Machine shop software that quotes from your own history.
An RFQ arrives with a STEP file and a PDF drawing. The system pulls dimensions, material and tolerances, finds the three most similar parts you've made, and shows what they really cost. The quote becomes a routing, the routing drives the schedule, and every hour on every machine lands on the job.
Reply within one business day · Written scope and fixed price before any work starts
A proposed product shown with illustrative designs and demo data. We deliver it today as a custom build on our engines.
Status as of November 2026. How we label products
Quantities
25 / 100 / 250
Fields read from drawing
14
3 to confirm
Similar past parts
3
Price @ 100
$186.40 ea
32% margin
Most similar past jobs
| Part | Material | Quoted hrs | Actual hrs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFS-1120 rev C manifold | 6061-T6 | 1.85 / pc | 2.10 / pc | Ran 14% over |
| HX-404 valve body | 6061-T6 | 1.40 / pc | 1.36 / pc | On quote |
| AFS-0988 rev B manifold | 7075-T6 | 2.20 / pc | 2.05 / pc | Under quote |
Confirm from drawing
- Bore Ø 0.7500 +0.0005/-0.0000Sheet 2, zone C4
- Finish: Type II anodize, blackOutside process
- Note 7: DFARS specialty metalsCheck material source
Open jobs
58
On-time forecast
89%
At risk
6
Bottleneck
5-axis
Work center load
| Work center | Load | Next job | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haas UMC-750 (5-axis) | 118% | J-3310 Manifold block ×100 | Nov 24 | Overloaded |
| Okuma LB3000 lathe | 84% | J-3302 Shaft, 17-4 PH | Nov 21 | On track |
| Haas VF-4 mill | 72% | J-3315 Bracket, 6061 | Nov 20 | On track |
| Outside: heat treat | - | J-3298 Pins, 4140 | Nov 22 | Vendor 2 days late |
Quoted
$14,820
Actual
$15,910
Margin
18.6%
-5.6 pts vs quote
Scrap
3 pcs
Quoted vs. actual by operation
| Operation | Quoted | Actual | Variance | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Saw | 1.5 hr | 1.4 hr | -0.1 hr | On quote |
| 20 Mill op 1 | 18.0 hr | 22.6 hr | +4.6 hr | Setup ran long |
| 30 Mill op 2 | 14.0 hr | 13.2 hr | -0.8 hr | On quote |
| 40 Anodize (outside) | $1,140 | $1,140 | $0 | On quote |
| 50 Inspect + FAI | 4.0 hr | 5.5 hr | +1.5 hr | FAI added |
In short
Agenbord Make for Job Shops is a proposed ERP for CNC machine shops and job shops with roughly 5-100 people. It covers quoting with AI help reading drawings and finding similar past jobs, routings, finite scheduling, shop-floor time, job cost, and material and inspection traceability for aerospace and defense work. It is a concept with illustrative designs, delivered as a custom build reusing our production ERP engine's job-costing and inventory modules.
What slows cnc machine shops & job shops down today.
Quoting is the bottleneck - and a guess
The owner or one estimator quotes every RFQ by opening the drawing, eyeballing cycle times and remembering roughly what a similar part took last year. Quotes go out in days, not hours, and the ones that win are sometimes the ones that were underpriced.
The schedule lives on a whiteboard
Hot jobs jump the queue, the 5-axis is booked three weeks out, and nobody can answer a buyer's "can you pull this in?" without walking the floor. Late deliveries hurt supplier scorecards that decide next year's work.
Certs and inspection records are hunted down at shipping
The aerospace customer wants the mill cert with heat number, the first-article inspection, and a certificate of conformance in the box. If material lots aren't tied to the job when it's received, someone spends an afternoon searching a filing cabinet.
How the work flows through the system.
Each workflow runs on one shared record, so nobody re-types numbers between steps.
RFQ to quote in hours
Buyer → estimator → owner
- The RFQ email with drawings and models lands in the quote inbox.
- The AI extracts part number, revision, material, quantity breaks, critical tolerances, finish and notes from the drawing.
