Question 1

What does the assessment cost?

Accepted Answer

It is a fixed fee, quoted per company on size and travel, and agreed before anything starts. It produces a written plan with the full project scope and the price of each piece, and you keep everything found whether or not anything is built. The first conversation costs nothing.

Question 2

What do I get from the on-site assessment?

Accepted Answer

A written report on your business, based on what is tested on site rather than on what anyone assumes: each confirmed problem, how it was confirmed and what it costs in hours, late jobs and margin; how your ERP and data are set up, who controls access and what can be built on it; fixes that need no software, such as routines, ownership and handoffs your team can change right away; and a plan in priority order with the scope and price of each piece. The report is yours to keep and use, whether you build with Nextrun, with your own people or with someone else.

Question 3

Is this consulting or software?

Accepted Answer

Both, in that order. The assessment comes first, and some findings are process or staffing decisions that need no software at all. Those are stated plainly rather than turned into a build.

Question 4

Does the ERP get replaced?

Accepted Answer

No. Access is read-only, nothing is rewritten, and no new license or seat fee is introduced. The system of record stays the system of record; it is simply made to do more than it currently does.

Question 5

Which ERP and job systems do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Any system with a readable database. Familiar ones include JobBOSS, E2 Shop System, MIE Trak Pro, Made2Manage, Global Shop Solutions, Epicor and Acumatica, along with job, case management, scheduling and CRM systems outside manufacturing. If the database can be read, it can be built on.

Question 6

How does the connection to our system actually work?

Accepted Answer

A small service runs on your own server and reads the database read-only on a schedule. It writes into a live data layer that the board, the planner and the dashboard all read from. Nothing is ever written back to your system, so there is no migration and no risk to the record.

Question 7

Does our data leave our building?

Accepted Answer

What the systems run on stays under your control, and the arrangement is agreed in writing before any connection is made. Screens shown publicly are anonymized.

Question 8

How can AI quote a part that has never been quoted before?

Accepted Answer

Repeat parts are priced from your own quote history. A part with no history is priced from the features on the drawing: hole count and tapped holes, tightest tolerance, weld joints, material removal, finish requirements. The model is trained on quotes you actually won, never on actual hours, so an estimate cannot drift below what the work really costs. It reports its confidence, flags vendor pricing, and an estimator approves every draft before it reaches a customer.

Question 9

Will the AI send a quote out without anyone checking it?

Accepted Answer

No. Every draft is reviewed and approved by an estimator before it leaves. The tool removes the hours of assembling a quote, not the judgment about whether it is right.

Question 10

Who owns what gets built?

Accepted Answer

You do, outright: the code and the data both. There is no license, no per-seat fee and no subscription.

Question 11

What happens after handover?

Accepted Answer

Support is agreed up front, not improvised. Either your IT contact is trained and handed written deploy procedures, or a fixed retainer covers it. Systems running against live databases need looking after, but it is never an open-ended dependency.

Question 12

Who sees what?

Accepted Answer

Three tiers. The floor sees the board and the scan stations. Admin adds planning and job values. Only management sees live individual hours and pay.

Question 13

How long does it take?

Accepted Answer

Assessment in a day. Written plan within a week. The first system live in weeks rather than quarters, with something real running in front of your team inside the first month.

Question 14

What size of company is this for?

Accepted Answer

Roughly 10 to 200 people, or $5M to $50M in revenue: big enough that nobody can hold the whole operation in their head, small enough that everyone still asks the same one person for answers.

Question 15

Does this only work for machine shops?

Accepted Answer

No. It suits any business that runs on jobs or projects, which includes fabrication and welding, construction and general contracting, field service, and distribution. The pattern is the same wherever work is quoted, scheduled, executed and costed.

Question 16

What if we are not sure the problem is software?

Accepted Answer

That is the point of paying for the assessment rather than a sales call. Some of what gets found is process, pricing or staffing, and saying so is part of the job. A plan that recommends less software than expected is a legitimate outcome.

Notes from the floor.

How to quote lead times you can actually hit

Why your ERP says a job made money when it did not

Knowing what every machine is running right now