Work: Automation | Daniel Doerrfeld

CNC Quoting Engine: every RFQ arrives already quoted

Efficiency, Automation, Scale, ’26 Reads the 2D drawing, plans the job setup by setup, prices it with every number traceable, and holds anything it is not sure of for the estimator to decide.

Quoting workspace with the RFQ's parts listed at left, one part's routing, setups, times, and price in the middle, and its drawing with highlighted callouts at right

Shop Data Hub: one trusted set of numbers for the whole shop

Scale, Efficiency, Automation, ’26 A read-only hub that turns ERP records into validated, hourly reporting for a machine shop, from revenue, backlog, and margin down to the live floor.

Executive dashboard with five panels, revenue rhythm against goal, quotes pipeline, on-time delivery, anticipated revenue, and margin health, each carrying a one-word verdict

Customer Order Portal: every order, in plain sight

Scale, Efficiency, ’26 A live status page per job for customers and the team, fed from the ERP, with schedule health that updates itself and nothing shown until the shop publishes it.

Portal order page on a desktop and a phone showing a green ahead-of-schedule banner, the part details, and the production timeline with completed and in-progress steps

Feature extraction, DFM checks, and a first-pass quote from a STEP file, in Python

Efficiency, Automation, ’26 A Python tool that reads a STEP file with OpenCascade, recognizes holes, pockets, and slots, runs DFM rules, and prices the part at four quantities.

Rendered aluminum block with its problem faces painted red and amber beside a report panel listing four flags and four warnings, the feature count, setups, cycle time, and a unit price

FloorSignal: a near miss reported in thirty seconds, fixed in the open

Concept Safety, Culture, ’26 A QR code on every machine opens a phone form; reports land on a triage board with an owner and a due date, and the floor sees what was fixed.

Triage board with report cards in four columns, Submitted, Owned, Fixed, and Verified, each card showing type, severity, location, owner, and due date, and a banner for reports with no owner

IdeaLoop: a closed-loop idea board for the shop floor

Concept Culture, Efficiency, ’26 A QR at every line opens a one-minute form. A decision within ten days, an owner within fourteen, two photos to close, and only the submitter can verify.

Weekly stand-up queue for one line with items sorted by days left to a decision, the four decision buttons, and a decline form that will not save without a written reason

Beacon: andon without a PLC

Concept Efficiency, ’26 A tablet at every work center, a video call before anyone walks, and a timed record of every raised hand. No wiring, no stack lights, no PLC.

Work-center tablet idle screen with five large buttons, Material, Maintenance, Quality, Tooling, and Supervisor, and a panel showing the station's last call and today's median response

Skills Matrix: who can run what, with the evidence behind it

Concept Scale, Safety, ’26 One record per person per station, a level from 0 to 4 earned by a signed assessment, and views for employees, supervisors, and trainers from the same data.

Skills matrix grid with stations across and people down, a colored level in every cell, a hover card showing one cell's evidence, and footer rows counting independent operators and trainers per station

FirstCycle: pre-shift machine checks in two minutes, acted on before the first cycle

Concept Safety, Efficiency, ’26 Scan the machine, pass or fail each item, photograph the fails, sign. A fail opens a ticket; a critical fail blocks the machine until a supervisor acts.

Floor plan with every machine as a tile colored by readiness, ready, check failed, blocked, or not checked, and a side panel with one machine's failed item, its ticket, and the shift's activity

Upstream: a safety board of inputs people control

Concept Safety, Culture, ’26 Replaces the days-since-last-injury sign with six inputs people control, counted against targets by shift and area. Incidents are a line, never a headline.

Leadership safety dashboard with six tiles, activities by area against target, participation by month, the leading-to-lagging ratio, incident rate and severity trending down, and overdue corrective actions

Noticed: a peer recognition wall for the shop floor

Concept Culture, ’26 Pick a person, pick the value they showed, write one sentence. Twenty seconds, no points, no prizes, no leaderboard, and the quiet people get seen.