Corma Industries Case Study

Corma Industries is a modern ISO 9001:2015 and SECOR certified manufacturing facility in southeast Calgary, Alberta. They specialize in Computer Numerical Control (CNC) production runs and prototyping for a variety of industries including emerging energies, traditional oil & gas, aerospace & defense, mining, heavy infrastructure, construction, food and beverage, exploration and more.

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About CORMA INDUSTRIES

Alberta based Corma Industries was acquired back in 2009 and has since been run by Claire and Craig Goddard. Armed with the vision of building a world-class manufacturing facility, they’ve been hard at work growing and modernizing their southeast Calgary business. Craig is no stranger to the trade, being a seasoned machinist with over 35 years worth of experience while Claire supports business growth with her skill sets in marketing and business development. As a result of these efforts, Corma enjoys a diverse customer base in which has solidified many customer partnerships. At present, they serve as a contract manufacturer to sectors such as oil and gas, emerging energies, construction, heavy infrastructure, and food and beverage.

Becoming ISO 9001 certified back in 2015 was just one more way in which Corma’s leadership team signaled its commitment to exceeding customer expectations while improving its business processes. That said, along with the excitement of business growth came the challenges of finding skilled team members to join their quest. Claire highlighted the struggle to find skilled apprentices as a significant roadblock to their growth. Understanding the industry-wide challenges associated with a skilled labor shortage, Craig and Claire knew that solving this problem would be essential to their ongoing health and growth of their business.

THE CHALLENGE

Along their journey to become a process and system oriented company came the realization that there was no means in place to track process information. Tracking and managing jobs efficiently was a daily struggle as they didn’t have an effective system in place. The same mistakes were being made over and over again.

Craig recalls, “We had no way of tracking or finding job relation information.”

THE SOLUTION

This led Craig to try a different ERP system which wasn’t able to solve the problems they were facing. Frustrated with the lack of functionality and high costs, Craig discovered ProShop through a Modern Machine Shop webinar. Upon further investigation and demoing ProShop’s capabilities, they determined that ProShop was the best fit for the work they were doing. Craig pointed out that the “Tooling Management was the slam dunk decision” that won them, along with ProShop’s Work Order and Scheduling abilities.

Working closely with ProShop’s own Implementation Specialist, Zach, Corma has been able to streamline their production process, and Craig and Claire both agree that the improvements are an ongoing initiative.

“I am seriously IN LOVE with ProShop! It made a huge difference. In particular, tools that are easier to find. We were looking for 2 hours asking ourselves where is this, where is that – it was crazy. The guys can look up the tool they need and go straight to the bin to locate it. It’s a time saver like you wouldn’t believe!”

MOVING FORWARD

While the shop currently does not engage in aerospace manufacturing due to the local industry landscape, it aspires to enter the sector and become AS9100 compliant soon. Given that ProShop has the tools in place to aid AS9100 compliance, Corma’s team will continue to deepen their usage of ProShop to help their business perform better than it ever has before. When asked what advice they’d give other shops faced with similar challenges, Craig and Claire stated that other shops would do well to prioritize becoming process-driven organizations in order to overcome business challenges and grow the business. When it comes to implementing an ERP like ProShop, they feel it is crucial to be fully committed to the implementation process. “Make sure you know the program inside and out, and the results will pay off!”

The adoption of ProShop has transformed operations at Corma Industries, enhancing efficiency, accountability, tooling management, and compliance readiness. With a focus on continuous improvement and leveraging ProShop’s capabilities, the shop is poised for continued growth and success in the competitive manufacturing landscape. It’s important to highlight two important factors that have contributed to Corma’s success. First, an open minded and skilled leadership team willing to embrace new tools and approaches to operate their business with. Secondly, an ERP solution that was designed in response to the types of problems manufacturers face every day. In finding the right solution, Claire and Craig can continue the meaningful work of building the business of their dreams, providing meaningful employment to their team, and enhancing Alberta’s manufacturing sector. Onward and upward, team Corma!

FOR THE LOVE OF MANUFACTURING

Despite challenges in the industry, Craig and Claire are passionate about the machining business, particularly with the technological advancement of recent years. They find joy in bringing the ideas of others to life.

Claire says it best and we couldn’t agree more: “Until you have someone actually making it, its just a design. What makes me excited is when I get to take these ideas that are in someone’s head and make them come to life.”

THE RESULTS

While the ongoing pursuit of continuous improvement never ends, Corma has realized significant improvements to their daily operations since adopting ProShop. The results speak for themselves:

Machine utilization has increased by 40%
More work is being completed with the same resources
Employees find it easier to locate tools and fixtures, resulting in faster machine set-ups
Use of ProShop’s tooling management has reduced overall tooling costs
Workflow efficiencies have impacted revenue and profitability

QMS audits have also been greatly simplified with the help of ProShop. As Craig puts it: “Our auditors have never seen anything like it! We sit in front of the computer with him and BANG, it’s done.” In addition to cutting down on the prep work associated with audits, Claire noted that they see ProShop as Corma’s secret weapon, an advantage over their competitors. “ProShop is starting to become better-known in Alberta and we selfishly want to keep it to ourselves.”