A fabrication job is a project, not an order — an ERP for an aluminium & glass business
How Yukti AI built ZUNOWA a fabrication ERP and CRM that runs the whole cycle — a partition calculator that turns a measurement into a quotation, stage-by-stage project tracking through cutting, material planning, fabrication and installation, karigar workforce management with attendance and labour rates, and a project profitability report.
ZUNOWA fabricates and installs aluminium and glass work — office partitions, windows, doors, glazing. Every job starts with a site measurement, becomes a bespoke quotation, then runs for weeks through cutting, fabrication and on-site installation by karigars. Yukti AI built a single system: a partition calculator for quoting, a project stage board from measurement to handover, cutting-plan and material-planning records per project, a karigar mobile login plus an admin side for attendance, labour rates and salary, purchase and inventory, invoicing with receivables, and reports including quoted-versus-actual project profitability.
Quick facts
| Client | ZUNOWA |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing — aluminium & glass fabrication and installation (partitions, windows, doors, glazing) |
| Business type | Project-based fabricator + installer — every job measured, quoted, fabricated and installed on site |
| Core challenge | Quoting done by hand from measurements; project progress and material use untracked; karigar labour cost estimated, not measured; job profitability unknown |
| Solution | Custom fabrication ERP + CRM covering the full measurement-to-installation cycle |
| CRM & Sales | Contacts, enquiries, leads, follow-ups, a WhatsApp inbox; quotations with a partition calculator, orders, invoices, payments, receivables |
| Projects | Project & stage boards, measurements, cutting plans, material planning, approvals, fabrication |
| Workforce | Karigar mobile login (assigned projects, partition map); admin: karigars, attendance, labour rates, salary, work history, assignments |
| Back office | Suppliers, purchase orders & bills, material receipts, stock overview & movements, accounting (ledger, cash/bank, expenses, income, payables, P&L) |
| Reports | Sales, purchase, inventory, material consumption, karigar performance, project profitability (quoted vs actual) |
| Stack | React + Vite + TypeScript, Zustand, separate karigar auth |
Fabrication is measured, quoted, made and installed — every time
ZUNOWA makes and fits aluminium and glass work — a glass cabin partition here, a run of sliding windows there, a shopfront, a set of doors. There is no standard product. Each job begins with someone going to the site with a tape measure, and ends weeks later with karigars fitting the finished work in place.
In between, a lot has to line up. The quotation has to be built from the measurements — how many running feet of which profile, how much glass area, which hardware, how many days of labour. Once won, the job needs a cutting plan, then the right material has to be in stock or bought, then it is fabricated, then karigars are scheduled to install it. Miss a step — under-quote the labour, run short on a profile, lose track of which karigar was on which site — and the job that looked profitable on paper quietly isn't.
A fabrication ERP's core job is to keep the quote, the cutting plan, the material and the labour on one project record — so that at the end you can see what the job actually cost versus what you quoted.
What ZUNOWA was doing by hand
- "Every quote is calculated by the estimator from the measurements." Slow, and dependent on one person's method.
- "Once a job is confirmed, its progress is in people's heads." No stage board showing where each project is.
- "Material shortages are found on the shop floor." A profile runs out mid-job because nothing checked the plan against stock.
- "Karigar labour is estimated at month-end." Who was on which site, for how many days, at what rate — reconstructed from memory.
- "We don't know which jobs made money." Quoted value versus actual cost was never compared per project.
How a job runs now
Before
- Quote calculated by hand from the measurements
- Project progress known by asking around
- Material shortages discovered on the floor
- Karigar days and rates reconstructed at month-end
- Job profitability never compared to the quote
After
- Partition calculator turns measurements into a quotation
- Every job on a stage board from measurement to handover
- Material planning checks the cutting plan against stock
- Karigar attendance & labour rates tracked against each project
- Project profitability report: quoted value vs actual cost
Why not a generic ERP or a CRM?
A generic ERP tracks stock and invoices; a generic CRM tracks leads. A fabrication business needs the bit in between — the project — and it needs it built around aluminium profiles, glass area, cutting plans, karigar days and installation. The comparison that led to a custom build:
| What a fabricator needs | Generic ERP / CRM | The system we built |
|---|---|---|
| Turn a site measurement into a quote | Manual | Partition calculator |
| Track a job stage-by-stage as a project | Order status only | Project stage board |
| Check the cutting plan against stock | Not a concept | Material planning + shortage alert |
| Karigar attendance & labour rate to a project | Not covered | Karigar admin: attendance, rates, salary |
| Quoted value vs actual cost per project | Rarely | Project profitability report |
| Field-worker mobile login | Full seat licence | Separate karigar app, isolated auth |
What runs without anyone chasing it
Cutting plan → shortage caught before the floor
Measurement → quotation
Karigar work → cost lands on the project
One project, measurement to profit
The modules
CRM & sales
Contacts and customers, enquiries, a lead pipeline with follow-ups, and a WhatsApp inbox so customer conversations sit with the record. On the sales side: quotations built with the partition calculator, orders, invoices, payments and a receivables view. Benefit: the enquiry, the quote and the money are one thread.
