The shop floor runs. So should the office.
Small manufacturers and machine shops keep the floor moving and fit the office work in between: purchase orders, supplier invoices, material reorders, timesheets and the weekly numbers. Third Shift builds automations for that office work, inside the systems you already run.
What piles up
Office work that waits on the floor
The paperwork that gets done between jobs, or after everyone has gone home.
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Purchase orders and supplier invoices
Invoices matched to purchase orders and receipts, posted and lined up for payment by due date, with price and quantity differences held.
How invoice automation works -
Material and reorder alerts
Stock checked against your minimums, with a reorder list ready for purchasing to approve.
More on what else we build -
Timesheets and payroll prep
Shift hours checked against the schedule, overtime flagged, and payroll prep ready for approval.
More on what else we build -
The weekly numbers
Shipments, open orders, overtime and overdue accounts, built overnight from the systems they live in.
How automated reporting works -
RFQs and quotes
RFQs logged and acknowledged, and quotes followed up on schedule, so new work doesn’t sit in an inbox.
How lead follow-up works -
Checklists and routines
Month-end, maintenance reminders and the Friday routine, run on schedule and logged.
How process automation works
What stays with you
The decisions stay on your side
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Purchasing
Reorder lists and purchase orders are prepared for a person to approve. Nothing is ordered on its own.
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Money
No money is paid or sent without a person signing off, unless you decide otherwise.
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Exceptions
Price changes, short shipments and anything outside your rules are held with the reason, not pushed through.
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Access
Read-only wherever possible, a separate login for each automation, and access you can revoke at any time.
Who it’s for
A good fit if
- Supplier invoices get matched to purchase orders by hand.
- You find out material is low when a job is waiting on it.
- Timesheets come in on paper or in a spreadsheet.
- The weekly numbers are pulled together by hand from three places.
Works with
What you already run
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Sage
- NetSuite
- Excel
- Google Sheets
- Gmail
- Outlook
Using something else? Ask. If you can log into it, there’s usually a way to connect it.
Questions
What owners ask
We have an ERP. Would you replace it?
No. We build around the systems you run, reading from them and posting to them where they allow. If your ERP already handles reorder points, we leave that alone and work on what it doesn’t.
Does it touch the machines?
No. This is office work: purchasing, invoices, stock, hours and reports. The shop floor stays as it is.
What does a build cost?
Every build has a fixed price, written on the one-page plan before any work starts. You know the number before you commit.
Who else it’s for
Other kinds of business
- Trades and contractorsQuotes followed up, crew schedules sent, supplier invoices matched to jobs.
- Distributors and wholesalersEmailed orders drafted, supplier invoices matched, stock and collections watched.
- ClinicsThe business side of the clinic: supplier invoices, inquiries, schedules and numbers.
- Professional servicesDocuments chased, clients onboarded, billing and month-end kept moving.
Book a call
Tell us what the office is behind on
A free 20-minute call. Tell us how purchasing, invoices and hours work today, and we’ll tell you plainly what’s worth automating.
Prefer email? thirdshift.ca@gmail.com