Production scheduling for sheet metal & steel fabrication
Metal fabrication production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns your orders, routings, machines, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It plans every job from laser cutting and bending through welding, painting and assembly, makes sure all parts are ready before a weldment starts, and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a rush order arrives or a machine stops. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Laser to paint in one plan
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
98%
delivery reliability, up from around 50%, KJH-Comp
2 → 1
supervisors needed for scheduling, KJH-Comp
99.2%
delivery reliability this year, Piristeel
4 h/day
planning time saved vs. the old process, Piristeel
Results reported by SkyPlanner customers KJH-Comp and Piristeel. Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why metal fabrication is hard to schedule
Many routings, shared machines, one welding bay
A fabrication shop runs hundreds of different parts through the same laser, press brakes, welding cells and paint line, and every order follows its own route.
Every order has its own routing
One part goes laser, bend, weld, paint. The next goes punch, deburr, bend, assembly. The same machines serve all of them, in a different order every day.
Parts must meet before welding
A weldment cannot start until every cut and bent part, and every purchased component, is there. One missing bracket stops the whole assembly.
Welding and painting set the pace
Cutting is fast. Welding, powder coating and assembly are where queues build up, and where a late job turns into a late delivery.
Setups follow material and tooling
Sheet grade and thickness on the laser, tooling on the press brake and colour on the paint line all decide how much time goes to setup.
Rush orders and customer changes
Customer-specific products, revised drawings and urgent orders arrive every week, and the plan has to absorb them without breaking other promises.
Department loads hide the real due date
A weekly hours total for welding says nothing about which frame ships Thursday. Spreadsheets and ERP load to infinite capacity, so the overload only shows up on the shop floor.
SkyPlanner schedules the shop the way parts actually move. Every laser, press brake, welding cell and paint line is planned to real capacity, each routing is followed step by step, and a breakdown or rush job is absorbed in seconds.
Sub-assemblies, routings and bottlenecks
Every part ready before the weld starts
A welding cell waiting for one missing part is lost capacity at the most expensive point of the shop. SkyPlanner schedules the parts, the sub-assemblies and the weld as one connected structure.
Sub-products merge into the product
Model a weldment as a multi-level bill of materials: cut and bent parts become sub-assemblies, and sub-assemblies merge into the welded frame. Each routing step is scheduled to finite capacity on its own workstation.
Materials and purchased parts checked
With material-based scheduling on, a job starts only when its sheet, profiles and purchased components will be there. Shortages show up in planning, not at the welding cell.
Bottlenecks visible before they bite
SkyPlanner shows where welding, bending or painting capacity is running short, so the planner can move work, add a shift or tell sales in time.
How SkyPlanner schedules a fabrication shop
From sheet to shipped frame, one schedule
SkyPlanner schedules to the capacity you really have, with the materials you really have, and shows the same plan at every machine.
Finite capacity across machines, shifts and people
Each laser, press brake, welding cell and paint line has its own shift calendar, and planned maintenance and breakdowns can be entered as exceptions. Personnel scheduling assigns people to shifts and workstations, so the plan never puts a job on a machine that has nobody to run it.
- Jobs assigned to the right machine automatically
- Several plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Batching by material, thickness and tooling
Give products properties such as material grade, sheet thickness, press brake tooling or paint colour, and define a changeover matrix for each workstation. SkyPlanner groups similar jobs back to back, so the laser runs the same sheet grade and thickness together, bending shares tooling setups and the paint line changes colour less often, while due dates are still met.
- Changeover times defined per workstation, in each direction
- Due dates for individual process steps, so parts reach welding when welding needs them
Cutting, bending and welding work from one plan
Operators see their own work queue in a simple worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app. They start, pause and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap as they go, so the schedule always reflects what has actually happened at each machine.
Rush jobs, late steel, revised drawings
Take the rush order and still ship the rest
When an urgent order is added, a machine goes down or a steel delivery is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock jobs that must not move, raise priorities or fast-track an urgent order.
- Add a sales prospect as a simulated order and see the earliest realistic delivery date, without disturbing confirmed orders.
- See what accepting a rush order does to every weldment already promised, before you say yes.
- Jobs are timed to their due dates, so a job due in two weeks no longer takes the place of one that ships tomorrow.
SkyPlanner handles the finite capacity scheduling and which machine each job goes to. It runs completely automatically.
Hannu Lahtinen, Managing Director, KJH-Comp Oy
Sheet-metal contract manufacturer, from laser cutting to welding and assembly · KJH-Comp’s SkyPlanner APS review
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Your ERP holds the orders and BOMs. SkyPlanner schedules every cut, bend and weld.
SkyPlanner connects to all ERP and MES systems through its open REST API, including in-house systems. Orders, products and routings flow in, planned times and material need dates flow back. It also runs standalone, so you can start scheduling before an integration is in place.
From your ERP
ERP · MES · CSV · Manual
- Sales orders & demand
- Products, BOMs & routings
- Sheet, profiles & stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Machines
- Shifts
- Routings
- Sub-assemblies
- Materials
- Priorities
- Schedule
Back to your ERP
ERP · Reports · Management
- Planned start & end times
- Material need dates
- Progress & quantities
- Delivery dates
- SAP S/4HANA
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Oracle NetSuite
- Infor
- Epicor
- IFS Cloud
- Sage X3
- Odoo
- JobBOSS²
- Lantek Integra
Where SkyPlanner fits
Used by metal fabricators of every size
From a single job shop to fabrication groups with several plants. SkyPlanner fits wherever cut and bent parts compete for the same machines and meet again at welding.