- It lists the most similar past parts with their quoted vs. actual hours and material cost.
- The estimator builds the routing (saw, mill, deburr, anodize, inspect) with cycle times and outside processing, starting from the closest match.
- Quantity-break pricing is calculated from shop rates and margin targets; the owner approves large quotes on mobile.
Won order to scheduled job
Sales → production manager → operators
- The purchase order converts the quote into a job with routing, material and due date.
- Material is reserved or purchased; outside processing POs are drafted for plating or heat treat.
- The finite scheduler places each operation on its work center, showing due-date risk.
- Operators see their queue on a shop-floor tablet and clock on and off each operation.
Ship with the paperwork
Receiving → quality → shipping
- Bar stock is received with heat number and mill cert attached and allocated to the job.
- In-process and final inspection results, including first-article records where required, attach to the job.
- Shipping prints the packing list and certificate of conformance and bundles the cert PDFs.
- Job cost closes with quoted vs. actual by operation, so the next quote starts from real numbers.
What's included in Agenbord Make for Job Shops.
Quote inbox & quoting
RFQs with drawings and models, quantity breaks, routings, outside processing and margin targets.
Similar-part search
Past parts ranked by similarity in material, size, features and tolerances, with their actual costs.
Routings & work centers
Operations, setup and run times, work centers and rates per part and revision.
Finite scheduling
Capacity by work center and shift, drag-to-reschedule, and due-date risk for every job.
Shop-floor time
Operators clock on and off operations at a tablet or kiosk; setup and run time captured separately.
Material & heat-lot traceability
Material received with heat numbers and mill certs, allocated to jobs and carried to the shipment.
Quality records
Inspection plans, first-article records, nonconformances and certificates of conformance per job.
Purchasing & outside processing
Material and outside service POs tied to jobs, with vendor due dates in the schedule.
Job cost
Quoted vs. actual by operation, material and outside service, rolled up by customer and part.
AI that does specific jobs and shows its work.
Every AI feature is tested on your own records before it's switched on, and a person approves anything that moves money or goes to a customer.
Drawing reader for quotes
Extracts part number, revision, material, overall dimensions, critical tolerances, threads, finishes and notes from PDF drawings to pre-fill the quote. Limits: it doesn't set prices or cycle times; the estimator checks every field. We measure how often it gets each field right on a set of your past drawings before you rely on it, and it can be switched off for controlled technical data.
Similar past jobs
Finds the parts you've made that most resemble the new one and shows their quoted vs. actual hours, scrap and margin, so the estimator starts from history instead of memory.
Who it's for and who it isn't.
A good fit if you are
- CNC milling and turning shops with 5-100 people doing high-mix, low-volume work
- Shops that quote dozens of RFQs a week and win a fraction of them
- Shops supplying aerospace, defense, medical or energy primes that ask for material certs and first-article records
- Owners who learn whether a job made money only when the accountant closes the month
Probably not the right fit if you are
- High-volume production plants running the same parts for years (a repetitive MRP fits better)
- One- or two-person shops that only need a quoting spreadsheet and QuickBooks
- Shops that want a packaged ERP live in weeks with no configuration
Designed around the rules you work under.
Plain-English notes, not legal advice. Software supports your compliance process; it doesn't replace your attorney, CPA or compliance lead.
ITAR: a scoping consideration
Under the ITAR, U.S. companies that manufacture defense articles generally must register with the State Department's DDTC even if they don't export. Drawings for those parts are export-controlled technical data, so a build for an ITAR shop is scoped separately: U.S.-person access controls, suitable hosting, and AI features limited to approved environments or switched off. eCFR - 22 CFR 122.1.
CMMC: a scoping consideration
DoD's CMMC requirements began appearing in contracts on November 10, 2025 (Phase 1), with Phase 2 starting November 10, 2026. If your ERP will store controlled unclassified information, it falls inside your CMMC assessment scope. We scope those builds with your CMMC advisor; the software alone doesn't meet a CMMC level. Squire Patton Boggs summary and eCFR - 32 CFR Part 170.
What exists today and what's being built.
Reused from our production engines
Capabilities of the engine this edition is built on.
