Product Updates

Materials Workflow Improvements on the BOM & Routing
We've updated the materials workflow in the BOM & Routing to clarify the difference between raw materials and items linked to materials, along with their downstream effects.

Raw Materials on the BOM: Estimating Tab

You can add raw materials to a BOM and estimate costs using the nesting estimator tool, allowing jobs to move through production without assigning a specific item, size, or inventory. This provides flexibility in material and job costing from quoting to production.

You can assign a specific item later or let operators choose the most efficient option directly in Job Tracking, where they’ll select from a list of items linked to that raw material.
Costing is managed through the nesting estimator tool, which uses primary vendor pricing. You can create different nest sizes for estimated costs and even edit vendor details or add a new vendor directly from the BOM side panel. Important: Using raw materials is required for Nest Planning, which helps group jobs using the same material. If you plan to group work, do not assign an item instead of a raw material in the BOM.

Items / Inventory associated with Materials on the BOM: Inventory Tab

You can still add items associated with materials through the Inventory tab when you know the exact item for the job or are purchasing for it. Operators will see the specific item in the picking tab of Job Tracking.

We've improved costing flexibility by allowing you to adjust the material length used. Keep the full length for full-cost pricing or enter the actual length needed for accurate costing.

REMNANTS‍

Raw Material: Remnants from raw materials are determined by the item the operator selects in Job Tracking. The remaining cost is automatically calculated based on the portion used.
Usage based Item: If you add an item to the BOM and cost for only the length (portion) that you’ll use, the remnant produced from that will automatically receive the remaining cost.
Full cost item: If you use an item on the BOM and cost for the full piece and a remnant is produced, the value of that remnant will be zero dollars.

We’ve expanded the functionality of Quote Nestimation to provide you an estimated machine time for the part!

Because every machine’s capabilities are different, we’ve added a Feed Rate editing section to your machine setup page. Here you can use the feed rates and pierce times for each of your cutting machines based on the material they’re working with.

If you have an export of feed rates from your machine or nesting software and would like them to be bulk imported, feel free to send them to josh@fulcrumpro.com to have them imported. Nestimation is currently in beta testing, but we're planning on releasing it to all customers who are a part of the materials beta this week. This feature is not available for customers hosted on our ITAR-compliant servers.

We've improved the job status button for clarity. Now, the current status appears at the top, and clicking the button opens a dropdown to change it. Previously, it showed only the next step in a linear flow. The delete/cancel options are now in the "More Options" icon outside of the status button.

We've added new Bulk Print Item Labels, allowing you to print labels for multiple items from the grid in one action, streamlining the process of label printing.

If the grid contains a large number of items (e.g., over 1000), loading labels may take longer. Please be mindful of the number of labels being processed at once.

To help fabricators send competitive quotes faster, we’ve integrated nesting into the quoting module. This feature calculates estimated material costs and run times automatically.

Simply drop in your DXF files, and Fulcrum generates a soft nest, estimating material costs based on the flat file dimensions. It also calculates machine time by analyzing Pierce points and referencing your machine’s speed and feed table, which can be uploaded and stored in your settings.

Once machine time and usage estimates are generated, they’re applied directly to the quote—giving you faster, more accurate estimates for your customers.

‍

In this episode of Fulcrum in 4, Launch Manager Mitch LaFrance breaks down the latest updates designed to make your manufacturing workflow more efficient. We’ve expanded the materials database, improved the purchase order workflow, enabled in-progress job edits, and enhanced quote estimates for nested work.

• Materials Database Updates – New material types added, improved grid navigation, and bulk vendor/item association.
• Purchase Order Enhancements – Assign materials to specific jobs, update pricing post-invoice, and print receiving labels with job associations.
• In-Progress Job Edits – Modify BOMs and routings even after a job has started.
• Nesting in Quoting – Upload DXF files to auto-calculate material costs and machine time for faster, more accurate estimates.

These updates are designed to help you maximize shop capacity and streamline daily operations. Watch now to see them in action!

Chapters

• ‍00:00 Intro
• ‍00:16 Improved Materials Database
• ‍01:01 Purchase Order Enhancements
• ‍02:28 In-Progress Job Edits and Flexibility
• ‍03:10 Quick Quotes with Nestimation
• ‍03:45 Conclusion

We’re continuing work on editing in progress jobs. With the next update, you’ll be able to change the items on the job, both adding additional items to make and changing the required materials of the job.

