Enterprise DNA

Instead of Tekla PowerFab

Stop renting Tekla PowerFab. Own your fabrication records.

We build your version around your stations, your construction categories and the way you claim, bring your Tekla PowerFab assembly lists across and run it for you. Your detailing and nesting software stay as they are.

Trimble publishes no price for Tekla PowerFab. It is a subscription quoted through resellers, licensed per user or as floating seats, with extra PowerFab Go licences for the floor bought by the year.

Get your version built See it working
  • check_circleYour data in a database you own
  • check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
  • check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA

What the subscription covers

You pay by the seat for screens over your own job records

Tekla PowerFab is sold as a subscription through Trimble's resellers rather than from a public price list. Here is what a fabricator's bill is built from, and which parts are really the front end.

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A licence for each office seat

Office licences are assigned to named users or shared as floating seats. Every estimator, project manager and buyer who edits records needs one.

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Extra licences for the floor

One PowerFab Go licence comes with the subscription. More are bought by the year and usually sit on shared tablets and shop computers.

autorenew

A subscription that keeps billing

The licences are a subscription. Cancelling goes through your local Tekla support organisation, not your own admin screen.

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Every module on one licence

A full licence opens estimating, purchasing, inventory, project management, production control and order entry, whether or not your shop uses them all.

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Setup and training days

Resellers quote implementation and training alongside the licences, and new staff need training again later.

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Your history behind a licence

Read-only viewing is free, but adding or changing a record needs a paid seat. Your job history stays inside the vendor's software.

Your own fabrication desk

Start with what the workshop manager and the welding coordinator ask every week

Site dates

See which sequence will be late before the builder does

Every erection sequence against the date the site needs it, with the tonnes finished, the tonnes sent and the marks holding it up.

  • check Late and at-risk sequences with the station each mark is stuck at
  • check Finished steel not on a truck, ordered by site date
  • check Marks with nothing recorded for a week
  • check A weekly review of tonnes through QA against what the next sequences need

Traceability

Keep the paper trail the construction category asks for

Each mark carries its heat lots, mill certificates, welders, weld procedures and inspections, checked against CC2, CC3 and CC4.

  • check Marks cut with no heat lot recorded, by category
  • check Heat lots in use with no mill certificate on file
  • check Welds made by someone whose ticket had lapsed or did not suit the category, on the day
  • check A manufacturer's data report per project, with every gap shown

Drawings

Stop cutting steel to the wrong revision

Drawings carry their revision and status, and each mark remembers the revision it was cut to.

  • check Cutting to an unreleased drawing is refused unless the builder has instructed it
  • check Marks cut to an older revision that have not shipped
  • check Drawings out for approval, with the site date that depends on them
  • check A drafted chase note to the builder or engineer

Claims

Claim what the steel has earned

The progress claim is worked out from tonnes through QA and tonnes delivered, less retention and earlier claims.

  • check Earned value per job that has not been claimed yet
  • check Payment claims that state the Construction Contracts Act and show the working
  • check Claims past the payment schedule deadline flagged
  • check Branded delivery dockets for every truck

Make it yours

Design your own Tekla PowerFab replacement

Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Tekla PowerFab. Try it here, and we build the real one.

2. What it runs

3. Make it fit

4. Your colour

Your business · your Tekla PowerFab replacement Your version
YB Your business

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Answered from your own database

Build my version

We build it from the open-source base, bring your Tekla PowerFab data across and run it for you.

What it looks like

Ask it like you would ask a colleague

Real answers from fictional demo records for a Tauranga fabricator. Your team asks the question and checks the records behind the answer.

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Steel Fabrication for Claude Code

Connected to your own database

Which sequences will be late, and what is holding them up?

Erection sequences against site dates

P-210

Seq
S1
Name
Ground floor frame
Site needs
2026-10-21
Days
-3
T
6.6
Finished t
5.8
Sent t
2.1
Risk
LATE
Not ready
B1 at coating

P-210

Seq
S2
Name
Level 1 and roof
Site needs
2026-10-29
Days
5
T
5.3
Finished t
0.2
Sent t
0.0
Risk
at risk
Not ready
B2 welding, R1 fit-up

P-214

Seq
S1
Name
Cold store frame
Site needs
2026-11-03
Days
10
T
6.0
Finished t
0.0
Sent t
0.0
Risk
on track
Not ready
CL2 fit-up, K1 at coating, K2 awaiting QA, K3 w...

P-218

Seq
S1
Name
Canopy
Site needs
2026-11-07
Days
14
T
2.8
Finished t
0.0
Sent t
0.0
Risk
on track
Not ready
G1 at coating, G2 fit-up

P-210

Seq
S3
Name
Plant deck
Site needs
2026-11-14
Days
21
T
3.1
Finished t
0.0
Sent t
0.0
Risk
on track
Not ready
B3 not started, B4 fit-up

P-214

Seq
S2
Name
Loading dock
Site needs
2026-11-23
Days
30
T
1.6
Finished t
0.0
Sent t
0.0
Risk
on track
Not ready
K5 not started

Ask it anything

Questions answered from your fabrication records

Real questions the free version answers today on its demo data. They are not a claim that Tekla PowerFab cannot produce a custom report.

chat_bubble Which marks were welded by someone not qualified for that project's construction category on the day?
chat_bubble Which marks were cut to a drawing revision that has since changed and have not shipped?
chat_bubble Which erection sequence will miss its site date, and at which station is it stuck?
chat_bubble Which CC2 main members, or any CC3 items, were cut with no heat lot recorded?
chat_bubble Which heat lots in use still have no mill certificate, and which marks did they go into?
chat_bubble How many tonnes passed QA each week, and is that enough for the next three sequences?
chat_bubble What has each job earned that we have not claimed yet?
chat_bubble Which payment claims have gone past the schedule deadline?
chat_bubble Which marks have not moved for a week, and where are they sitting?
chat_bubble Which welders need their six-monthly confirmation signed this month?

