Delivery dates you can hit
You promise dates the workshop can meet, because you can see the load.
Machine loading · for Fabrication & workshops
See which machine is the bottleneck this week
Each works order books hours on the laser, brake, CNC and welding bays. You see what each machine has on per day and which one is holding everything up.
Per machinehours booked against capacity per day
Servicingmaintenance flagged ahead of time
From £600added to your build, + VAT
This is a working example. Click, drag and try it.
2 ways it can work, or tell us yours
Pick the version closest to how you work. Under each one, tell us what you would change. It all goes into your system, and we build it the way you describe.
Machine loading
Hours booked per machine per day sit on one grid. The bottleneck shows before the week starts, while you can still move work.
Workshops where one machine holds everything up
Maintenance due
Services and inspections show up ahead of time on each machine. You book them in as planned downtime.
Shops that find out about servicing when it breaks
What it does day to day
When you price a job, the estimate books machine time: minutes on the laser, bends on the brake, hours in the welding bay. Once the customer confirms, those hours go onto a loading grid by machine and day, so you can see when welding is over capacity and the laser has gaps.
Each machine also carries its service intervals, inspection dates and breakdown history. Services show on the grid as booked time, so you plan the week around them instead of finding out on a Friday afternoon.
- Loading gridHours booked per machine per day, against what it can do.
- Bottleneck shownThe machine holding up the most work is highlighted.
- Drag to rescheduleMove a job to another day or machine and see the effect.
- Times from the estimateMachine minutes on the quote carry onto the grid.
- Maintenance dueServices and inspections flagged before they are due.
- Breakdown logDowntime recorded per machine, so you know which one keeps failing.
Spreadsheets, off-the-shelf or your own
How Machine loading goes on each of the three ways businesses usually run it.
| What | Spreadsheets and paper | Off-the-shelf software | Your own system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning machine time | Gut feel and a whiteboard | A calendar with no idea of capacity | Hours against capacity, per machine |
| Spotting the bottleneck | When jobs start going out late | Not shown | Highlighted before the week starts |
| Servicing | When it breaks | A reminder in someone's calendar | Booked on the grid like a job |
| Promising dates | Hopeful | Based on nothing in particular | Based on what the machines have on |
What changes for you
More out of each machine
Gaps on the laser show up, so you can fill them with work.
Less overtime panic
The team see a heavy week coming and plan for it.
Customers trust your dates
Jobs go out when you said they would, and customers come back.
Works with the rest of your system
Information goes from Machine loading to the sections that need it, so nobody types it in twice. Add them now or later.
Connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Stripe, GoCardless, Microsoft 365, Google and most modern software.
Questions about Machine loading
Anything else, call us on 01903 368559.
Most small shops book time from the estimate. If your laser or CNC software can export job times, we can bring those in.
Yes. Welding bays, assembly benches and the paint shop can be loaded the same way as machines.
They sit on each machine record with their due dates and warnings.
Want Machine loading built your way?
Add it to your system, tell us what to change, and we will send you a working version free.