The best part of having an ERP system is how much it improves your shop. How it makes your shop better depends on what you need it to do and how you use it. For example, you may need an ERP system that tells you exactly where your jobs are so you can meet tight deadlines. Or you may need your system’s accounting to be top-notch. You could also need detailed accounts to improve relationships with your vendors and customers. Or you could even need to track employee productivity and accuracy. Four Shoptech customers had similar issues, and E2 went above and beyond for them, making their shop even better.
Find Your Jobs
At KSM Stainless Steel Fab Ltd, they work in the entertainment industry. They make just about anything that a TV show or movie may need on the set, but these jobs always come with aggressive timelines. That means every job needs to get done now. E2 has moved KSM Stainless Steel Fab up from hand-written notes, spreadsheets, and systems that didn’t work together into one, streamlined ERP system that allows them to find any information they need with a few clicks. As Lisa Burgess, President and Owner said, “Because nearly everything we do is custom and is requested and then expected so quickly, we field daily calls from our customers asking the status of their project. With E2, it takes just seconds to answer those questions.” Finding these jobs and getting them out the door means they have happy customers and a bit more time to work towards their next tight deadline.
Accounting Options
QT Magnetic Solutions needed more options for their accounting software. The ERP system they had before didn’t fit their needs. When they started the search for a new ERP system, it didn’t take them long to find Shoptech. Shoptech’s integration with QuickBooks gave them the flexibility to track everything they needed, and the reports to be able to track everything they wanted. The rest of their shop ran better once they could easily find everything in accounting. E2 streamlined their paper trail and made it a snap to find anything they needed. Dana Zichterman in accounting said, “I think the big thing for us with E2 is using it to maintain our quality and have effective communication with our customers because that’s a huge thing for any company.” With the power of E2 and QuickBooks behind their shop, QT Magnetic Solutions is unstoppable.
Customer and Vendor Relations
When the recession hit, Custom Production and Grinding knew they’d need to work with their customers and vendors so they could all stay in business. After all, a shop can’t run without jobs and someone to buy materials from. Custom Production and Grinding turned to E2 to find what they needed.
The CFO, Greg Shoepke, said, “E2 was calculating everything from how quickly customers were paying to what the net terms were, all while inputting our payroll costs so I could see exactly where our cash needed to go at any given time. The simple green and red code analysis let me see what the week and month were going to be like in regards to cash flow, and allowed me to work with customers and vendors to adjust payments.” With help from E2, Custom Production and Grinding was able to survive the recession and continue growing their shop.
Increase Productivity and Accuracy
HTS Coatings was born when another manufacturer closed its doors back in 2015. When they were starting up their new shop, Ashley and Jason Hunsaker knew they needed the right shop planning and management software. They bought E2 and their shop started on its way. However, in 2017, their shop’s productivity wasn’t where they thought it should be. As Ashley Hunsaker, CFO, said, “There was no real employee accountability. We were busy with work, but had employees not living up to their full production potential which was wasting time and money.”
To improve production and accuracy, they started an employee incentive program called “The Gain Share Program”. They were able to make this work using E2’s reports to track time and accuracy for each employee and job. The results were astounding. In just under 6 months, their revenue grew by 57%. Today their shop is thriving. They’re scouting out the next project where E2 can help improve their shop even further.
The four shops above all had problems they needed to solve. Their solutions all had one thing in common: finding the right ERP system for their shop and using it to its full potential. The best part of having an ERP system is that it creates solutions to solve problems. What can an ERP system do for your shop?
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