Switching

How to switch from Tekla PowerFab

In practice, the move involves exporting each open job’s assembly list, checking the imported records and entering the live-job history that the list does not carry.

  1. 1

    Export each open job

    For each open job, export its assembly list from Tekla PowerFab to Excel, then save it as CSV. The import uses marks, quantities, weights, profiles, grades, sequences and drawing numbers. If you cannot find the export option or are unsure what your account allows, check with Tekla PowerFab.

  2. 2

    Test the import

    Load an assembly list with the import’s test run before bringing in live records. Review the test run’s report and check anything it flags. Confirm that the job and its assembly details are going into the right place before you proceed with the full import.

  3. 3

    Load records and fill gaps

    After checking the test run, import the assembly lists for your open jobs. Re-importing a revised list updates marks rather than duplicating them. The assembly list does not bring across heat lots, welder records or the station progress already recorded on live jobs, so enter those records separately.

  4. 4

    Run both systems briefly

    Keep Tekla PowerFab available while you handle a short period of work in the new system. Check that job marks, station progress, traceability records and claims match what your team expects from the existing records. Use this period to catch missing information or differences in your processes before relying on the new system alone.

  5. 5

    Switch off Tekla PowerFab

    Once you have checked the records and your team is ready to work in the new system, stop using Tekla PowerFab for those jobs. Review your Tekla PowerFab subscription and contact local support about cancellation. Keep any records you still need access to before ending the subscription.

construction

Where the real effort goes

The main work is usually mapping your own fields and rules, then deciding how much history to bring across. Assembly lists carry core mark and job details, but heat lots, welder records and live-job station progress need separate entry. When Enterprise DNA installs and runs it for you, they handle this migration work as part of the paid path.

Not ready for a call?

Get your Tekla PowerFab switch plan by email

We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Tekla PowerFab, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.

One email with your plan. No spam, and you can unsubscribe any time.

Three ways to make it yours

Start with the free version or have your version built

Open source

Do it yourself

Free code

  1. 1 Clone the repo and run npm install, npm test and npm run demo.
  2. 2 Open it in Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode or Cursor.
  3. 3 Export a job's assembly list from Tekla PowerFab to CSV and run the import with --dry-run first.
  4. 4 Set each project's construction category, then book in heat lots and welder tickets.
Get it on GitHub

Built around your business

We customise it

One setup fee, then a retainer

  • check Your stations, fields, construction categories and inspection and test plan
  • check Your Tekla PowerFab assembly lists, heat numbers and open jobs brought across and checked
  • check A tablet screen or barcode scanning for the floor, if your team wants one
  • check Estimating, purchasing or a connection to your accounts, scoped for how you work
Get your version built

Omni by Enterprise DNA

We run it for you

One setup fee, then a retainer

  • check Installed and operated through Omni by Enterprise DNA
  • check Access for the office, the workshop manager and the welding coordinator
  • check Backups, restore checks and updates looked after
  • check The Monday review and the month-end claim prepared for you to approve
Book a call with Sam

Questions

Instead of Tekla PowerFab, answered

Does this replace estimating, nesting and the CNC files? expand_more

No. The free version starts at the awarded job: drawings, marks, stations, traceability, trucks and claims. Keep your nesting software for the saw and plasma. If you want estimating or purchasing in your version, that is part of what we build.

How do our jobs come across from Tekla PowerFab? expand_more

Export each open job's assembly list to Excel and save it as CSV. Marks, quantities, weights, profiles, grades, sequences and drawing numbers import in one step, and a revised list updates the marks rather than duplicating them. Heat lots, welder tickets and the stations already finished on live jobs are a short one-off entry, which we do for you on the paid paths.

Will it satisfy AS/NZS 5131 and our certifier? expand_more

It checks your records against the traceability, welder qualification and weld category rules for each construction category, and cites the clause for each. It does not certify anything. Your welding coordinator and engineer still make the calls; the system makes sure the evidence is there when they ask.

Our floor works from tablets. What happens to that? expand_more

In the free version, progress is recorded by telling Claude what was done, one mark or a whole shift at a time. If your floor needs screens or scanning at each station, we build that into your version.

What do we pay Enterprise DNA? expand_more

The code is free. A version built and run for your business has one setup fee, then a retainer. Sam looks at your Tekla PowerFab bill, your stations and how you claim before agreeing the scope.

Own the records behind your next steel job

Take 30 minutes with Sam to go through your Tekla PowerFab bill, how work moves across your floor and what your certifier asks for. We map your jobs and agree what your version needs before you change anything.

Book a 30-minute call with Sam Get the free version

Steel Fabrication for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.

Done paying for Tekla PowerFab?

Get your version built