Tech Trends in Surface Fabrication: Fabrication: Enhance Efficiency and Accuracy With These Smart Solutions

By Sarah Peiper

In today’s digital age, there are all sorts of software and technology solutions designed to augment the fabrication workflow while providing growth opportunities that enable you to streamline processes, monitor material inventory, track jobs, review metrics and provide a richer experience for your customers — all of which lead to better margins and more sales. Here are some of the latest and greatest tech solutions that support today’s fabricators.

ActionFlow Countertop Fabrication Management Software

With ActionFlow’s countertop fabrication software, you can complete more jobs, enhance communications, increase accountability, manage inventory more accurately and increase sales while devoting less time and effort to each task. This stone fabrication software has modules designed to simplify each aspect of your business. Whether you’re looking for a customer relationship management tool or a mobile app with cloud-based storage to give your team remote access to critical information, ActionFlow optimizes your daily operations.

From efficient scheduling and routing to convenient and customer-friendly payment options, ActionFlow’s business management solutions make it easier to manage projects by automating tedious day-to-day tasks that take your focus away from high-priority objectives. Learn more at www.actionflow.net.

CounterGo by Moraware

CounterGo is a straightforward drawing and estimating solution that allows fabricators to become more efficient, accurate and professional. This industry-leading software makes quoting countertops in as little as 3 minutes possible while taking the business side of a countertop shop to the next level. With clear communication, accurate and consistent pricing, and easy accounting using the QuickBooks Integration, fabricators quickly see an increase in bid output and countertop sales. Learn more at www.moraware.com.

ELaser Xpress 3D by ETemplate Systems

ETemplate Systems, experts in digital measuring, are the makers of the ELaser Xpress 3D Templating System. Powered by award-winning ETemplate Measure Manager software, templates are faster and easier, and the software provides seamless compatibility with all CNC machinery. The ELaser Xpress 3D system features auto-start software, an industry-best three-year warranty, enhanced speed averaging one second per point, accuracy of 1 to 2 mm for a standard-size space, horizontal and vertical fine adjustment knobs, digital leveling, hand-held remote, Bluetooth connectivity, rechargeable batteries with charger, and compact design with a rugged case for easy portability. These enhancements, along with automated countertop functions and new manual design updates within Measure Manager, allow users to create templates faster than ever before. Set up, shoot your points, press enter and you’re done! This solution integrates with popular cabinet design software such as Mozaik, Cabinet Vision, KCD and 2020. For more information, visit www.etemplatesystem.com.

Hot Sauce Selling Software

Whether it be supersizing a meal, a wheel shine with a car wash, or an extended warranty on an appliance, everyday consumers are introduced to options that upgrade a sale. These offerings, called “Hot Sauce,” are deemed a little something extra that can enhance a purchase. The same holds true for countertops. Hot Sauce can dramatically improve your profitability with the most immediate earnings boost you can do for your company. The Hot Sauce selling software provides content, images and pricing so that every consumer-facing employee can be your best salesperson. Hot Sauce selling software offers meaningful metrics that enable you to track sales, integrate with Moraware and automate communications with your customers and team. Visit www.hotsauceyourtops.com to learn more about this powerful selling tool and how users are increasing their profitability with every sale.

LT3Raptor by Laser Products Industries (LPI)

LT3Raptor is a new digital templating platform designed with a robust cloud-based management hub to make you faster and more efficient in templating and other areas of your process, including job management, programming and more. LT3Raptor has built-in Templating Intelligence to make quick even quicker. From Edge Detection to One-Touch technology, finish fabrication-ready files in fewer clicks easily and intuitively. In addition, LT3Raptor has taken the user-friendly foundation of the current LT software and enhanced it. The new UX and UI feature workspace customization, improved Quick Actions and more. Easily view and manage jobs, edge styles, drop-ins, user permissions and workflows. Learn more about LT3Raptor at www.lt3raptor.com.

