Fast-Square's Coil Cut Optimizer and LineSight solve the same core problem: which orders to cut together from which coil, with the least trim and the fewest setups. Choose Fast-Square if you want a long-established optimizer with scheduling, capacity planning, replenishment and MES modules from one vendor, and your operation looks like its European customer base. Choose LineSight if you want plans built from live ERP orders and inventory, approved by your planner and written back to the ERP without re-keying, particularly on PS Data, INVEX or Enmark.
Both are purpose-built for metal service centers, which already sets them apart from generic cutting-stock tools. The real differences are in what surrounds the optimizer: how data gets in and out, what else the vendor covers, and where its customers are.
At a glance
What Fast-Square does well
Fast-Square, based in Milan, is one of the longest-running purpose-built slitting and cut-to-length optimizers we found. Its algorithm received an IAAI award from the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and Franz Inc., whose Common Lisp the software is built on, credits it with generating hundreds of optimized cutting patterns in a fraction of a second. The same write-up describes the software as helping even a non-expert planner choose the best cutting program, which is a fair statement of the goal for any tool in this category.
The customer list is real and metals-specific. Fast-Square's product page lists case studies for COBRAL, AARTEE, EUSIDER SPA, MIMOSA, ACCIAIERIA ARVEDI and MARCORA SPA, and says the optimizer is used by several steel service centers across Europe and in Brazil.
Breadth is the other strength. Around the optimizer, Fast-Square sells CCO-Scheduler for work-order scheduling with a graphical editor for manual changes, CCO-Planning for machine capacity and promise dates on new customer orders, CCO-Replenishment for demand forecasts and coil purchase quantities with steel-quality compatibility tables, and CCO-MES, which connects to production machines and tracks progress. Few vendors in this niche cover that much of the planning chain themselves.
Where Fast-Square stops short for a North American service center
The open questions are about fit, not about the math.
- Integration. The product page names no ERP connectors and does not describe how orders and inventory get in or how plans get back out. Our buyer's guide notes that with standalone optimizers, someone usually has to feed in the order book and carry the answer back to the ERP. Ask how that would work with your system.
- Market. Published customers are in Europe and Brazil. Franz's case study said Fast-Square planned to start selling in the US in 2016, and we found no published North American customer since.
- Recency. Most of the public detail we found dates from 2008 to 2016. Current release notes are not on the product page.
None of this is a judgment on the optimizer itself. These are the points to settle in a demo before comparing scrap numbers.
How LineSight works differently
LineSight starts from the ERP. It reads open orders and coil inventory in real time, so the plan is built from the same records the business runs on. The planner picks the orders to fill, LineSight's optimization engine builds the slitting or cut-to-length plan, and the plan shows what is cut from which coil and why. A person approves it, and then work orders, PDF plans and ERP updates go out in one click. When the planner overrides a width or a pattern, later plans respect it.
It optimizes for money as well as yield. A pattern card shows scrap percentage, lead time, freight, material buy and profit on the order. Beyond planning, LineSight's Command Center runs an order from purchase order to release: it enters sales orders, builds slitting plans, sends work orders, books freight and builds material buys, and the team approves the calls that matter.
What LineSight does not offer is an MES or a demand-forecasting module. If you want machine connectivity and production tracking from your planning vendor, Fast-Square publishes that and LineSight does not.
Three jobs, side by side
A 60-inch master and a mixed order book
Both products exist for this. Fast-Square minimizes trim loss and setup time within strip OD, strip weight and knife limits. LineSight does the same across the whole open order book and coil inventory, with PIW, grade, edge conditioning and lead times in the constraint set. Give both your worst day from last month and compare scrap on plans you would actually release.
A customer asks when the order will ship
CCO-Planning calculates promise dates for new orders against machine capacity, with shift and overtime simulation. LineSight respects lead times and must-ship orders inside the plan, but it does not calculate promise dates. In LineSight's approach, a due date stays with the people who own the customer relationship.
Getting the approved plan onto the floor
With LineSight, approval sends work orders to the floor and updates the ERP. With Fast-Square, the route depends on the integration you set up with them, and CCO-MES can carry the plan to the machines themselves.
Pricing
| Fast-Square Coil Cut Optimizer | LineSight | |
|---|---|---|
| Price on vendor site | None | None |
| Third-party listing | Capterra: from €5,000, per user | Not applicable |
| How it is billed | Billing terms not stated | Based on measured value; never more than it saves |
| How you start | Not stated | First three months on live orders are free |
Fast-Square's figure comes from Capterra rather than the vendor, so treat it as the start of a conversation. LineSight publishes no price list either; pricing is set from what it measurably adds in those first months.
Can you use both?
Not on the same line. Both want to own the cutting-pattern decision, and two engines proposing different plans for one slitter helps nobody. A business could, in principle, run Fast-Square's replenishment or MES modules next to a different optimizer, but we found nothing published about those modules working with a third-party optimizer, so ask before planning on it.
The bottom line
Fast-Square is a serious, long-standing coil optimizer with a wider module set than most, and a published record with European service centers. LineSight is narrower on the shop floor and wider on the ERP and order side, built around the ERP a shop already runs and a planner who approves every plan. Elite Steel cut its scrap rate 2.9 points and added about $850K in annualized revenue with LineSight. That is one operation, so test both on your own orders. If you are weighing the two dedicated coil optimizers against each other, see Fast-Square vs CoilTrim.
Which to choose
Choose LineSight if
- You run PS Data, INVEX or Enmark and want plans built from live ERP data
- You want work orders and ERP updates sent after approval, with no re-keying
- Your floor also saws bar, tube or pipe and needs cut plans for it
- You want order entry, freight and material buying handled in the same system
- You want to run it on live orders before paying anything
Choose Fast-Square if
- You want scheduling, capacity planning, replenishment and MES from one vendor
- Your operation is in Europe or Brazil, near its published customers
- Promise-date calculation for new orders is a priority
- You prefer an optimizer with a long published track record and an award-winning algorithm
Sources
- Fast-Square, Products, accessed October 16, 2026
- Franz Inc., Fast-Square customer application, accessed October 16, 2026
- Capterra, Coil Cut Optimizer listing, accessed October 16, 2026
- LineSight, Coil Slitting Optimization Software Buyer's Guide, accessed October 16, 2026
- LineSight Command Center, accessed October 16, 2026
- LineSight homepage, accessed October 16, 2026