The partition calculator
Enter the measurements and specification of a partition, window, door or glazing job and the calculator produces the quotation — profile lengths, glass area, hardware, labour and price. Benefit: quotes go out faster and consistently, and the same figures flow into material planning once the job is won.
Projects & stages
Every confirmed job becomes a project with a code (for example ZN-108) on a stage board: measurement, design approval, cutting plan, material planning, fabrication, delivery, installation. Measurements, cutting plans and material plans are each their own record against the project, with an approvals step and a project detail view showing progress, activity, assigned karigars and linked invoices. Benefit: "where is the Prahladnagar job" is a screen.
Material planning & the shortage alert
Material planning takes the cutting plan and checks it against current stock — and flags a shortage (for example "Aluminium 2" Profile below reorder level for Project ZN-108") before the job reaches the floor. Benefit: a job does not stop halfway for want of a profile.
Karigar workforce management
Karigars get their own mobile login — assigned projects, site tasks, a partition map for the job. The admin side has a karigar register, attendance, configurable labour rates, salary calculation, work history and project assignments. Benefit: labour cost is recorded against each project as it happens, not estimated later.
Purchase, inventory & accounting
Suppliers, purchase orders and bills, material receipts; a stock overview with movements by category; and an accounting section — ledger, cash and bank, expenses, income, payables and a profit-and-loss view. Benefit: the fabrication business's money is in the same system as its work.
Reports — including project profitability
Sales, purchase, inventory, material consumption and karigar performance reports — and a project profitability report that compares each project's quoted value to its actual cost (material, labour, bills). Benefit: the business finally knows which jobs, customers and job types make money.
Settings
Company profile, a material master, tax settings, users and roles, WhatsApp settings and notification settings.
Where AI fits in a fabrication business
ZUNOWA's system already automates the calculation-heavy parts — the partition calculator, material planning against stock, the shortage alert. On top of that, Yukti AI's business management systems add an AI layer that reads the project data:
- Margin-at-risk alerts — a live project whose material or labour is trending over the quoted budget, flagged before it closes at a loss.
- Quote calibration — comparing quoted labour and material to actuals across finished jobs, so the calculator's assumptions get more accurate over time.
- Schedule & material forecasting — which profiles and glass will be needed across all live projects in the next weeks, and when.
- Plain-language questions — "which projects are behind schedule", "which customer's jobs are least profitable", "how much aluminium 2" profile is committed to open projects".
What each person gets
Owner / Admin
The dashboard, project profitability, receivables and payables, karigar salary, and every report.
Sales / Estimator
Enquiries, the partition calculator, quotations, orders and the customer WhatsApp inbox.
Project / Production
The stage board, cutting plans, material planning, the shortage alerts and fabrication.
Purchase
Suppliers, purchase orders and bills, material receipts and stock levels against project demand.
Karigar
A mobile login with assigned projects, site tasks and a partition map — nothing else.
Accounts
Ledger, cash and bank, expenses, income, payables, receivables and the P&L view.
How it was built
Map the fabrication cycle
Measurement → quotation → project stages → cutting → material → fabrication → installation → invoice, and the data each step produces.
Build the partition calculator
The quoting tool that turns measurements into profiles, glass area, hardware, labour and price — the entry point to every project.
Project & stage tracking
The stage board, measurements, cutting plans, material planning and approvals as records against each project.
Karigar app & workforce admin
A separate karigar login and auth path, plus the admin side for attendance, labour rates, salary and assignments.
Back office & profitability
Purchase, inventory, accounting, and the reports — ending with quoted-value-versus-actual per project.
What changed
Factual — no invented numbers.
Technology
- React + Vite + TypeScript — the application, fast and mobile-responsive so estimators and karigars can use it from site.
- Zustand — the state store; the architecture is designed to move to a hosted database as the next step.
- Separate karigar authentication — the karigar mobile login runs on its own auth path, isolated from the office application.
ZUNOWA owns all project, customer and workforce data.
If you measure, make and install, this is buildable for you
The measurement-to-quotation, project-stage, field-workforce, material-planning and profitability pattern fits:
- Aluminium, uPVC and glass fabricators — partitions, windows, facades, railings
- Modular kitchen, wardrobe and furniture makers
- False-ceiling, gypsum and interior-fit-out contractors
- Structural steel, railing and grille fabricators
- Solar, HVAC and elevator installers (see the Maven Lift case study)
Start with a free workflow audit. See Custom ERP Software, Manufacturing ERP Software or AI Business Management System.
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Summary
Yukti AI built a custom fabrication ERP and CRM for ZUNOWA, an aluminium and glass fabrication and installation business making office partitions, windows, doors and glazing. Because every job is a bespoke project, the system runs the full cycle: CRM with a WhatsApp inbox, quotations built with a partition calculator that turns site measurements into profiles, glass area, hardware, labour and price; a project stage board from measurement and design approval through cutting plans, material planning, fabrication and installation; material planning that checks the cutting plan against stock and raises a shortage alert before the job reaches the floor; karigar workforce management with a mobile login and an admin side for attendance, labour rates, salary and assignments; purchase, inventory and full accounting; and reports including a project profitability report that compares quoted value to actual cost per job. Built on React, Vite, TypeScript and Zustand with a separate karigar authentication path. Yukti AI builds comparable fabrication and contractor ERPs across India.