Manufacturing drawings in.
Structured quotes out.
AXIOS Data Reader turns a customer’s engineering drawings into a filled quote workbook: every part enumerated, a process plan with machines, setups and minutes per piece, materials and outside processes priced at your shop’s own rates, and the basis for every number shown to your estimator. Built for fabrication and machine shops that quote from prints and win on speed and accuracy.
What AXIOS does with a drawing
Read → plan → price → land → explainAXIOS Data Reader is quoting software for fabrication and machine shops. You drop in the customer’s engineering drawings; it returns your quote workbook filled in as a draft an estimator can check line by line. It is not a chat box and it does not invent a price: every number comes from the drawing, from your shop’s own rates, and from a time model calibrated against real shop hours. The five steps below happen on every quote, in this order.
| AXIOS QUOTE SHEET | |||||||||
| Customer: | MERIDIAN AERO | Date: | 08/10/26 | ||||||
| Contact: | S. TANAKA | Quote #: | Q-1102 | ||||||
| Project: | AV-220 ACTUATOR SUPPORT | Lead time (wks): | 4 | ||||||
| LINE ITEMS | |||||||||
| # | Part Number | Description | Material | Qty | Material $/ea | Labor min/ea | Rate $/hr | Outside $/ea | Line Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 73-4410 | SUPPORT FITTING, ACTUATOR | 7075-T7351 | 4 | $64.00 | 160 | $110 | — | $1,429.33 |
| 2 | 73-4411 | BUSHING, FLANGED | C63000 BRZ | 8 | $9.40 | 20 | $110 | — | $368.53 |
| 3 | OS-CF | CHEM FILM MIL-DTL-5541 CL 3 | OUTSIDE | 4 | — | — | — | $18.00 | $72.00 |
| 4 | OS-PEN | PENETRANT INSPECT E1417 | OUTSIDE | 4 | — | — | — | $22.50 | $90.00 |
| 5 | FAI-9102 | FIRST ARTICLE INSPECTION | — | 1 | — | 90 | $110 | — | $165.00 |
| Subtotal | $2,124.86 | ||||||||
| Markup % | 15% | ||||||||
| Markup $ | $318.73 | ||||||||
| Shipping | $45.00 | ||||||||
| TOTAL | $2,488.59 | ||||||||
| NOTES | |||||||||
| Draft from 73-4410 REV A · labor at your shop rate ($110/hr) · outside processing at vendor pricing · review and adjust before sending. | |||||||||
Calibrated to real shop hours
The time modelMachining time is the number that makes or breaks a quote, so AXIOS does not guess it. It builds each cycle from what the machine actually has to do: stock that must come off, hole and thread cycles, tool changes, probing, load and unload, at cutting speeds that are realistic for the material. Those catalog minutes are then corrected by a realization factor that explains why a shop’s spindle time is longer than the handbook says: feeds held back to protect certified blanks and micro tools, in-process probing and B-axis moves, light alternating passes on thin walls, measure-and-recut loops on tenth-level features.
Tolerances are priced as a curve, not a line: open and standard callouts cost nothing extra, close tolerances add a fresh edge and an in-process check, tight and precision tolerances add attended finishing, gauging and documented inspection. Hand deburr, inspection and cleaning are quoted as their own processes on top of machine time, because a 718 part can carry as much bench time as spindle time.
The model is calibrated against a manufacturer’s own machine hours on real parts, described by feature signature so no customer data travels with it. When a new part matches a calibrated reference, AXIOS anchors to it and says so; when it does not, it says that too. Every change to the model is run through a benchmark of reference drawings before it ships, and on the calibrated set the engine lands within a tenth of an hour of the shop’s own numbers, run after run.
| How a time is built | Example, one part |
|---|---|
| Catalog minutes from the feature inventory (turning, milling, holes, pockets, grooves) | 234 min |
| × realization for this material on this machine class | × 2.6 |
| Machine time per piece (lands on the machining processes) | 600 min |
| Setup per lot (jaws, presets, probe datums, first-piece loop) | 150 min |
| Hand deburr, own process | 90 min |
| CMM inspection, own process | 60 min |
| All-in at quantity one | 15.0 h |
Capacity: know your workload before you promise a date
From won quotesEvery AXIOS quote already contains the machine, the setup minutes per lot and the run minutes per part for each operation. When a quote is won, that plan becomes load on your machines for the month it is scheduled to run, with no re-entry. The Capacity board shows, per machine type and per month, the hours required against the hours each machine can run, a load percentage, the gap, and a plain status: OK, nearly full, or need capacity.
