How work arrives decides what the system has to do.
ERP built for how work actually arrives at your shop, whether that is a one-off RFQ, a blanket release, or a build to print.
| Shop Type | Operating Model | How Work Arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Contract Manufacturers | Build to program | Customer programs run over years, each with its own revisions, requirements and reporting. |
| Engineer-to-Order Manufacturers | Engineer to order | The order arrives before the design does. Engineering happens inside the job, the bill of materials grows as you go, and the cost is only final when the thing ships. |
| Fabrication Shops | Build to print | Cutting, forming, welding and finishing to a drawing, often with outside processing in the middle. |
| Job Shops | Build to print | Work arrives as an RFQ with a drawing attached. Every job is different, and the quote is the bet. |
| Machine Shops | Build to print | CNC and precision machining to customer prints, where setup time and spindle hours decide the margin. |
| OEMs | Build to own design | You own the design and the forecast, so planning, service parts and aftermarket demand are yours too. |
| Tier Suppliers | Build to program | Releases and schedules flow down from a prime, and the paperwork matters as much as the part. |
| Tool and Die Shops | Build to print | One-off tools, molds and dies where the engineering is the product and nothing repeats. |
Most shops are more than one of these. A machine shop that holds a blanket order is running job shop work and tier supply at the same time, and the system has to carry both.
Pick the page that matches how the majority of your work shows up. The difference that matters is whether you quote every part, release against a schedule, or build to someone else's print.
What is the difference between a job shop and a contract manufacturer?
A job shop sells machine time and process capability, quoting each print as it arrives, with hundreds of part numbers and no repeat guarantee. A contract manufacturer builds another company's product to their design, usually under a release schedule or blanket order. The quoting and planning rhythms differ completely.
Do machine shops and fabrication shops need different software?
They need the same system configured differently. A machine shop prices setup, cycle time, and tooling per operation. A fabrication shop prices nesting, material yield from sheet and plate, and weld or finishing time. Both run routings, both need lot traceability; the estimating models and units differ.
What is an engineer-to-order manufacturer?
An engineer-to-order shop designs the product after the order lands, so the bill of materials and routing grow while the job is already running. Cost and schedule have to track a moving target. Tool and die work and custom capital equipment both fall into this pattern.
What does a tier supplier need that an OEM does not?
A tier supplier works to someone else's print under flow-down requirements: releases against a blanket order, PPAP or first article packets, and corrective action responses on the customer's forms. An OEM owns its own design, demand forecast, and aftermarket. One absorbs schedule changes; the other creates them.
At what size does a shop outgrow spreadsheets and QuickBooks?
There is no headcount that settles it. The real trigger is when nobody can say what a job cost without rebuilding it by hand, when two estimators quote the same part differently, or when a promised date slips and nobody saw it coming. That usually starts around ten to twenty-five people.
See where WorkCell fits your shop.
Tell us how work arrives today and we will walk through it with you.