Metal fabrication segments
- Sheet metal contract manufacturing
- Welded steel structures and frames
- Enclosures, cabinets and housings
- Roofing, facade and building products
- Machine frames and industrial equipment parts
- Racking, shelving and storage systems
- Trailer, vehicle and agricultural machinery parts
- Powder coating and surface finishing
Why fabricators pick SkyPlanner
Why metal fabrication shops choose SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for metal fabrication manufacturers that want every job from laser cutting to welding, painting and assembly on one finite-capacity schedule, with welded assemblies started only when all their parts are ready. It runs on its own from day one and connects to any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
Built for welded assemblies
Multi-level BOMs and sub-products tie cut and bent parts to the weldment, and material-based scheduling starts the weld only when every part and purchased component will be there.
Rush orders absorbed in seconds
The Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the whole finite-capacity schedule in seconds when a rush job arrives, a machine stops or steel is late.
Ship dates sales can stand behind
Schedule a prospect as a simulated order and get a realistic delivery date from real capacity, without moving a single confirmed job.
Published price, free 30-day trial
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation. The trial covers up to 20 workstations, with no credit card.
Schedule first, integrate when ready
Build your first schedule with demo data or CSV import before any integration. The open REST API then connects to any ERP or MES, including in-house systems.
One plan for every plant and operator
Several plants scheduled together with transfer times between sites, and a 29-language interface so every shop and operator works in their own language.
Security and data
SkyPlanner runs in the cloud on AWS. If your data needs to stay in a specific country, a dedicated server there is available by agreement. Data is backed up daily and backups are kept for 30 days. Users can sign in with Google or Microsoft accounts and two-factor authentication. A data processing agreement is available, and customer data is never used to train AI models.
Pricing
From 199 € / month
5 workstations included. Each additional workstation is 20 € per month. There is a free trial, and guided onboarding packages are available if you want help setting up machines, routings and changeover matrices.
Questions metal fabricators ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for metal fabrication?
Metal fabrication needs scheduling that follows a different routing for every order, makes sure all cut and bent parts are ready before welding starts, and replans at once when a rush job arrives. SkyPlanner APS does all three: it schedules laser, bending, welding and painting to finite capacity, models weldments as multi-level BOMs and rebuilds the plan in seconds. Pricing is published from 199 € / month, there is a 30-day free trial, and it integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
Is SkyPlanner a finite capacity scheduler for sheet metal and steel fabrication shops?
Yes. SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that loads every laser, punch, press brake, welding cell and paint line only to the hours its own shift calendar allows, instead of the infinite capacity loads an ERP produces. The Arcturus AI engine places each routing step on the right workstation and sequences jobs so welding and painting queues stay under control while due dates hold.
Can SkyPlanner schedule welded assemblies made of many parts?
Yes. Multi-level bills of materials and sub-products let you model cut and bent parts, sub-assemblies and the final weldment. SkyPlanner schedules every routing step to finite capacity and, with material-based scheduling on, starts a job only when its parts and materials will be there.
How does SkyPlanner exchange fabrication orders, BOMs and routings with SAP or Epicor?
Sales orders, products, multi-level BOMs, routings, sheet and profile stock and customer due dates flow in from SAP, Epicor or any other ERP or MES through the open REST API, in-house systems included. Planned start and end times, material need dates, reported progress and quantities and delivery dates flow back, so purchasing sees exactly when steel is needed at the laser. Skycode builds the integration for you, or your own developers use the public API documentation.
What stays in the ERP when a fabrication shop schedules with SkyPlanner?
Orders, BOMs, inventory, purchasing and costing stay in your ERP, which remains the system of record for the business. SkyPlanner takes over the detailed sequence of every cut, bend, weld and coat, and operators report quantities and scrap from the worker view or the shop-floor app, so the ERP receives real progress from each machine instead of estimates.
How quickly can a fabrication shop get its first schedule running?
Today. Start the 30-day free trial with up to 20 workstations and no credit card, enter your lasers, press brakes, welding cells and paint line with their shifts, and bring in a week of orders and routings by CSV or by hand, or explore the demo data first. Your first finite-capacity schedule runs standalone before any integration, and onboarding workshops then tune changeover matrices and sub-assemblies to your shop while the ERP connection is built by Skycode or your own developers.
Does SkyPlanner suit a one-laser job shop as well as a multi-plant fabrication group?
Yes, metal fabricators of every size use it. A job shop with one laser, a few press brakes and a welding bay starts from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and adds workstations at 20 € per month each. Fabrication groups schedule several plants together with transfer times between sites, and each plant works in its own language from the 29 the interface offers.
How does SkyPlanner reduce setups on lasers, press brakes and the paint line?
Give each product properties such as material grade, sheet thickness, press brake tooling or paint colour, and define a changeover matrix for each workstation with times in each direction. SkyPlanner then runs the same sheet grade and thickness together on the laser, groups bends that share tooling and cuts colour changes on the paint line, while due dates for individual process steps keep parts reaching welding when welding needs them.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
Plan furnaces, dies and alloys for foundries, forges and stamping plants.
Put next week’s weldments on a real schedule
Bring a week of orders and your routings. We will schedule them across your lasers, press brakes, welding cells and paint line, and show which ship dates hold.
