboards focus on that: tracking yield losses from plasma cutting errors, monitoring weld cycle times to spot fatigue, and forecasting scrap based on sheet metal nesting efficiency. We avoid generic templates by customizing for your processes, like integrating with laser scanners for quality checks. Here's the thing: we've worked with shops facing volatile steel prices, so we build in cost-per-part calculators that update with market feeds. The end result is actionable insights that directly tackle your daily headaches, like reducing over-runs on custom brackets or optimizing inventory for seasonal HVAC runs.
How much does a custom dashboard cost for a mid-sized fab shop?
Costs vary based on your shop's complexity—think number of machines, data sources, and custom features. For a typical 20-50 employee fab operation with 5-10 integrated systems, expect $25K-$50K for the full build, including discovery, coding, and deployment. This is a one-time investment for a owned system, ditching ongoing subscription fees that could run $1K+ monthly elsewhere. ROI hits fast: partners often recoup in 3-6 months through waste reductions and faster bidding. We break it down in your free consultation, tailoring to your budget while maximizing impact on metrics like on-time delivery rates.
Can the dashboard work on mobile devices for shop floor use?
Absolutely—our dashboards are responsive by design, optimized for tablets and phones right in the thick of fabrication. Foremen can check inventory levels while at the shear, or review weld specs without heading to a desk. We use secure, progressive web app tech that works offline too, syncing when you're back online—perfect for spots with spotty WiFi near grinding stations. In one project, a client cut response times to quality alerts by 40% because their leads could pull up defect photos on-site. It's built tough for the fab environment, with large touch-friendly interfaces that stand up to greasy fingers.
What kind of support do you offer after the dashboard is built?
We don't just hand it over and vanish. Post-launch, you get 3 months of included support for tweaks and training, plus optional ongoing maintenance at a flat rate—about $500/month for most shops. Our team monitors performance remotely, optimizing for things like peak-hour data spikes from multiple CNC runs. If you add new equipment, like a waterjet cutter, we update integrations seamlessly. You're probably thinking about long-term reliability; we've got SLAs ensuring 99% uptime, and access to our engineers for quick fixes. Many clients stick with us because it evolves with their business, keeping that competitive edge in bidding wars.
How secure is the data in these dashboards, especially for proprietary fab designs?
Security is non-negotiable in metal fab, where blueprints and client specs are gold. We use enterprise-grade encryption for all data in transit and at rest, compliant with standards like ISO 27001. Access is role-based—welders see only job queues, not full designs. We host on secure AWS infrastructure with regular audits, and build in features like audit logs to track who views what. For sensitive projects, like aerospace components, we add multi-factor auth and IP whitelisting. In practice, this means your custom die designs stay locked down, even if a tablet goes missing on the floor. We've never had a breach in our deployments, giving shops peace of mind amid rising cyber threats.
Ready to Get Started?
Book your free consultation and discover how we can transform your business with AI.