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Using your ERP as a  Sales Tool

Reasons to Upgrade Your Shop Floor to Paperless Manufacturing

Why is using your ERP system as a Sales Tool Important?

Shops can’t just promise great quality and delivery. They need to prove they have the processes and systems to guarantee they will execute. This will open doors to more discerning clients. Through discussions with clients over the past few months, this theme has proven itself to be true.

A few examples of things that clients have told us about their usage of their ERP system as a sales tool:

“ProShop has been a cornerstone sales tool for us since we got it. We’ve had customers like SpaceX come in here and literally tell us that this is the best system they’ve ever seen, and when we open up ProShop, their eyes get wild…We had one of the toughest customers we do work for, tell us that ProShop was sexy! We thought that was one of the best compliments you could get.” – Matt, 3D Industries
“Our new sales rep is blown away by its capabilities, and he’s bragging about it every time he makes a call. I am setting him up with the proper equipment to do a short demo of its capabilities when he’s out and about. One client that followed him to Kajan is interested in ProShop for his own business.” – Kurt, Kajan Mfg.
Just last week we were able to get on the approved vendor list for a new customer, which is very promising. It’s a globally recognized brand, and we can compete now on larger volumes than we are used to seeing, and that’s something we want to do more of. We wouldn’t have been able to get on that approved vendor list if it wasn’t for proving that we could meet their quality requirements, and once we showed them what the inspection reports and dim-tagging and quality capabilities were in ProShop. Once we showed them what that output looks like, they said, “Perfect, this lines up exactly with what we need. So here’s a bunch of drawings to quote.” And that was huge! I was so excited. I’m not trying to sound like such a ProShop fanboy, but the reality is without having ProShop we wouldn’t have been able to do that. So we’re very excited at the doors that are opening as a result of having this system in place, and how that enhances our reputation, our manufacturing prowess, if you will, to be able to compete for jobs we traditionally haven’t been able to…It almost felt too easy.” – Dave, G&S Tool

How do you market your shop so it stands apart from others in such a competitive environment?

Savvy manufacturing leaders recognize that a beautiful, well-designed website showing off their operations’ newest equipment isn’t enough to spur prospective new customers to knock on their doors. And while a warm blurb about why their team goes above and beyond to exceed their customers’ expectations might tug on their heartstrings, it likely won’t have the same effect on their purse strings.

How do you market your shop so it stands apart from others?

In situations like these, in which there’s more machining capacity supply than demand, shops must be more creative in how they attract and retain customers. Something special and unique is needed to catch the attention of discerning prospects who have myriad potential suppliers for precision machined parts. That something must show prospective customers that the shop has the processes and systems in place to ensure the highest operational performance.

Fighting Fires

The secret that most shops don’t want to admit is that when you look behind the curtain, many are run like a pirate ship. Team members are running around fighting fires. They’re scrambling to get jobs out the door on time. And they’re presented with weakly defined business processes that don’t support their operations.
It is possible, albeit exhausting, to run a shop like this. But, when a potential customer asks about your processes and metrics, or, heaven forbid, performs an assessment audit, a subpar management system quickly becomes apparent. As a senior supply chain executive for a Tier 1 aerospace company once told me, “I can walk into a shop and smell the disorganization within five minutes. They can’t hide it.”
In order to pass muster with this or any other discerning prospect and compete at the higher tiers of the supply chain, you must have modern, robust and interconnected digital systems. Holding a certification for ISO 9001 or AS9100 is important, too, but it’s still possible to pass an ISO audit with mediocre systems.

ERP, QMS and MES software

What customers are really looking for is proof that the combination of your ERP, QMS and MES software, what we like to call a Digital Manufacturing Ecosystem (DME), will provide reliable performance for the orders they place with your company. This starts with multiple areas such as accurate estimates, thorough contract review and risk assessment, detailed planning and robust manufacturing processes with integrated quality monitoring. It then must be topped off with accurate and complete document packages delivered with parts that are appropriately packaged and delivered on time. East Branch Engineering in New Milford, Connecticut, is an excellent example of this. One of its customers — a large aerospace company — was bought out by an equity firm and the new management team promptly set out to pare down its supply base. East Branch was dual-sourced on a large project with another vendor, and the customer sent an audit team to assess their operational systems and performance. During the audit, the team at East Branch demonstrated their entirely paperless shop management system. They took the audit team to watch their parts being made, seeing machinists referencing digital visual work instructions and documenting electronic in-process quality checks. They showed instant and effortless traceability of materials, special processes, first-article reports and how those documents were automatically assembled into complete document packages with a single mouse click. The audit team left with a high degree of confidence that East Branch’s systems would enable them to reliably perform at a high level.

Everything is in one place.

A similar visit to its competitor, which ran a legacy, paper-based ERP system, did not leave the same impression. An audit of past deliveries showed that this vendor was often late and had inconsistent quality documentation. East Branch won sole source on that project, doubling their production volume with that customer. A few months later, volume with that customer doubled again, turning it into one of East Branch’s largest programs. So, as your shop embarks not only on recovering from this pandemic but also winning and retaining customers, consider going back to basics and working on the underlying systems that run your company. Those systems should not only impress new prospects, but help you deliver consistent, profitable performance for your own existing customers.

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