About Rennscot MFG
Rennscot MFG is on a mission to transform manufacturing by simplifying supply chains and reducing risk. Specializing in additive manufacturing, advanced CNC machining, quality CMM inspection, and more, Rennscot MFG has been manufacturing precision parts since 2018.
The company was founded by David Bamforth while he was still an engineering student at Wentworth Institute of Technology. The business rapidly evolved from a college startup into a high-tech supplier for the spaceflight and defense industries.
Operating out of a 40,000-square-foot facility in Massachusetts, Rennscot MFG operates two distinct but integrated divisions of business. Today, they produce critical components for satellites, lunar rovers, and major defense primes using advanced subtractive machining and metal additive manufacturing (3D printing).
The Challenge: A Piecemeal Tech Stack
In its early days, Rennscot MFG operated like many modern startups as an agile but fragmented business. To manage operations, the team relied on a piecemeal stack of disconnected software. They were using Airtable for tooling, Slack for communication, Asana for tasks, and Google Suite for document management.
This approach worked for a small team, but it created dangerous operational blind spots as they scaled. None of the systems spoke to one another. Crucially, they lacked a centralized QMS, capable of handling the rigorous documentation required by aerospace customers. David described these challenges and the impact on their customer relationships.
“We were leveraging all these different tools, none of which were made for our specific use case. We didn’t have any customers who were really requiring us to deliver a significant amount of paperwork. So we didn’t have a framework to support that.”
The Solution: Baking Compliance into the Process
Like many businesses, Rennscot MFG used the global slowdown during 2020 to make a strategic pivot. For David, his goal was to implement systems that would help him stop working in the business and more on the business. He was introduced to ProShop and saw a method of consolidating his tech stack.
More importantly, David realized he could build purpose-built digitized processes to achieve ISO 9001 and AS9100 certifications. Using ProShop as a single source of truth helped Rennscot MFG service high-compliance industries like aerospace and defense.
Having started his business with disconnected data, David was determined to streamline how Rennscot MFG managed shop operations. He considered other ERPs, but they’d require separate QMS solutions to manage quality control and compliance. ProShop’s integrated ERP and QMS gave Rennscot MFG one system to manage both profits and compliance.
“We’d hear about ERP systems that don’t have a built-in QMS. Every time, I would think, ‘you’re half the solution, and only 25% of the impact.’ Having an ERP and QMS communicating together is so much more impactful for our business.”
ProShop also made it easier to manage the complexity of metal additive manufacturing. Unlike standard billet machining, 3D printing requires rigorous tracking of powder genealogy, mixing logic, and degradation cycles (oxygen absorption).
Rennscot MFG used ProShop’s inventory and tooling modules to match their physical powder lots with digital records. The data was fully visible within their single source of truth, ensuring aerospace and defense compliance standards were fully maintained.
The Results: Unlocking Spaceflight & Defense Contracts
By baking compliance into their daily workflows, Rennscot MFG transformed their audit readiness from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage. Building more precision-made workflows and a centralized product data management system gave them confidence to pursue their ISO 9001 and AS9100 certifications.
- Perfect CMMC Score & ITAR Security. With the Department of Defense tightening cybersecurity requirements, Rennscot MFG used ProShop’s ITAR-compliant framework to migrate sensitive data out of non-secure environments like Google Drive and Airtable. The result was a perfect self-attested CMMC score of 110/110, positioning them as a low-risk, secure partner for major defense primes.
- From Digging for Certs to Lunar Rovers. Before ProShop, creating a document package was a manual process of digging for certs. Today, Rennscot MFG automatically generates robust certification packages, a distinct advantage that helped them break into the spaceflight industry. They successfully deliver critical components for satellites and lunar rovers—impossible to manage with their previous piecemeal tech stack.
- Taming Additive Complexity. Expanding into metal 3D printing brought traceability challenges that subtractive machining never faced. For example, tracking mixing logic by combining virgin and used powder lots. ProShop helped the business track oxygen absorption, degradation cycles, and metal powder—maintaining rigorous compliance records required by medical and aerospace auditors.
- Day-One Effectiveness. The system has also become a training scaffold for Rennscot MFG’s robust co-op program. Best practices are built right into the software, giving new hires and students proven guidelines to become effective employees on day one. Every Rennscot MFG now has the data to execute complex workflows without needing legacy tribal knowledge.
“ProShop gave us the framework to be ready to support those aerospace customers. It allowed us to really easily have great traceability on our work orders and be able to build really robust document packages easily.”
The Advocacy: Transforming the Industry
Rennscot MFG has become a model for a thriving modern machine shop. They frequently host tours for MassMEP—their local MEP program—inspiring legacy manufacturers to modernize.
David is a vocal advocate for ProShop and digital transformation. He notes that older shops are often shocked by how much they accomplish with the efficiencies of digitization.
“I could not imagine being in a company that hasn’t taken advantage of some of these great new modern systems and tools. We communicate to customers the fact that we’re young and we’re digital, which gives us the benefit of maintaining fully traceable compliance standards from start to finish. Auditors are impressed with our processes and customers trust our ability to deliver precision-made parts.”
The Future: Innovation via Open API
Looking ahead, Rennscot MFG is doubling down on automation by leveraging ProShop’s open API. They have developed custom integrations that connect the shop floor directly to the ERP, including:
- Smart Labeling: Operators generate custom labels for parts that define specific First Article (FAI) and In-Process Checks (IPC) based on ProShop data.
- Digital Tool Cribs: Tablets that allow operators to locate tools in randomized drawers instantly.
- Scheduling Dashboards: Custom sites built to track OSP Purchase Orders for the supply chain team, with visual displays across the shop to track work order needs.
By continuously refining these digital workflows, Rennscot MFG ensures they can scale their lunar-grade engineering without adding administrative bloat.