Quoting and job setup
Estimates built in a workbook only one estimator understands, then re-entered into the ERP.
Who we work with
Four kinds of organization, one underlying problem.
None of them are short of software. They have the systems they pay for, and a layer of spreadsheets holding the gaps between them together. The gaps differ by sector; the shape of the fix does not.
Does this sound like you?
One person is the only one who fully understands the spreadsheet.
You pay for systems that do not talk to each other.
Answering a routine question takes someone half a day.
Headcount grew but the process did not change.
Off-the-shelf tools almost fit, and the gap is covered by hand.
You have no in-house developer and do not want to hire one.
Sector one
Manufacturers
The plant runs on systems. The office runs on spreadsheets. Tools for the floor have to work with gloves on, on a tablet, in a hurry — and the ERP usually stays the system of record while we build around it.
Scheduling and dispatch
A whiteboard or weekly sheet that is wrong by Tuesday, with no history of why a job slipped.
Quality and inspection records
Checks captured on paper at the machine, filed in a binder, searched by hand when a customer asks.
Maintenance and downtime
Requests by text message and memory, with no record of which machine costs the most to keep running.
Inventory and receiving
Counts kept in a second place because the ERP view does not match how the floor works.
Plant reporting
Monthly numbers assembled from exports, arriving too late for anyone to act on them.
Waiting · 3Line 4 → Ship dock
2 pallets · requested 11:01
Accepted · 2Line 1 → Rack A03
Operator 7 · 2 min ago
Completed this shift · 243 min
Avg. pickup time
Before founding Orbitech, Brock built a plant operations system of exactly this kind: managers dispatched forklift jobs from a web interface, and operators picked them up from an alert on a Raspberry Pi with LED indicators at the machine. Manufacturing is where that experience came from.
Sector two
Nonprofits and associations
Small teams carrying programs designed for a larger one. The work is real; the tooling is whatever was available when the program started.
Member programs
Participation tracked in a workbook, with no view of who is engaged between annual cycles.
Benchmarking and survey data
Submissions collected by email and compiled by hand into a report nobody can query.
Donation and intake tracking
What came in, from whom, and where it went — recorded in three places and reconciled later.
Grant and program reporting
Numbers a funder needs, rebuilt from scratch every reporting period.
Where this has led: a modernized benchmarking application with room to expand and monetize, and — built by Brock before Orbitech — an inventory and donation-intake system with an internal dashboard for a food pantry. See the work.
Sector three
Healthcare-adjacent organizations
Clinics, therapy practices, and testing services — where the clinical system covers care and everything around it is manual.
Intake and waivers
Forms signed on paper, scanned, and typed in again before anything can happen.
Scheduling around a service
Appointments for testing or programs that the clinical system was never meant to hold.
Referral-source tracking
Knowing where patients come from, but not what each source costs or returns.
Outcome and volume reporting
Results held in spreadsheets, so questions about trends take days to answer.
Where this has led: a referral-tracking sheet that became a system tying marketing spend to patient ROI, and a baseline-testing service run end to end in one application. See the work.
Sector four
Growing service businesses
Operations designed for ten people, now being run by forty on the same spreadsheet. Everything works, and everything takes longer than it should.
Quoting and onboarding
Each new client set up by hand, slightly differently, depending on who did it.
Scheduling and assignment
Who is doing what this week, held in one person's head and a shared calendar.
Client communication
Status requests answered individually, because clients have nowhere to look.
Margin by job
A clear picture at the company level, guesswork at the level where decisions are made.