Thompson SWE LLC | Custom software and automation for small businesses in Atlanta

An example you can try

This is the kind of tool I build: software that keeps a product in stock. Basic is the way most small stores already order. Plus and Pro show what else the same tool can do when you want it.

What to order, and when

One product, one year of sales. Move the sliders and watch the shelf.

Basic Plus Pro

Your store

Sells about 20 a day Delivery takes 5 days Busy season Day-to-day swings 40% Planned demand 300 units Planned for Week 20 (May) Committed quantity 60 units

Your two numbersHow it orders

Order when it gets down to 120 Order enough to get back to 400

These are the order point and the order-up-to level. Most small stores already work this way. The software just does the counting and sends the order.

Order about every 21 days

In-stock target

90% 95% 99%

The software sets both numbers for you. Today it orders at 0 and fills back up to 0, and both move with the season.

Costs

Unit cost $12 Carrying cost 25% a year Cost to place an order $60 Profit lost per unit short $8 Shelf life

What this plan costs, for the year

$0

Carrying cost: $0
Ordering cost: $0
Lost sales: $0
Expired stock: $0

Orders sent: 0
Days sold out: 0
Sales missed: 0
Average on the shelf: 0

Stock on the shelf, over a year

On the shelf
Order-up-to level
Order point
Safety stock
Order sent
Stock expired
Shelf empty

Orders it would send

What the terms mean

Order point: The level that triggers an order. Set it to cover what sells while you wait for the delivery, plus a little extra. Also called the reorder point, or the min.
Order-up-to level: The level an order brings you back up to. The gap between the two numbers is roughly how much you order each time. Also called the max.
Safety stock: Extra stock held to cover the gap between the forecast and what actually sells. The order point includes it.
In-stock target: How often the shelf should still have stock when the next delivery arrives. A higher target means more safety stock. Also called the service level.
Inventory position: On the shelf, plus on order, minus anything already promised to a customer. This is the number the software compares to the order point.
Seasonal profile: The shape of a normal year, as a multiplier on average sales.
Fill rate: Units sold as a share of units customers asked for.
Planned demand: Demand you know is coming that history would not predict, such as a promotion or one large order.
Committed quantity: Stock on the shelf already promised to open customer orders. Here it ships over the first five days, and nobody else can have it.
Carrying cost: What it costs to hold stock for a year, as a share of its value: the money tied up, the space, insurance, and shrinkage.
Shelf life: How long a unit can sit before it has to be written off. Stock ships oldest first, and the software will not order more than it expects to sell with a tenth of the shelf life to spare.
Customer history: Past sales broken out by who bought. It is the raw material for the forecast.

A simplified model running on made-up sales. A real one would run on your own register or sales history, and send orders the way your suppliers take them.

Is there a job like this in your business? Tell me about it and I will say whether it is worth building.

Problems I fix

You do not need to know what kind of software you need. Start with what is slowing you down. If one of these sounds like your business, that is a job I take on.

“We type the same thing into two programs.”

I get the software you already pay for to share data: accounting, point of sale, online store, customer records. You type it once.

Connecting your systems

“One spreadsheet runs the whole business.”

I replace it with a tool shaped around how you work: job tracking, quoting, scheduling, customer portals, inventory. Several people can use it at once and nobody is afraid to touch it.

Custom tools and web apps

“Somebody builds the same report every week.”

Your numbers get pulled together on a schedule and shown on one page, without anyone building it by hand.

Reports and dashboards

“Email and paperwork eat half the day.”

Software sorts the routine email, pulls the details out of invoices and forms, and drafts the quotes. I use AI where it helps and plain rules where they are enough.

AI automation

“Our old program is on its last legs.”

I move you off the aging database or desktop program without losing your history, then check that everything made it across.

Replacing old systems

“We run out of what sells and sit on what does not.”

Models built from your own sales history estimate what you will sell, need, or run short of next.

Forecasting and machine learning

“Our website is out of date, or we do not have one.”

A clear, fast site that says what you do and how to reach you, on your own domain.

Websites

“I am not sure what we need.”

Straight advice on what to build, what to buy off the shelf, and what to leave alone.

Consulting

After it is built: ongoing support, a monthly arrangement that keeps the tool running and changes it as your business changes.

Who I help

Any small business. These three I know from the inside.

Auto repair and the trades

I worked as a mechanic before I wrote software, so I know what a shop day looks like. Job tickets, parts ordering, scheduling, and customer follow-up are all fair game.

Distribution and wholesale

I have built purchasing and inventory software for national distributors. Stock levels, reorder points, purchase orders, and supplier data are familiar ground.

Retail and e-commerce

I have worked on the systems that decide which store gets which stock. Online store connections, inventory sync, and sales reporting follow from that.

In another line of work? Most of what a small business needs from software is the same underneath: get the data in once, keep it right, and put it where people can use it.

Who does the work

One person. The one you talk to is the one who writes the code.

I'm Joey Thompson, the owner of Thompson SWE and its only engineer.

