The whole path of a job — from SolidWorks to delivery. OpifexHQ works in two parts that share the same data: the design-office app (desktop) runs next to SolidWorks, and the web app opens in any browser — where production sees cost, materials and progress, live.
Download the full user guide to see every OpifexHQ feature in detail — step by step, with examples.
Instead of typing every part into a table by hand, OpifexHQ reads the structure straight from SolidWorks. What you built in CAD becomes a production list in seconds — no copy errors, no double work.
Name, quantity, configurations, weldments and a preview image for every part — straight from the active assembly or from a .SLDASM file.
When the job isn’t an assembly but a single metal structure (a frame or a beam skeleton), you import the weldment part directly and its cut-list items automatically become its parts. Identical beams merge into one row × quantity.
The assembly shows up on the web too, with the full part list, quantities and images — ready for costing, materials and production.
With one click you turn every part of an assembly into the files production needs — ready for the laser and the machines, correctly named and sorted into folders.
DXF (sheet-metal flat patterns), PDF (drawings), STEP (3D) and Weldment (cut list) — pick one or more and OpifexHQ runs them all, retrying any that failed.
The DXF file name carries the material, quantity and thickness — the laser operator sees “what, how many, what thickness” without opening the file.
For parts with a satin face, the flat pattern is oriented so the finished side faces up — so the press brake doesn’t press on it while bending.
The heart of the daily work. You see, live, where every part of every job is: what’s on the laser, what’s in paint, what’s waiting, what’s stuck — one shared picture everyone sees at once.
The flow is the part’s “build recipe” — the order of stations it must pass through. OpifexHQ keeps it for you, so no step is lost and you don’t have to tell each worker out loud.
Laser → Threading → Press brake → WeldingYou advance a part by dragging it or with the “Advance” button — all pieces together or just some. You mark Scrap for damaged pieces and Rework for those going back.
A part turns red when it sits at a station longer than a threshold you set — so bottlenecks show instantly, without hunting for them.
The design always changes. With re-import you simply re-read the file: existing parts keep their work, new ones are added, and changed ones are flagged for review. Without rebuilding anything from scratch.
Matching is by part number. For every part present in both versions, these move over automatically:
Nothing from the CAD passes silently: a part whose drawing or comments changed gets an orange “check before you continue” flag, so nothing slips past the shop floor.
The “Re-import check” compares the new version with the previous one and shows you, in black and white, what was lost or changed — e.g. cost from 50 to 80. The previous version keeps its own history.
You know what a build really costs — for accurate quotes and prices. It gives a useful estimate from day one, even with nothing entered, and sharpens as real data comes in.
For a batch, the physical cost (labour + materials + purchased) is multiplied × N, while design is added just once — because the engineering is done once.
Production × N + engineering onceYou see the estimated hours/cost next to the actual ones (from measured time), with a completion percentage — to know whether the job came out as you costed it. Time is “clipped” to your working hours, so dead time isn’t charged.
You never run out of material mid-job and you never order blind. Each assembly tells you what it needs, the warehouse knows what you have, and each keeps the other up to date.
Every purchased part or raw material follows a simple status flow, so you always know what’s going on:
To order → Will order → Expected delivery → ReceivedMany parts are cut from raw stock — e.g. a shaft from a Ø40×300 bar. You declare which material it comes from and how much per piece, and OpifexHQ reserves it in the warehouse.
When many pieces are cut from the same profile, OpifexHQ sums them into one total bar length per profile — (length + kerf) × pieces — so you know how many metres to cut, instead of counting by hand.
For every code, one clean number answers “do I have enough?”. When it doesn’t cover demand, the item is flagged “Shortage” and feeds the “Blocked by material” board.
Balance = On hand − Needed + On orderEvery part and every job often comes with files: a quote, a customer email, a photo, a PDF drawing. Instead of hunting through folders, you “pin” them onto the part or the assembly itself.
You drag files onto the window — from Explorer or straight from an email — and they link. A part with attachments shows a small paperclip badge, so you see at a glance which ones have documents.
Links are locked to the assembly name, not to a version — so when you re-import the job, the attachments are still there.