PHOTOTOP 5 by Fabricator’s Choice

PHOTOTOP 5 from Fabricator’s Choice just keeps getting better with added power capabilities. Functionalities include the ability to auto-create miter strips, auto-create lamination, auto-dimension on PDF output and more. PHOTOTOP 5 makes templating fast and accurate, and is easy to use. Professional training and online support are available. Integrate templating with office inventory, job management systems, and shop equipment. Multiple software licenses are not required to expand PHOTOTOP 5 to additional templaters. Simply order ORGANIZE Field Kits, which include a laptop, camera and markers.

The exclusive Organize On-site Tool provides immediate confirmation and file delivery of the most highly detailed digital templates in the business. PHOTOTOP users enjoy frequent upgrade options due to ongoing developments. For more information, visit www.fabchoice.com.

Pinpoint Status

There’s never been a better time to transform your customer experience. PinPoint Status’ mobile app and platform sync with your scheduling software to:

• Automate appointment reminders and reduce call volume with two-way texting.

• Eliminate missed appointments. Customers get an accurate estimated arrival time via service tech GPS location monitoring.

• Build customer loyalty. Customer experience is transformed through simplified two-way text communications, service technician photo identification and bio, and requests for customer feedback.

• Measure employee performance and build online reviews. Automatically ask customers to review their service after a job is done. Generate employee performance reports and help capture positive online reviews.

PinPoint Status eliminates communication gaps between in-home service providers and the homeowners they serve. Low flat rates and a user-based monthly subscription model make PinPoint Status a simple, affordable solution for companies of any size. For more information, visit www.pinpointstatus.com.

QuickQuote by Crystallyne Enterprises

Whether you fabricate laminate, solid surface, wood, granite or engineered stone, QuickQuote Countertop Estimating Software from Crystallyne Enterprises can save time, eliminate errors, and entice new customers with faster, easier countertop quoting and drawing. It features a uniquely intuitive interface that creates a fully-labeled scale drawing alongside every quote. Its flexible pricing system offers multiple pricing methods so virtually any material can be quoted, and it allows customization of items and services to fit a particular business. Quotes can be printed alongside the drawings on a single page, exported to different formats such as PDF, and transferred directly to QuickBooks. The built-in schedule provides a place to keep track of everything from fabrication to installation, and the internal slab inventory lets users lay out the parts on the slabs for more accurate material counts. For more information and a free trial of QuickQuote, visit www.quickquotecountertops.com.

Quote Countertops

This award-winning kitchen and bathroom industry software offers 3D kitchen and bathroom visualization and instant quoting for consumers and sales teams. Quickly design and quote a new kitchen or bathroom countertop, room renovation, cabinet reface, tub shower conversion and more using this integrated and easy-to-use software, which generates leads, streamlines the sales process, increases average ticket sales, and serves as an invaluable tool for sales team training. Quote Countertops’ focus is on their clients’ success, and that means you’ll benefit from unparalleled and personalized onboarding, training, and technical and marketing support. To learn more, visit www.quotecountertops.com.

Pathfinder by Park Industries

The Pathfinder workstation is designed to capture precise, fully calibrated images of slabs in high resolution. Whether you want to build a visual slab inventory library or create scaled images for further programming on your CNC saw, Fab Center, or CNC saw/waterjet, the Pathfinder workstation is a rock-solid platform for consistent, accurate imaging. The Pathfinder is the tool that will reduce your material costs by enabling you to efficiently and effectively manage your full and partial slab inventory while also giving you the ability to accurately veinmatch slabs and provide 3D rendering visualization for your clients. For more information, visit www.parkindustries.com/ stone/slab-imaging/pathfinder/.