I worked as a mechanic, then served in the Marine Corps from 2016 to 2020 as an infantry assaultman, leaving as a Corporal. I led a 12-Marine team, deployed with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard USS New York, and deployed to Norway for Exercise Cold Response 2020. I was also trained to install, operate, and maintain satellite network terminals.

Since then I have earned a software engineering degree and built purchasing and inventory software for large companies. Thompson SWE brings that to businesses that do not have an IT department.

2016 to 2020U.S. Marine Corps. Corporal, infantry assaultman, team leader.
2023B.S. in Software Engineering, minor in Computer Science, Kennesaw State University.
2024 to nowEnterprise purchasing and inventory software, including technical lead on a 24-part rollout.
In progressM.S. in Computer Science, machine learning specialization, Georgia Tech.

What I have built before

My experience comes from very large companies. The problems are the same ones a small business has, with more zeros. These projects were delivered on a software vendor's implementation team, not under the Thompson SWE name. Clients are described, not named.

A national distributor's new purchasing system: planned, built, connected, and supported

I was the technical lead for the custom-built part of a new purchasing and inventory planning system for a national pharmaceutical distributor. I designed 17 of its 24 custom pieces, built 6 of them myself, and supported them once they were live.

I was also responsible for every connection to the client's other systems: sales, inventory, and product data coming in, and purchase orders going out.

At your size: one person who can plan the tool, build it, connect it to what you already use, and still be there after it goes live.

Role: Technical lead
Custom pieces: 24, in three phases
My share: 17 designed, 6 built

Purchase orders that fill themselves in, across 80,000 products

A service that adds the right product details to every purchase order on its way out, in the background, so the people placing orders never wait on it.

The same client needed federally controlled products placed on their own purchase orders to meet DEA rules. I built that and tested it end to end before it went live.

At your size: orders that fill themselves in, and rules that keep the wrong item off the wrong order.

Products covered: About 80,000
Supplier relationships: About 60,000

Moving off old systems, with proof that nothing was lost

A tool that pulls data out of a legacy database, reshapes it, and loads it into the new system in batches, later set up to run on a schedule. Alongside it, a tool that compares millions of rows between old and new so a switchover can be checked instead of trusted.

At your size: moving off the old program with proof that every customer, part, and invoice made it across.

Used on: Multiple client rollouts
Scale: Millions of rows compared

Products

Software Thompson SWE builds and runs under its own name.

Find Assumables: Georgia homes where the buyer can keep the seller's low mortgage rate

FHA, VA, and USDA loans can be taken over by the person who buys the home, rate and all. Find Assumables puts the Georgia homes for sale that have one on a map, with an estimate of each loan's rate, its balance, and the cash it takes to assume it.

It combines public property records, MLS listings, and Freddie Mac rate data, and refreshes them regularly. Anyone can browse it free; a paid plan adds the detailed numbers.

Same kind of work: pulling data from several places, cleaning it up, and putting it in front of people in a form they can use.

Open Find Assumables

Status: Live
Covers: Georgia
Data: Public records, MLS listings, Freddie Mac

How it works

You know the price before any work starts.

We talk for half an hour, free. You tell me what is slow, broken, or missing.
You get a fixed price in writing, with what it covers and when it will be done.
I build it, and you see progress every week in something that runs.
You start using it. I stay on for support if you want me to.

Start small. A good first job is one thing: one report, one connection between two programs, one tool that replaces one spreadsheet. You see how I work before you commit to anything bigger.

Ways to pay for it

Fixed price

One job, one price, agreed up front. Most projects work this way.

Monthly support

A set monthly amount for upkeep and small changes.

By the hour

For consulting and work too small to quote.

Questions people ask first

What will it cost?

It depends on the job, so there is no price list. After the free call you get one fixed price in writing, with what it covers and when it will be done. If it is not worth it to you, you owe nothing.

Do I have to replace the software I use now?

Usually not. Most jobs connect or add to what you already pay for. If buying something off the shelf beats building it, I will tell you.

Do I need to be technical?

No. You describe the problem in your own words. Each week you see something that runs, so you can tell whether it is right without reading code.

What happens after it is built?

You use it. If you want me to keep it running and change it as the business changes, that is the monthly support arrangement. If not, the job is done.

Start with an email

Tell me what your business does and what is slowing it down. A few sentences is plenty. The first call is free.

Email Joey

joey@thompsonswe.com

Larger organization? Thompson SWE also contracts corp-to-corp through staffing firms and works as a veteran-owned subcontractor to prime contractors. The one-page capability statement is ready to print or forward.

Legal name: Thompson SWE LLC
Entity: Georgia limited liability company
Georgia control no.: 23027323
Ownership: 100% veteran-owned
Owner: Joseph Thompson
Base: Atlanta, Georgia
Works: On site or remote

Look the company up by control number in the Georgia Secretary of State business search.

Software that takes the busywork off your small business.

What is that manual task costing you?