Before you start a sheet-metal job, you want to know one thing: how many sheets to buy. Nesting gives you the answer instantly, using the DXF files you’ve already exported.
How many sheets are needed in total, the visual layout per sheet, and the leftover offcut.
You keep the useful leftover of each cut in a separate offcut warehouse, and optionally start the next calculation from those — so you buy fewer sheets.
Nesting answers “how many sheets to buy”; it isn’t a nesting tool for driving the laser itself.
The whole shop at a glance: how many jobs are running, what’s progressing, what’s stuck, what risks being late and how loaded each station is — all live.
Active orders, assemblies in progress, volume completed this week, average lead time, and what’s at risk on its deadline.
How loaded each station is in work hours (pieces × standard hours) — you see where work piles up and where a bottleneck will form.
A trend chart of pieces completed per week, and the “Blocked by material” board right next to the rest of the picture.
An order is the “hat” over the assemblies: it holds the commercial side (customer, deadline, sale price) and production (which assemblies are being made, how far along, who designed them) together.
Each order is assigned to a designer; their design time, times their €/hour, becomes the “Design cost” in the costing automatically.
You link one or more assemblies and see the overall progress. On completion you see the actual cost, and the job moves to History.
You mark the order “Delivered” and “Invoiced” — so the job’s cycle is complete, from sale to invoice.
The right way to do “make me something like last year’s, but changed”. It copies a SolidWorks assembly with all its reference files into a clean, new folder — so you work on the copy safely.
With a version token (e.g. 2028) every file is renamed to “name_2028”, so versions have unique names and can be open together without SolidWorks mixing up the parts.
The raw materials and the attachments you linked follow the copy. The exports (PDF/DXF) never — so an outdated laser export isn’t carried over.
The simplest way to keep production moving: the operator at each station just scans a part’s QR code and it advances to the next station on its own. Zero training, works on a cheap tablet next to the machine.
You issue and print the codes for the parts, and at each station you open that station’s tablet page. Scanning advances the part to the next station in its own flow — and it keeps working even if the network drops for a moment.
Here you tailor OpifexHQ to your own company: prices, working hours, stations, the shared file folder — and you set who sees and who changes what. Set up right once, everything else comes out right on its own.
Ready-made roles — Owner, Admin, Designer, Sales, Viewer — with granular permissions per capability. You can tune individual capabilities per person (e.g. give procurement to a designer without making them an Admin).
People join with an invite code you share or by directly creating a user. Cost is visible only to those with the relevant permission.
On the shop floor, information gets lost in word of mouth: “is X done?”, “did the material arrive?”. Notifications gather every important event into one inbox, so you don’t have to ask or remember.
When someone asked for you on a part, when a part advanced or finished its flow, when a job is done, when a material fell short, or when an export / Pack & Go finished. Clicking a notification takes you straight to its subject.
Often some parts shouldn’t move on alone: they must all be ready at the same point first — e.g. the plates of a frame must all reach “Welding” before they’re welded.
You build a “convergence set” of two or more parts and a shared station. The parts appear there only after they’ve all arrived — and then continue as one single piece.
Plate A + Plate B + Angle C → meet at “Welding” → oneThe active-jobs list stays clean without losing anything: finished jobs are archived, and anything you delete by mistake can come back. Permanent deletion exists, but it’s a separate, deliberate step.
Active → History ⇄ Restore · Active → Deleted → Restore / Permanent“Delete” doesn’t erase permanently — the job goes to “Deleted” and comes back with one click. Permanent deletion is irreversible and gives you controlled options for what else gets cleaned up (files, flow, stock).
Beyond the big features, OpifexHQ has a set of “conveniences” that make daily work faster on large assemblies — you don’t have to use them all, but when you need them, they’re there.
The power of OpifexHQ is that the pieces aren’t separate tools but one continuous flow where each feeds the next. You design once, and the same information runs through cost, materials, flow and orders — live, without double work. Your drawings and files stay solely on your own file server; your data is yours.
SolidWorks → Import → Cost & Materials → Production → Exports → Orders