Jobs are queued per machine in due-date order, so each job gets a planned finish date and each machine shows its first open day. At quote time the ready card tells you the earliest finish if the job is won today, given what is already queued. On the floor, an operator taps Start and Done; that is all the floor ever enters.
What the shop sets up: hours per day and the number of identical machines, once per machine. What it enters per job: the month it will run. Everything else is derived.
| Machine type | Required h | Available h | Load | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mill-turn | 27.5 | 176 | 16% | OK |
| 3-axis mill | 43.6 | 352 | 12% | OK |
| Wire EDM | 340.0 | 317 | 107% | Need capacity |
| Lathe | 6.2 | 176 | 4% | OK |
| Saw | 4.3 | — | — | Set hours |
Your shop, built into every quote
Shop SetupNo rip-and-replace. AXIOS fills the Excel workbook your shop already trusts, every formula, format and calculation preserved, or hands you the built-in AXIOS Quote Sheet with part routing, a build plan written for the shop floor, material and purchased tables, outside costs and a machine selection block wired to your rates.
Your process stays yours. It just gets faster, and it keeps a record. When an estimator uploads the edited sheet, AXIOS keeps both versions and records what changed, which is how the engine learns a shop’s way of quoting without anyone filling in a form.
…plus assemblies and sub-parts, title-block data and drawing notes. Then AXIOS plans the operations (saw, waterjet, laser, brake, weld, turn, mill, EDM, deburr, inspect), estimates the times, and prices materials and outside processes with your shop’s own rates, routed into the right cells of your quote sheet.
Your drawings and your data
Straight talkQuestions shops ask
Plain answersDoes AXIOS replace my quote sheet?
No. It fills the workbook you already use, or the built-in AXIOS Quote Sheet if you prefer one with routing, build plan and machine selection wired in. Your formulas and formats are never changed; only empty input cells receive values.
What drawings can it read?
PDF drawing sets with any number of pages, plus photos and scans in PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF. Assemblies, sub-assemblies and detail parts in one package are handled together. Very large packages are split into two quotes.
How does it know how long an operation takes?
From a time model built from what the machine has to do and corrected by a realization factor calibrated against a manufacturer’s own machine hours. When a part matches a calibrated reference job, the quote says it is anchored and names the reference; when it does not, the quote says the times are derived or uncalibrated so an estimator knows to check them.
How accurate is it?
On the calibrated reference set, repeated runs land within a tenth of an hour of the shop’s own machine hours. For a new shop or a new material family the honest answer is that accuracy depends on calibration, which is why every quote carries its basis and why a new shop’s first jobs are compared against its own hours before the engine is trusted on its own.
How does it learn my shop?
Two ways. Shop Setup gives it your machines, rates, materials and policies. Then, when an estimator uploads the edited quote sheet, AXIOS records which numbers changed. Those corrections build a per-shop calibration over time. There is no form to fill in and nothing to maintain.
Who can see my drawings and quotes?
Only your shop’s team members, inside your workspace. Drawings are kept with a quote only so it can be re-run or scored later, and never when the drawing carries export-control markings. Nothing is shared between shops.
How long does a quote take?
A single-part drawing typically returns in about two minutes; a multi-part package takes longer. The estimator’s review is the rest of the job, and the ready card is built to make that fast: the basis, the largest time, every assumption, and every check that needs an eye.
What does the capacity board need from me?
Hours per day for each machine, set once in Shop Setup, and a month for each won job. Hours per job come from the quote itself. Start and Done taps from the floor are optional and make the board live.
Make sure it’s yours.
I've paid — check again
| Quote | Customer | Due | Files | Started | By |
|---|
| Topic | Notes |
|---|
| Person | Analyses · this month | Quotes started · this month | Quotes · all time | Last active |
|---|