ERP software for joiners that calculates the way the workshop works.
Sheet materials, hardware, operations, labour hours, machines, work preparation and production are all closely connected in joinery. Within Axelis & Partners, we develop Orion ERP to connect that information in one continuous business flow.
Joinery is calculated before a single sheet is cut.
A mistake in material, dimensions or machining becomes more expensive later than when it first occurs.
A cabinet, wall unit or complete bespoke project may look simple from the outside. Internally, it consists of a series of technical and financial choices that are all connected.
Which board? Which thickness? Which back? Which hardware? How much edging? Which operations? How much machine time? How many installation hours?
And what happens to the cost when one of those choices changes?
When costing, material information and production each use their own source, differences appear quickly. Business software therefore needs to speak the same language as the workshop.
The same figures should travel through the entire project.
What was defined in costing should not have to be reinterpreted later.
Materials
Store sheet material, hardware, edging and other components centrally.
Costing
Build cost from materials, operations, machine time and labour.
Work preparation
Translate commercial information into technically executable production data.
Purchasing
Make the required materials and components available at the right time.
Production
Let the workshop, machines and planning work from the same project information.
Post-calculation
Compare what was expected with what the project actually cost.
Material data should not be a collection of separate price lists.
Sheet material alone has many variables: decor, substrate, thickness, finish, size, supplier and price.
Then there are hardware items, runners, hinges, profiles, edging and other components.
When that information is spread across spreadsheets, PDF price lists and supplier portals, every costing exercise takes time again.
Orion is therefore built around one central material structure. The principle is that the same data can be used in costing, purchasing and production.
One material should have the same meaning throughout the system.
A machine costs money, even when that cost is not shown on the quotation.
Sawing, edge banding, milling, drilling, pressing, CNC machining and installation all have a cost.
That cost is not only electricity or consumption. Machine investment, maintenance, capacity and time all matter.
When machine rates and operation times are missing from costing, a project can look more profitable on paper than it really is.
Orion is therefore designed with machine and operation times as part of the cost.
The work preparer should not have to be a detective.
A large share of preparation time is currently lost searching for and checking information.
Which version is the latest? Which dimension changed? Which material was finally selected? Has the hardware already been ordered? What exactly did sales agree?
These are not complex technical problems. They are information problems.
Orion is built on the principle that information entered correctly earlier should remain usable in the next step.
Work preparation should prepare, not collect everything again.
Planning is more than a date on a calendar.
Materials, machine capacity, people and completion dates must come together.
Materials available
A project can only start when the right materials and components are available.
Machine capacity
Operations take time and influence the real lead time of projects.
Labour hours
Preparation, production and installation are all part of the actual cost.
Delivery date
What is promised commercially must remain technically and operationally achievable.
Knowing what you sold is good. Knowing what you earned from it is better.
A quotation shows what a project should cost according to the calculation.
Post-calculation shows what actually happened.
Extra material use, additional labour, unexpected operations or installation problems can quickly reduce a margin that looked healthy.
Post-calculation should therefore not be a separate exercise afterwards. It should show where differences arise and how future costing can improve.
An ERP should do more than store transactions. It should help the business understand where money is made and where it disappears.
Developed within Axelis & Partners, informed by 38 years of industry experience.
Orion ERP is developed within Axelis & Partners as a sustainable business platform for joinery and custom manufacturing businesses.
The organisation combines product development, practical expertise and support. Founder Dirk Panis contributes 38 years of experience across sales, costing, work preparation, production, installation and business management.
That experience forms an important foundation, but Orion is deliberately being built as an organisation-backed platform.
The starting point remains the real flow of materials, information and decisions through a bespoke manufacturing business.
Software should support the logic of the trade, with attention to documentation, support, continuity and long-term transferability.
Where is your joinery business losing time today?
Costing, material prices, work preparation, planning, production or post-calculation? Tell us where the process is slowing down today. That practical input helps us decide where Orion should focus first.