Nesting software that works with JobBOSS²

A worked example in the units a US shop buys in. The job is 60 gussets and 24 base plates in 1/4 in (6.35 mm) A36, cut on the plasma table, released against two customer orders that share a work centre.

1. Decide the batch in JobBOSS². Which released jobs share material, thickness and a cutting operation is the decision that determines whether a plate is worth running, and JobBOSS² holds the schedule and the due dates. Nesting is not part of it: ECI names no nesting module on the JobBOSS² features page or its integrations page.
2. Collect the part geometry as DXF. From CAD, or from wherever your released jobs keep their drawings. JobBOSS² will not hand Lapas a package the way an integrated nester receives one, so this is a person picking files.
3. Upload to Lapas and set quantities. 60 and 24 against the two part numbers. No cap on parts per job, so a batch spanning both orders is one upload.
4. Set the plate in inches. 48 x 96 in (1,219 x 2,438 mm) for a standard 4 x 8 ft plate, 60 x 120 in (1,524 x 3,048 mm) for a 5 x 10. Lapas works in inches or millimetres, so enter it the way the rack is labelled, and a remnant is just a smaller plate: 48 x 60 in (1,219 x 1,524 mm) shows whether the batch fits it first.
5. Set part spacing to cover kerf. Plasma kerf on 1/4 in plate runs roughly 0.06 to 0.16 in (1.5 to 4 mm) depending on amperage, gas and tip wear, so measure it on your own table and re-measure as consumables age. Inch values go in as decimals, so 0.09 rather than a fraction. Set part spacing to cover it plus heat clearance, commonly another 0.08 to 0.2 in (2 to 5 mm). See what kerf is.
6. Nest, then fix what it placed badly. True-shape nesting works on the real outlines, so gussets interlock instead of being treated as rectangles.
7. Export DXF and the PDF report. The DXF is the nested layout for your CAM. The report carries plate count, utilization and the part placement list, which are the numbers job costing needs.
8. Enter the result into JobBOSS² by hand. Material consumed and plate count go in where you record them today. Nothing crosses on its own, and that is the step a real integration exists to remove.

Two of those eight steps are a person moving a file and one is a person typing a number. Whether removing them is worth an integration budget is arithmetic on your own plate price and plate count: the ROI calculator works it out, and pricing has what the two Lapas plans cost.

Be precise about what you are giving up. QBuild's NestLink, the product that fills this role for ERPs generally, creates nesting work orders automatically from ERP job requirements, creates the parts in the nesting tool and uploads their geometry, creates new sheets as they are received in the ERP, updates quantity on hand for sheets the nest consumes, and updates the job BOM afterwards. The nesting packages it names are Bystronic, Ncell, PrimeCut, ProNest, SigmaNest and TRUMPF TruTops Fab. Lapas is not one of them.

Lapas writes nothing into JobBOSS². No connector, no API link, no plugin, nothing to install. It does not read your item master, your material records, your routing or your due dates, so plate size and material are entered per job. It creates no work orders, consumes no sheet stock, updates no BOM and posts no remnants. Nor does it replace your CAM: the production path is the nested DXF into the software that posts for your controller, and while G-code export exists on both plans for simple 2-axis work, it has not been validated across controllers and machines, so check it before you cut.