Metal fabrication is a labour-heavy, multi-stage business — cut, form, weld, finish — run on margins that don't forgive a blown quote. The right software gives a fab shop what it needs most: accurate labour data, live job costs, and a clear view of the floor.
Why fabrication is hard to run on spreadsheets
A fab shop runs many jobs through shared stations — the guillotine, the press brake, welding bays, finishing. Track that on a whiteboard and you can't see where work is queuing or which jobs are eating hours. And because so much of the cost is labour, a small time-tracking error becomes a big costing error.
What fabrication software should do
- 1Capture labour by stage — cutting, forming, welding, finishing tracked separately, so you see where jobs blow out.
- 2Cost jobs live — labour + material + bought-in work (powder coat, galvanising) against the quote.
- 3Schedule shared stations — see what's queued at the brake or the welders before you commit a deadline.
- 4Feed accounting — verified data into Xero or MYOB.
Labour is the number that matters
In fabrication, labour is usually the biggest and most variable cost. Getting it accurate — captured on the floor, by stage — is what turns guessed quotes into priced-for-margin quotes. It's also what tells you which jobs and which customers are actually worth it.
20–40%
Reduction in job times Empower guarantees within the first year
The bottom line
Fab shops don't need a generic trades app or a heavyweight ERP — they need software built for a jobbing manufacturing floor. Empower is used by sheet metal and fabrication shops across NZ and Australia. See how it works, or run your numbers.
