What is capacity planning software for a fab shop?

For a custom shop it doesn't have to mean an MRP engine. In Factory it's a visual schedule - your whole week on one screen, every fabricator and job - so you can see an overloaded day and move work before it slips. It's built into the same place you quote, schedule, and run the floor, not a separate app.

How is this different from a scheduling tool or a spreadsheet?

A schedule or a spreadsheet lists the jobs and the dates. Seeing your week is what shows you whether they actually fit. A spreadsheet will happily let you promise three jobs the same Friday - it can't show you the day is already full. Factory can, because the plan, the schedule, and the floor share the same jobs on one screen.

Do I need an ERP or MRP to do capacity planning?

No. Those are built for the big 5% of shops - months to stand up, a consultant, a planning module heavier than a sub-50 floor will keep current. Factory gives a custom fab shop the planning view it needs, up in weeks, no consultant.

Will this work for high-mix, make-to-order work?

Yes - that's what it's built for. Custom fab shops don't run the same part a million times, so capacity is measured in hours of work against hours of crew, not units off a line. Factory keeps the jobs you actually run on one schedule you can see.

Does it replace my QuickBooks Online or Xero?

No. Factory syncs with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and MYOB - keep the accounting you already use. It runs the floor and the plan, not your books.

It depends on your shop, and it's a fraction of what an ERP runs. The honest way to see the number - and whether it pays for itself - is on your own jobs. Book a demo.

SEE YOUR WHOLE WEEK

Capacity planning software for custom fab shops

A customer asks if you can have it done by Friday. You say yes - you don't actually know if you have the hours. That's how most custom fab shops plan: in the owner's head, under pressure, on the phone. Capacity planning closes that gap - a real view of how much work your floor can take versus how much you've already promised.

Book a demo → See it on your own jobs.

This week · the floor HRS COMMITTED / CAP

Thursday's overloaded - move a job before you promise another.

THE WAY IT WORKS NOW

You're committing to dates without really knowing your load

Be honest about how the week actually runs. None of this is sloppiness - it's what happens when the plan is a feeling instead of a view.

The spreadsheet schedule doesn't help - it lists jobs, it doesn't know your hours. If that's where you are, start with stop running your shop on a spreadsheet.

THE SPECIFIC BREAKPOINTS

Where planning in your head stops holding

WHERE YOU GRADUATE TO

From planning in your head to planning off a view

It sits inside the loop that runs the whole shop - quote, schedule, run the floor, get paid. Seeing your week isn't a bolt-on chart; it's in the same place you quote and schedule.

More out the door without more chaos. One shop went from 25 to 50 orders a day on the same crew - not by working hotter, but by seeing the whole week and committing to dates the floor could actually hit.

25→50

orders a day, same crew

HOW IT FITS WITH THE SCHEDULE AND THE FLOOR

Not a separate app you check once a week

It's the layer underneath the schedule and the floor. Plan, schedule, and floor are one system, not three tools you reconcile by hand.

Scheduling puts the jobs on a plan the whole shop reads

Capacity planning is what makes that plan honest - it knows whether the hours behind the dates are real.

See scheduling →

Run the floor shows live status on every job

Capacity planning is what that status feeds: as work moves, the picture of what's committed and what's open stays current.

See the floor →

RIGHT-SIZED - NOT AN ERP

The planning view you need, at the size you actually are

"Capacity planning" and "finite scheduling" usually come bolted to an MRP or ERP built for the big 5% - six to eighteen months to stand up, a consultant on the payroll, a planning module so heavy nobody on a sub-50 floor keeps it current.

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More on why the heavy software is the wrong fit for a shop your size: why not an ERP. Capacity planning is one piece of the whole-shop loop, and it keeps your accounting.

THE PROOF

A week you could see and commit to, not headcount

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WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON A REAL JOB

A run of stainless benches, due end of next week

IN YOUR HEAD

You run the floor through your head, remember the handrail job and two repairs, and say "yeah, we'll get there" - because you want the work and the picture's fuzzy. A guess you find out about later.

ON FACTORY

You look at next week, see it's nearly full, and say "Thursday the week after, locked" - a date you can hold. The hot repair Wednesday? You slot it in and see exactly which job it pushes, so you call that customer first. The plan's in the system, so your foreman checks status without asking you.

Same week of work. One version is a guess you find out about later. The other is a commitment you can keep.

STRAIGHT ANSWERS

Questions shops ask about capacity planning

STOP PROMISING DATES YOU CAN'T SEE

See the load before you commit.

Bring a week of real work and we'll show it - your whole week on one screen, dates you can hold, the whole loop from quote to paid - in about fifteen minutes.