Orders & combining
From a quote to a released order, and from many orders to few sheets.
One price, calculated once.
Every quote comes from the same calculation core, whether it is raised in the shop, at the order desk or through the interface.
The price is calculated once and freezes with the order, together with the engine version that produced it. Oversize and special parts are never priced automatically: they go to your technical team as a request. Calculation rates are kept by staff, with limits that catch a typo before it becomes a wrong price, and every change is logged.
- Order desk
- A member of staff captures the order in conversation with the customer, uploads the DXF or has a draft made from a PDF drawing, and sends the invoice afterwards. Same core, same frozen price.
- AI quote
- A DXF is read directly, no model needed. A drawn or scanned PDF is read by an AI model that returns the dimensions; the part itself is drawn by the same code that writes the cut files. The price comes from the calculation core, never from the model, and what the AI only estimated is shown as a warning. The result is a sketch for the order, not a finished part.
- Customer portal
- Customers configure, price and order themselves, as in Alef Portal. See Integrations →
What releases an order into production depends on how it is paid: an online payment releases it on payment; an invoice paid in advance releases it when the money arrives; an order on open account is released with the order unless the customer's credit limit is not enough.
Combined run.Sammellauf
Priced per order. Cut across orders.
A customer pays for the price calculated for their own order. On the shop floor, parts of the same material and thickness belong on the same sheet, whoever ordered them.
Collect
Pending positions of all released orders are gathered in one place.
Group
Each position joins the group of its material and its thickness.
Hold
A group waits until cutting it pays off: enough parts, a sheet that is full enough, a maximum age, or a promised delivery date drawing near. Each reason is enough on its own, and a person can release a group by hand.
Nest
Released groups are nested together, across orders, on as many sheets as they need.
Create
Each group becomes one internal order with a sheet drawing and a route card. Both are made from the stored layout rather than a new nesting, so the paper at the machine always shows what the screen shows.
Every part has a mark.
That is why parts of several customers can safely share one sheet.
Each part receives a mark: A01, A02 and so on. The mark is printed on the sheet drawing and listed in an allocation table next to the order number and the customer. At the machine, a cut part is traced back to its order by its mark.
- A01
- A02
- A03
- A04
- A05
- A06
- Mark: on the drawing, on every part
- Allocation table: mark, order number, customer
- Route card: from the stored layout, with the sheet drawing
