MirrorWorks Field Notes

Notes on the factory operating system.

Notes on the factory operating system.

Notes on the factory operating system.

Product thinking, implementation notes, and practical lessons from building AI-native software for metal fabrication teams.

Product thinking, implementation notes, and practical lessons from building AI-native software for metal fabrication teams.

Product thinking, implementation notes, and practical lessons from building AI-native software for metal fabrication teams.

Archive

Archive

Archive

Systems, shop-floor workflows, and AI-native operations.

Systems, shop-floor workflows, and AI-native operations.

A steel rack where each length carries a job tag, linked by thin yellow lines back to a quote on a clipboard, while an untagged pile sits greyed out to one side.

Operations

Operations

Purchase Orders That Match the Job, Not the Guess

Purchase Orders That Match the Job, Not the Guess

Purchase Orders That Match the Job, Not the Guess

Open note

Open note

The same job written out on four documents (a quote, a job sheet, a supplier email and an invoice) with the differences circled in red, all funnelling into one yellow-railed job record.

Operations

Operations

Stop Typing Jobs Twice: One Record From Quote to Invoice

Stop Typing Jobs Twice: One Record From Quote to Invoice

Stop Typing Jobs Twice: One Record From Quote to Invoice

Open note

Open note

One metre of fillet weld on a steel tee joint sitting on a measuring rule, with layers for wire and gas, paid labour, on-costs and overhead stacked above it and a yellow top layer labelled "Your cost per metre".

Quoting

Quoting

How to Price Welding per Metre Without Guessing

How to Price Welding per Metre Without Guessing

How to Price Welding per Metre Without Guessing

Open note

Open note

Shop floor with a mid-run scope change: demoted free-absorb and freeze traps, yellow path to price the delta.

Quoting

Quoting

How to Price Change Orders Mid-Job Without Killing Margin or the Schedule

How to Price Change Orders Mid-Job Without Killing Margin or the Schedule

How to Price Change Orders Mid-Job Without Killing Margin or the Schedule

Open note

Open note

Laser fabrication floor with quote pressure, a thin cost-card trap, and a yellow path to price the real cost card.

Quoting

Quoting

How to Quote Laser Cutting Jobs Without Losing Margin

How to Quote Laser Cutting Jobs Without Losing Margin

How to Quote Laser Cutting Jobs Without Losing Margin

Open note

Open note

Open job on the floor with live WIP visibility, versus waiting for month-end accounts, with a yellow path to see margin mid-job.

Job Costing

Job Costing

What Job Profitability Should Show Mid-Job, Not After Invoice

What Job Profitability Should Show Mid-Job, Not After Invoice

What Job Profitability Should Show Mid-Job, Not After Invoice

Open note

Open note

Whiteboards vs Live Schedules: What Production Teams Actually Need

Scheduling

Scheduling

Whiteboards vs Live Schedules: What Production Teams Actually Need

Whiteboards vs Live Schedules: What Production Teams Actually Need

Whiteboards vs Live Schedules: What Production Teams Actually Need

Open note

Open note

Before You Hire Another Admin, Fix the Workflow

Operations

Operations

Before You Hire Another Admin, Fix the Workflow

Before You Hire Another Admin, Fix the Workflow

Before You Hire Another Admin, Fix the Workflow

Open note

Open note

Did That Job Actually Make Money? The Profitability Question Every Fabricator Needs to Answer

Job Costing

Job Costing

Did That Job Actually Make Money? The Profitability Question Every Fabricator Needs to Answer

Did That Job Actually Make Money? The Profitability Question Every Fabricator Needs to Answer

Did That Job Actually Make Money? The Profitability Question Every Fabricator Needs to Answer

Open note

Open note

Why Manufacturing ERPs Fail in Small Job Shops

ERP

ERP

Why Manufacturing ERPs Fail in Small Job Shops

Why Manufacturing ERPs Fail in Small Job Shops

Why Manufacturing ERPs Fail in Small Job Shops

Open note

Open note

The Friday Afternoon Scheduling Problem: Why Job Shop Plans Break Every Week

Scheduling

Scheduling

The Friday Afternoon Scheduling Problem: Why Job Shop Plans Break Every Week

The Friday Afternoon Scheduling Problem: Why Job Shop Plans Break Every Week

The Friday Afternoon Scheduling Problem: Why Job Shop Plans Break Every Week

Open note

Open note

Why Slow Quotes Cost Fabricators Good Jobs, And How to Fix It

Quoting

Quoting

Why Slow Quotes Cost Fabricators Good Jobs, And How to Fix It

Why Slow Quotes Cost Fabricators Good Jobs, And How to Fix It

Why Slow Quotes Cost Fabricators Good Jobs, And How to Fix It

Open note

Open note