Metal Fab BOMs and Revisions Made Simple with Cetec ERP
If you run a metal fabrication shop, you know the drill: a customer sends over a quote request, engineering changes a drawing mid-week, a vendor suddenly shifts material specs, and your crew is left scrambling to figure out which BOM to follow. Managing all of this on spreadsheets is brutal, and frankly, it’s a risk your shop can’t afford. One wrong revision, one missed change, and suddenly you’re reworking parts, eating scrap, and losing both time and money.
This is where Cetec ERP comes in. Designed with manufacturers in mind, it gives metal fab shops the tools to take control of BOMs, revisions, and the entire production workflow, all without the chaos of spreadsheets.
BOM Templates for Quotes and Repeat Work
Metal fabrication isn’t just about custom work, it’s also about repeatable assemblies - welded frames, sheet metal enclosures, brackets, and subassemblies you build over and over. With Cetec ERP, you can create BOM templates in the BOM Quote Worksheet, which become the foundation for every quote or order.
Here’s how it helps:
- Fast, accurate quoting: Copy a BOM template, tweak quantities, materials, or operations, and see real-time costing and labor estimates. No more guessing or manually updating spreadsheets.
- Consistency across the shop: Templates enforce standard naming, material specs, and operations. Everyone (sales, engineering, and production) is on the same page.
- Flexibility without error: Include optional components, alternate materials, or different finishes. Your team can say “yes” to the customer without introducing mistakes.
- Version control: Templates themselves can be revised and tracked, so your quoting team always works with the latest, approved BOM.
In short, BOM templates are like a blueprint for efficiency, they reduce repetitive work, increase accuracy, and ensure you’re quoting what you can actually build.
Updating BOMs Mid-Production Without Chaos
Engineering changes rarely wait for production to start. A customer might request a last-minute change, or your team may discover a better welding method, revised dimensions, or a more cost-effective material. Cetec ERP allows you to update BOMs mid-production without losing control.
What this looks like in practice:
- Change components or quantities on the fly: Need to swap a bracket, adjust sheet metal thickness, or modify weld sequences? Do it directly in the system.
- Shop floor visibility: Updates automatically propagate so your crews know exactly what to build. No more sticky notes, emailed PDFs, or frantic calls to the floor.
- Cost and labor recalculation: When a BOM changes mid-run, Cetec ERP recalculates material costs, labor, and routing automatically, keeping accounting and planning aligned.
- Traceability: Every change is logged, so you have a full history of engineering updates and can report back to customers, auditors, or internal teams.
This capability ensures that mid-production revisions don’t become production disasters. Your shop stays aligned, and you avoid expensive mistakes or wasted material.
Discrete Revision Control That Makes Sense for Metal Fab
Revision control is where most spreadsheets completely fall apart. Cetec ERP provides discrete, structured revision control so that every BOM revision is classified and tracked.
Revision types include:
- Active: The current, approved version for production. This is what your shop floor is building right now.
- Runout: Old revisions that are still in production for open orders but aren’t used for new orders. This prevents old parts from creeping into new builds while fulfilling existing jobs.
- Obsolete: Superseded revisions you retain for historical reference but will (likely) never use in production again.
- Pending: Revisions under review or awaiting approval. Pending revisions are visible to engineering and planning teams but cannot be used on the shop floor until approved.
Why this matters:
- No more confusion over which version to build.
- Prevents scrap from outdated parts.
- Provides full visibility for quality, engineering, and management.
- Ensures compliance with standards like ISO 9001 or AS9100.
- Attach pictures, specs, instructions, and drawings to revision specific BOMs.
In practice, a metal fab shop can have multiple revisions circulating for different projects, Cetec ERP keeps them all clearly labeled, controlled, and auditable.
Real-World Metal Fabrication Benefits
Metal fabrication isn’t just about BOMs; it’s about complex assemblies, nested sheet metal parts, weldments, and subassemblies. Here’s how Cetec ERP makes life easier:
- Nested BOMs: Track subassemblies without losing visibility of cost or labor. You always know the material breakdown for every assembly.
- Material tracking and waste management: See real-time usage, scrap, and overages so you can adjust purchasing and reduce overhead.
- Shop floor integration: When revisions or BOMs update, the right information reaches the floor immediately - no paper, no guesswork.
- Collaboration across departments: Engineering, production, quality, and accounting work from the same data. Everyone knows which revision is active, which orders are runout, and which materials to pull.
- Customer communication: Easily provide revision history or BOM updates to clients without manually piecing together spreadsheets.
The Bottom Line
Metal fabrication is tough, fast-paced, and often unpredictable. You need tools that keep your shop aligned, flexible, and profitable. Cetec ERP delivers:
- BOM templates for faster, accurate quoting
- Mid-production updates without disruption
- Discrete revision control with Active, Runout, Obsolete, and Pending classifications
- Real-time collaboration across engineering, production, QC, and accounting
- Traceability and compliance for customer requirements and audits
The result? Less scrap, fewer errors, faster production, and more satisfied customers. In other words, Cetec ERP doesn’t just manage your BOMs, it transforms how your metal fab shop runs.