- Estimating with bills of quantities
- Job costing by project and cost code
- Procurement and supplier ledgers
- Materials and inventory management
- Labor attendance and timesheets
- Mobile approvals and an AI copilot over company data
Built for your project
Scoped and delivered as a custom build.
- RFQ inbox with AI drawing reader and similar-part search
- Routings, work centers and finite scheduling
- Shop-floor clock on/off by operation
- Heat-lot traceability and certificate of conformance output
- Inspection and first-article records
- ITAR/CMMC-scoped hosting options and U.S. accounting sync
Connects to the systems you already run.
Systems we integrate with
Named platforms are examples we build against through their public APIs - not partnership claims.
How it compares - honestly.
Established products are often the right answer. Here's when each one is the better choice.
| Product | What it is | The better choice when |
|---|---|---|
| JobBOSS² | A long-established job shop ERP from ECI covering quoting, job tracking, scheduling, shop-floor data collection, purchasing and accounting. | You want a widely used job shop ERP with a large user base and a familiar, packaged way of working. |
| ProShop ERP | A web-based, paperless ERP and quality management system for machine shops, popular with aerospace and medical suppliers. | You want ERP and quality management deeply combined in one packaged system and are ready to adopt its paperless approach shop-wide. |
| Global Shop Solutions | A one-database ERP for manufacturers, including make-to-order job shops, with scheduling, shop floor, quality and accounting. | You want a broad manufacturing ERP with accounting built in and expect to grow into multi-plant operations. |
Detailed comparisons: JobBOSS² alternatives
What it costs, up front.
Make for Job Shops is a concept delivered as a fixed-scope custom build. Many shops start with quoting and job cost beside their current system. Typical ranges for shops with 5-100 people:
Quoting & job cost
From $35k
Quote inbox, AI drawing reader, similar-part search, jobs, shop-floor time and quoted vs. actual job cost, synced to accounting.
3–4 months
Shop ERP
$70k–$150k
Adds routings, finite scheduling, purchasing and outside processing, heat-lot traceability and quality records.
5–8 months, phased
Multi-plant or ITAR scope
$150k+
Several plants, machine data, CMMC- or ITAR-scoped hosting and access controls, and migration from a legacy ERP.
Phased
CNC machine shops & job shops: common questions.
What should machine shop software do?
Quote quickly and consistently, turn won quotes into jobs with routings, schedule work centers realistically, capture time at each operation, track material and inspection records, and show quoted vs. actual cost on every job.
Can AI really quote from drawings?
It can read drawings and pre-fill the quote - material, dimensions, tolerances, finishes and notes - and find similar past jobs. Pricing and cycle times stay with your estimator. We test it on your own drawings before anyone relies on it.
We do ITAR or defense work. Can we use this?
Possibly, but that build is scoped separately: ITAR technical data and CUI need U.S.-person access controls and suitable hosting, and AI features run only in approved environments or are turned off for controlled drawings. Bring your compliance advisor into scoping.
Does it replace our accounting system?
Usually not. Most shops keep QuickBooks, Sage or Business Central for the ledger and sync invoices, bills and job cost entries to it.
Can it pull data from our machines?
Machines that support MTConnect or have a supported controller interface can report cycle starts and run time. It's optional; most shops start with operators clocking on and off at a tablet.
Is this a product we can buy today?
No. It's a concept delivered as a custom build reusing our engine's job-costing, procurement and inventory modules. JobBOSS², ProShop and Global Shop Solutions are established packaged choices.
Sources
- eCFR - 22 CFR 122.1 Registration requirements (ITAR)
- eCFR - 32 CFR Part 170, CMMC Program
- Squire Patton Boggs - The CMMC DFARS final rule goes live
- Williams Mullen - Is my company required to register under ITAR?
Regulatory notes are plain-English summaries, not legal advice.
Concept
Want Agenbord Make for Job Shops built for your business?
Send us your workflow and the systems you use. We'll reply within one business day, then a free 30-minute call, then a written scope with a fixed price - including an honest view on whether an off-the-shelf product would serve you better.
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