Increasing competitiveness with software for small fab shops

With quoting software, Red Horizon Engineering can quickly and accurately discover what all the costs will be for the finished parts coming off its laser cutting machine.

Steve Geroski might be new to the fabrication scene, but he’s no stranger to the stark realities of manufacturing.

A mechanical engineer with an MBA and 17 years of experience at a major tire manufacturer on his resume, Geroski—owner and founder of Red Horizon Engineering—knows full well that no matter what the industry, the big dogs tend to get the bigger bones. However, he’s also savvy to at least one advantage he has running a two-person fabrication business: Smaller means nimbler, which can make all the difference to customers in a world where the demand for quick turnarounds predominates.

Many Tools, One Box

One of the tools Geroski and his cousin/business partner, Joe Pozzuto, have come to find indispensable is ToolBox quoting software from Tempus Tools. The rules-based software readily uploads STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data) files as well as a host of other formats. It can convert PDFs into CAD files and also offers a feature that automatically detects parts that will be fabricated out of sheet metal in 3D models and virtually unfolds and flattens them into 2D parts, giving users a list of components that will be cut.

Designed specifically for laser cutting equipment, the software enables users like Geroski to quickly assess and quote fabrication jobs that might previously have taken hours or even days to research and estimate.

Take for example the tube cutting job Red Horizon recently landed with a manufacturer in nearby Toledo, Ohio. It required Red Horizon to make multiple cuts with its 6-kW laser cutting machine on a 6-in. square tube with 3/8-in.-thick walls to make legs for a heavy-duty worktable. At 24 ft. long, just the raw material was a bit of an investment for Red Horizon. The real trick was getting the specs, loading the part files into the software, and turning the quote fast (which turned out not to be nearly as hard as it might have been).

Fast Turnaround

Geroski didn’t want to divulge just how fast he got the quote out, save to say it was the same day.

“I was able to dump all their STEP files in there and have it quoted in a very quick, timely manner,” said Geroski, who started Red Horizon in Perrysburg, Ohio, less than two years ago. He won the job, the latest win in what has been a nice string of business for the company since its inception in 2021—a lot of which has come in by word of mouth.

“It is allowing me to at least put my hat out there with the big guys that are really tied [up] with good production jobs, which is great,” Geroski said. “They’re doing a lot of repetitive work. But while they’re trying to work in a smaller job—and this isn’t a small job for what we’re doing here—I can pump it out a lot quicker, and you get it on schedule.”

Tempus Tools Director Felipe Lechuga, the company’s executive for the Americas, said that ToolBox software was built on the concept of helping shops produce quotes quickly. He noted that because ToolBox is rules-based, once a shop defines its specific rules within the software, the system prepares all quotes using the same criteria—a huge time savings for shops that lack personnel to handle quotes manually.

“This enables quotes to be prepared and sent in a short amount of time, even amidst other tasks, as it doesn't require as much concentration and analysis as when quotes are done without specialized software,” Lechuga said.

Detailed Results

On jobs like the one for his Toledo customer, Geroski highlighted ToolBox’s ability to pull in the basic drawings and produce a minutely detailed list of necessary parts, cuts, and costs.

“Opening up the Tempus estimate now gives me total quantity of parts,” he said. “Here, you get it all. It gives me an itemized breakdown. They provided me with an actual image of the part with the quote, and the customer can see the individual unit cost of those parts. The appearance is very professional. It makes the communication top-notch so they can see … exactly where the cost is going.”

Geroski said he can do all that with no estimator and no sales engineer on his staff. He has Joe—“Joe’s my executioner—he's hitting the shop floor and getting things cut,” Geroski said—but no one else besides himself and whatever help he can get from the software.

“In a market where timely quotation is crucial to secure more work, small businesses are often at a disadvantage compared to larger companies,” Lechuga said. “In smaller organizations, individuals usually have to take on multiple roles. This is why it can be challenging to find the time to prepare a quote, especially when it requires careful attention and time to analyze jobs and calculate prices accurately.”

As Geroski anticipates future growth at Red Horizon, he’s grateful to have the information he needs to respond to customers’ questions readily in hand.

“When the order’s accepted, I can easily go in one interface, press print, and there are check marks for confirmations on the parts,” Geroski said. “Everything’s on there.

“I can see in the future if these customers want to analyze how they can maybe have some design change savings, they can go on a part-by-part basis, and with what I provide them, they could work out whatever they need to work out with the data.”