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AL, a signage and fabrication shop owner in Selangor, Malaysia, built Tandaku to move routine quoting, artwork intake, payment and order tracking out of repeated WhatsApp exchanges and into a self-service printing flow. The biggest lesson was not that AI could replace shop expertise: it could help build the storefront, but AL still had to supply and verify the pricing rules, and a designer still reviewed artwork.
What the old signboard-order process involved
AL describes a typical job starting with a customer asking, “Bang, how much for a 2×4 signboard?” Staff would ask follow-up questions about material and mounting, look up prices in a spreadsheet, and recalculate when dimensions changed. Artwork could arrive late or in a format unsuitable for production. Staff then renamed and filed files and checked bleed and resolution before printing.
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In AL’s account, this administrative work often took longer than production. The problem he set out to address was the repeated coordination around a print job, not the physical printing operation itself. Read AL’s account on DEV Community.
What Tandaku moved into the customer flow
Instead of making customers wait for a staff member to assemble each quote, Tandaku lets them select a product and material, enter dimensions and quantity, see a displayed price, upload artwork, pay and track the order. The site describes support for AI, PDF, SVG, PNG and JPG files, with automated checks for resolution, dimensions and bleed before a designer’s review.
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The live catalog currently presents printed boards, stickers, banners and bunting, display stands, raw materials and cutting, sign letters, and ready-made signs. Its ordering flow shows product, size, quantity and material selection, plus artwork submission and online payment options. Those details describe the site as it is currently presented and may change. View Tandaku’s current site.
Why pricing required more than generating a calculator
A quote that looks simple to a customer depends on shop-specific inputs: material cost, usable sheet yield, machine and printing time, finishing, and waste or cutting complexity at different sizes. A generic interface cannot know those facts unless the operator provides them and translates them into rules.
AL says a rounding error in pricing could quietly reduce margins across orders. His practical advice is to define the pricing logic before building the interface, then compare generated code with real historical orders. As he puts it, “The domain knowledge is the moat, not the code.”
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At the time of his article, AL gave an ACP signboard measuring 2 × 4 ft that displayed RM 96.15 as an example. That is a time-specific, author-reported price, not a current quote or a general market price; Tandaku’s ordering flow directs customers to enter their job details for a current price.
What AI-assisted development did—and did not—change
AL reports using Next.js on Vercel, Supabase for data and authentication, and HitPay for DuitNow, FPX and card payments. He says AI-assisted development helped him build a broad catalog, material, category and city pages, and an order tracker much faster than he otherwise could. His account does not include a timed benchmark or independent validation, so it supports a description of his experience rather than a general claim about development speed.
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The work illustrates a useful split: AI-assisted coding can help produce screens and connect a broad workflow, while the operator remains responsible for whether the system represents the business correctly. This distinction matters most wherever software calculates a price or commits an order.
Why artwork checks still need a human backstop
Automated checks can flag issues such as low resolution, incorrect dimensions or missing bleed and help route or organize submitted files. They do not establish that every design is suitable for the customer’s intended sign or ready to print. Tandaku’s described process retains a designer’s review, rather than treating file checking as fully autonomous production approval.
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What the account establishes—and what it does not
AL says the shop received dozens of enquiries a week and that production remained 1–2 days when jobs arrived ready to print. These are his reported examples, not independently audited measurements or evidence that the site caused a particular change in sales, margins, staff time or turnaround. The account offers no controlled before-and-after comparison or customer study.
For a small print or fabrication shop considering a similar flow, the useful questions are practical: how much staff time goes into repeated quote revisions, who maintains cost and yield inputs, which file checks can be automated safely, where human judgment remains essential, and whether customers can pay and track an order without a sales conversation. AL’s central warning is concise: “Treat generated code near money as untrusted.”
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