Nesting software that works with Plex

A worked example in the units a US shop buys in. The job is 90 mounting plates and 30 stiffeners in 1/4 in (6.35 mm) hot rolled steel, cut on the plasma table against a released order. Plex is the system of record at both ends; Lapas only exists in the middle.

1. Export the part geometry as DXF. From CAD, or from wherever the released job keeps its drawings. If you run CADLink, the engineering model is already what feeds your bill of materials, bill of operations and item master, so the DXF comes off the same model. Block references can stay as they are, because Lapas expands them automatically. If a file still imports empty, the DXF troubleshooting guide covers the causes.
2. Upload to Lapas and set quantities. 90 and 30 against the two part numbers, in the browser, with nothing to install. No cap on parts per job.
3. 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 the plate goes in the way the rack is labelled, and a drop is just a smaller plate: 48 x 60 in (1,219 x 1,524 mm) shows whether the order fits it first. Lapas does not read Plex item master data, so this is entered per job.
4. 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. 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.
5. Nest and review. True-shape nesting works on the real outlines, so stiffeners and flanged parts interlock instead of being treated as rectangles. Drag or rotate any part by hand afterwards.
6. Export DXF and the PDF report. The DXF is the nested layout for the CAM that posts for your controller. The report carries plate count, utilization and the part placement list.
7. Record consumption in Plex by hand. Material used, plate count, and any drop worth putting back on the rack. Plex inventory is built to tell you where material came from and what it was used for, and that trail only stays true if someone enters what the nest consumed.

Two of those seven 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 Plex. 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. It creates no work orders, consumes no sheet stock, updates no BOM and posts nothing to inventory, so traceability from the nest back to the individual work order stays whatever your own paperwork makes it. 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.