Metal fabrication software with every weld on the job.

Bulk keeps the heat number and mill cert on the job and books the WPS, welder and inspection result at each weld step as the work happens. When a customer or auditor asks, the evidence is already on the job, not in a lever-arch. Order to invoice on the same record.

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Bird view of a metal fabrication & welding floor

Customer PO IntakeAutomation Steel Stock & UsageModule Fab Bay SchedulingAI agent Cut, Fit & Weld TrackingModule Weld Traveller & WPSModule Weld Inspection & NCRModule Job Sheets & LabelsModule Fab ThroughputReporting

Metal fabrication software for the whole shop.

Bulk is shop management software for steel and sheet metal fabricators. Job tracking, weld records, heat numbers and mill certs on the job, and stock sit on one record, with the invoice raised from it. It is not CAD. It runs beside SolidWorks or Tekla and takes over where the drawing leaves off.

Fabricator checking a steel plate against a mill cert at the stock rack

Mill certs and heat numbers on the job

The EN 10204 3.1 or 3.2 certificate is attached to the job as a file and the heat number goes in a custom field beside it. Both stay with the job through cutting, welding and despatch, and the job grid searches by heat number, so the material evidence an auditor or a notified body asks for is already on the job.

Mill certs attached to the job and the order, searchable by heat number
Heat and cast numbers held as custom fields on the job
Steel and consumables used booked to the job by item, quantity and cost

See custom fields

Welder working a fillet joint on a steel fabrication in a weld bay

Weld tracking software for the bay

Each joint is booked on the traveller with its WPS, the PQR behind it and the welder who struck the arc, with the welder's qualification checked as they stamp. NDT reports attach to the job rather than a folder, so the weld records an EN 1090 audit asks for are on the job as the work is done.

WPS and welder qualifications checked on the job, expiry dates flagged before they bite
Visual, MPI and UT reports attached to the job they cover
Rework raised as an NCR from the bay, with a quantity hold on the suspect parts
Execution class and customer spec held in custom fields on the job

See quality

Quality engineer at a desk of mill certs and binders overlooking the fab shop

Quoting, scheduling and invoicing on the same record

The commercial loop an ERP usually owns runs in Bulk too. Quote the fabrication, release it as a job, plan it across the bays and invoice it from the same record the welders worked on. Nothing is re-keyed between the office and the shop floor, and stock is booked against the job that used it.

Quotes and works orders turned into routed jobs in one step
A live schedule across cutting, fitting, welding and finishing, with a real date for the customer
Invoices and credit notes raised from the job, not from a spreadsheet

See scheduling

Welded steel assembly clamped on a machining table for a finishing cut

Fabrication and machining on one traveller

Most fab shops also saw, drill and machine. Bulk routes a part through the saw, the machining centre and the weld bay on a single traveller, so the finished assembly has one history instead of two systems disagreeing about it. Machine time, operator and setup sheet are booked per operation.

One routing across profile cutting, machining, fitting and welding
Operator, machine and setup sheet revision recorded on every operation
Job progress and OEE on the wall TV while the shift can still act on it

See routing

From plate to invoice, one record.

Put the heat on the job

The 3.1 mill cert is attached to the job and the heat number goes in a custom field on it.

See custom fields

Mill cert attached

Mill cert 2B7741.pdfEN 10204 3.1 · 2 pages
Heat no. (custom field)2B7741
Plates6 × S355

The evidence is on the job already.

−85%Time spent pulling evidence for an audit at Pennine Fabrication

0Re-keys between the traveller and the invoice

−54%Weld rework raised as NCRs

“Getting ready for an EN 1090 audit used to be a full day of chasing mill certs and welder tickets across folders. Now the certs, WPS and NDT reports are already attached to the job, and the heat number is one search in the job grid.”

Gary PembertonResponsible Welding Coordinator — Pennine Fabrication

Cobalt 3D render of a welded steel bracket with a heat-number tag

The blocks that run a fab shop.

Questions, answered.

Is Bulk a fabrication ERP or an MES?

Both, and that's the point. An MES is usually built for a machine cell and doesn't speak EN 1090; an ERP holds the order and the invoice but never reaches the weld bay. Bulk runs the fab floor and its evidence (travellers, weld quality, heat numbers, welder tickets and the certs on the job) and the commercial loop around it: the customer order, stock, invoices and credit notes on the same record. Install the apps you need one at a time; where you keep an accounts package, Bulk syncs both ways with it.

How does Bulk handle EN 1090 and ISO 3834?

Bulk holds the evidence; it does not issue the paperwork. The EN 10204 3.1 cert is attached to the job with the heat number in a custom field; each weld step carries its WPS/PQR and the welder who ran it; inspection and NDT results land on the job. When a client audit or your factory production control review asks, the records are already on the job. Bulk does not produce the CE marking paperwork itself; that stays with your responsible welding coordinator.

Can it tie a material heat number to the finished assembly?

To the job, yes. The heat number goes in a custom field on the job and the 3.1 cert is attached to it, so both stay with the assembly through cutting, fitting and welding, and the job grid searches by heat number to list the jobs that carry it. Steel used is booked to the job by item with its cost. Bulk does not track heat numbers in stock or joint by joint, so a heat shared across several jobs is found by searching those jobs.

How do you handle welder qualifications and WPS/PQR?

Welder tickets are held with their process ranges, continuity and expiries, and enforced as a gate: an out-of-cert welder can't sign a joint. The WPS library is version-controlled and mapped onto travellers, so each joint pulls the approved procedure and its PQR — the wrong or lapsed procedure blocks the sign-off rather than surfacing at final inspection.

We run CNC machining alongside fabrication — do you cover that too?

Yes. Machining lives on the same record, with multi-op routing, first-article check sheets and heat numbers on the job, on our sibling page, CNC machine shop software (/cnc-machine-shop-software). A part that's cut, machined and welded stays on one job end to end; you don't run two systems.

What does it cost, and how long is rollout?

One per-site price with every module included — no per-module upsell, hosting and rollout in the figure. Rollout is one workflow end to end first: prove a single weld traveller from the mill cert on the job to the invoice on real work in weeks, then the rest of the shop follows the same pattern. Never a big-bang cutover. You can start with a free trial, no card needed.

Run one weld traveller through.

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