Pipedrive Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Winner of numerous best-in-class awards in 2023, Pipedrive’s visual sales pipeline makes customer relationship management a breeze by allowing you to track leads, spot opportunities, measure key activities, streamline sales workflows and focus on sales success. The cloud-based CRM solution includes automated reminders and follow-ups that increase productivity and eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks. Real-time reports show your sales reps and managers what business processes to prioritize. Use dashboards, CRM analysis, and reporting tools to identify customer trends and assess sales performance. Create and send customizable email campaigns with pro templates built to get more clicks. The software integrates with over 350 other applications, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, DocuSign, QuickBooks, JustCall and Google Drive. Learn more at www.pipedrive.com.

Prodim Factory Software

Prodim Factory Software connects field, office and production teams. With four available versions of the software with increasing levels of functionality, businesses can choose the software that matches their requirements best. For instance, the innovative Factory Draw Advanced provides an easy as-is multiple-plane design with insightful 2D and 3D views and solid collision alerts. By entering details like the material type, thickness and glue offset, Factory Draw Advanced can be used to make calculations, identify potential problems and make design decisions. With Factory Full Fabricator, you can even build your digital slab library and match all your slabs in your designs. Prodim’s Factory Fabricator is the complete solution for exactly what it says: fabrication! For more information and demonstration videos, visit www.prodim-systems.com.

Slabcloud

Let your clients see what you have in stock. This Slabsmith Inventory software offers up-to-date inventory with accurate slab dimensions and high-quality images for each product. Slabcloud offers automatic synchronization with Slabsmith to allow for 24/7 inventory accessibility. You will have access to the latest technology, ensuring your clients will correctly see your entire range of products on all your devices. The Slabcloud Kitchen Visualizer is unmatched by offering a unique, real-time stone preview feature. Allow your customers to visualize their dream kitchen using your inventory of products. Slab Inquiry allows your clients to ask questions about any specific slab in your inventory with quick customer service. With Slabcloud Inventory Integration, your website will benefit from consistent updates that will improve your search engine optimization. Learn more at www.slabcloud.com.

Slabsmith

Slabsmith is an integrated system that creates tight links among the office, showroom, warehouse and shop. It includes the most powerful inventory management solution, which provides accurate and detailed slab inventory status. By producing digitized slabs that are true-to-life in both color and dimension, it captures all the relevant properties of the original slab that was photographed. It provides the ability for anyone in a company to quickly locate and view the slabs in inventory based on any of the properties of the slab. The Perfect Match layout module provides tools that are customized for the specific needs of users to lay out countertops efficiently. Incorporating Slabsmith into your business can increase profits and lower operating costs; yield increases of 8-10% are typical. For more information, visit www.slabsmith.com.

SPEEDlabel

Since 2017, SPEEDlabel has changed how fabricators label and track materials in production. It can be used with hand drawings or CAD files and works automatically with most countertop software. The labels are waterproof and tear-proof and come off easily at installation. There are customized label designs, including top, bottom and edge formats. SPEEDlabel provides a quick understanding of the status of every part in the shop and helps ensure entire jobs are kept together, improving accuracy and efficiency. SPEEDlabel was developed by fabricators to help other fabricators streamline processes, stay organized and improve quality control. For more information, visit www.speedlabel.net.

The Speroni STP Essentia: An Entry-Level CNC Tooling Presetting and Measuring System

With the Speroni STP Essentia, you can efficiently measure tools easily and independently of the operator achieving full machining productivity. Robust, space-saving and long-lasting, the Speroni STP Essentia is ready to deliver quality results right beside your CNC machine. Clear, concise and easy-to-use controls are designed to optimize all tool presetting and measuring operations. An attractive multi-touch display efficiently complements Speroni STP Essentia’s design and ergonomics. Tool presetting essence is delivered on a Windows-based display and sensor system with high definition camera. The automatic Run-Out, MaxP, Comparator, Base Post Processor and the top-level Tool Database are only some of the functions included. The online help function provides additional assistance for users. Learn more at www.bbindustriesllc.com/speroni-stp-essentia-cnc-tooling-presetter.