We recently added a bit more flexibility around updating the purchase price after receiving. You are now able to change the purchase price (select ‘Yes’ for ‘Different billed subtotal?’ and enter the new subtotal in the ‘Billed Subtotal’ field), if the items received have not been consumed (no inventory picks against those items). This is a small change from the previous functionality where any inventory transactions against the item prevented changing the purchase price. We're continuing to work on expanding this functionality out even more.

The main goal here is to help receiving answer the question “what do I do with this material?” when it shows up at the dock. Warehouse and receiving teams often bring material to specific staging locations, apply labels that include the relevant job number(s), or kit items. With that in mind, there will be a new section on purchase order part line items called “Associated Jobs”.

Clicking the plus button will bring up a list of jobs that require that item, including the job status, job demand, and quantity picked.

Selecting one or more jobs adds them to that section for visibility, and also makes the association visible in receiving so that warehouse teams can properly distribute material. Additionally, it will add the association on the PO itself. This way, the job association will show in the PO grid, receiving grid, and on the job itself.

There will also be a new variable for receiving labels called {{ lineJobs }}. This will, you guessed it, put the job names associated to that line item on the receiving label.

Note: the primary goal of this release is visibility. This does not currently do any specific reserving of material, especially since requirements and priorities are often changing.

After the addition of 10,000+ new materials, we are pivoting and narrowing our focus in order to improve the general material workflow for all users.

• Material Grid filters updated so you can select multiple materials and bulk add vendors and standard material item sizes.
• Added a material items tab in the Materials spreadsheet in order to create new material items and remnants.
• Increased visibility for dimensions on the materials grid. Selecting a material form will now break out the dimensions allowing for easier identification of needed materials.
• Previously we were displaying Length x Width for our planar shapes, which we recognize is not industry standard. We have updated our UI and material names to display Width x Length when applicable. You’ll see this change reflected throughout the app.

We’ve been working on the ability to update in progress jobs by updating the BOM. The first step of this feature is allowing you to change Operations. For example, you’ll be able to add a new operation or edit the instructions. Once the feature is enabled, the Edit Quantity button at the top of the job becomes Edit Job and the routing will be unlocked. You can make changes to the Routing Operations and then save the Job at the top of the page. The updates will be reflected at the bottom of the Job page and in Job Tracking.

This feature is in testing now and available on an invite basis. Further work on the feature will include being able to add/edit items to make and materials.

We’re making a technical change to how Webhooks sent from Fulcrum work. Currently, by default Webhooks will always return the full content of the relevant entity. For example, the body of a Webhook for Job Approval would by default include all of the data for that job. In addition to sending much more data than the consumer needs, this behavior negatively impacts the performance of Fulcrum’s site by making unnecessary queries to the database.

Going forward, newly created Webhooks will only contain the ID of the entity. If additional information about that entity is required, please use the public API to fetch that information. Using the public API has the additional requirement of having a stable schema.

This change does not impact Webhooks that have already been created.

When looking at the NCR grid in the quality module, it wasn’t easy to tell which NCR was for which event. Now, NCRs have a new ‘Title’ field. This can be used to add a short title or description for identifying the NCR and will appear in the grid view.

You can now view an audit log of changes made to a job, similar to the change history recorded on items, sales orders and quotes. Hover over the Last Updated [Date, Time] below the job number and click View Audit Log for a history of changes from job creation including edits to the BOM and Routing, quantity and due date.

We’ve been hard at work at adding a material database to Fulcrum. This feature changes the way that Fulcrum manages raw material and drives powerful features such as nesting and remnants. We’ve significantly increased the materials captured in the material database and will be further expanding this in the next few weeks! The materials database already had the below forms of steel, stainless steel and aluminum:

• Sheet & Plate
• Round Bar

Below are the forms recently added for steel, stainless steel and aluminum:

• Tread Plate
• Square Bar
• Wide Bar
• Flat Bar
• Rectangular Bar
• Hex Bar
• Square Tube
• Rectangular Tube
• Angle
• Channel
• Beam (SBeam, HBeam, WBeam)
• Tee Bar