Metal Finishing Shops Find Software Solution

Designed specifically for job shops that perform a process on a customer's part (as opposed to companies that manufacture parts), a flexible program helps metal finishers coordinate projects through all aspects of production.

By Dee Spafford

Often, customers will call a shop to ask about the status of their orders. They want to know where their orders are in the production timetable. "When will it be ready to be picked up or delivered?" is an oft-repeated inquiry.

Although the solution should be easy, it is sometimes time-consuming and frustrating for both the job shop and the customer. Often, customer service personnel don't know exactly where the parts are in the process, and they have to go out onto the floor and track down the job. Then they have to get an estimate from other departments involved as to when the job will be shipped.

Two companies of very different sizes have found a solution to this problem. One, a versatile metal finisher in St. Louis, Mo., has integrated an innovative software system into each of its process lines, which include anodizing, electroless nickel, and silver plating. Its customer service department often calls customers to update them on the progress of their jobs. The other firm, a plating shop that has remained in its original location in downtown Los Angeles for 69 years, has built its reputation based on the quality workmanship and customer service principles nurtured by its founder, who remains active in the business to this day.

Both companies have acquired and implemented Visual Shop software from Cornerstone Systems, Inc., Crystal Lake, Illinois. Unlike other programs that are based on the manufacturing of a part, Visual Shop is based on the performance of a process. It is therefore suited to companies that receive customers' parts, perform a process on them, and then send the parts back to the customer.

Helping Customers Keep their Commitments
Aero Metal Finishing, located in St. Louis, Mo., is a metal finishing job shop that prides itself on customer service. When the company began in 1962, much of its business involved metal finishing, plating, and specialty painting designed to protect aircraft subassemblies and parts. Today, Aero specializes in anodizing for the aerospace industry, but also provides protective coatings for the automotive and medical industries, among others. In addition to sulfuric, chromic, and hard coat anodizing, the company provides cadmium, zinc, electroless nickel, and silver plating; impregnation, and painting.

Michael Salater purchased Aero Metal Finishing in 1988, and began rededicating the company to quality work and customer service. The company is currently ISO 9002-certified, D-1-9000-compliant, and close to obtaining AS aerospace certification.

"Our motto is customer satisfaction," says Salater. "Our customers know they can count on us to get them accurate, timely information on where their job is in our process, and when they can expect it to be back in their hands. They, in turn, communicate to their customers, who are depending on them for accurate information.

"Customers need a definite commitment on delivery. They already know we have the technical capabilities and certifications of quality; what they need to know is that we can provide timely, accurate information that we can stand behind."

Salater tells the story of a dry cleaner. You take in your suits and sweaters, and ask the clerk when your clothes will be ready. You may not even care when they are done, but the dry cleaner tells you that they'll be ready on Wednesday. As a result, you might be upset if, when you come to pick up your clothes on Wednesday, you find that they are not done. It's not so much that you wanted them to be done on Wednesday, Salater says, but that you expected the dry cleaner to live up to his word.

"We were using an old, antiquated canned software that just was not allowing us to be efficient," says Salater. "We started looking at a lot of software packages, but found a product called Visual Shop (from Cornerstone Systems, Inc.) that we were the most comfortable with. Visual Shop allows us to communicate to our customers, giving them solid information on their job and its status. If we run into some type of problem, Visual Shop lets us know that, too, and we can communicate with our customers before it becomes a problem situation."

"What you are really trying to do is help your customers keep their commitments," says Salater. "I want my customers to be saying, 'Give it to Aero—if they can't do it, nobody can!' I want them to have implicit trust in our quality, price, and on-time delivery. Visual Shop really helps us accomplish this with a lot less stress on everyone!"

Aero Metal Finishing has been using Visual Shop for two years now. Every day, according to Salater, the company learns of a new way to use the software to benefit its business. Salater says that the software is a lot more powerful than originally thought. As a result, Aero plans to integrate more and more of its capabilities into its day-to-day business. The firm has already installed the Visual Shop scheduling system, complete with bar coding and in-plant tracking capabilities.

Aero has a plan to use Visual Shop to allow its truck drivers to relay orders immediately to the shop, eliminating the one-day delay that it would normally take to get the parts back to the shop and enter the order. A one-day time saving may not seem like much, but when much of your work is on a rush basis, timing is everything. Salater says that some of his customers need their parts back in one day—and this helps make that a certainty.

A Plating Shop Upgrades its Software
Founded in 1932 by Ed George, who is still president of the company, Ace Plating has been doing business at its original location in downtown Los Angeles for 69 years. Ace provides its customers with finishes such as silver, gold, nickel, and brass. The firm also provides bronze, copper, pewter, and chrome plating.

"We can provide an antique finish which works especially well on the silver; it gives the items an 'old' look," says Debbie Miller, vice president of Ace Plating. "Most of our operation is production, and includes items such as stove tops, lighting and plumbing fixtures, retail hardware, and shower door enclosures."

Customers have remained loyal to Ace Plating because there is great continuity in the company. If you dealt with Ed in 1932, you are probably still dealing with him now. Because Ace is a relatively small shop, its customers receive very personal, one-on-one service. You are not just a number—you are an important part of this shop's success. "We have built our reputation based on quality workmanship and customer service," says Miller. "This is the business model that my father, Ed George, started the company with, and it still holds true today."

At first glance, the company might not appear to be a prime candidate for state-of-the-art software packages. But Ace Plating was having problems with its existing software package, a DOS-based program that had been custom-designed for its business. The program did nothing with jobs beyond the billing stage—no production, tracking, or shipping segments. And there were constant glitches with the system, which meant an output of money every two or three months.

"We reached a crisis point with our system as we neared the turn of the millennium," says Ms. Miller. "Our existing software was not Y2K compatible. That forced us into a decision that we needed to make anyway—to upgrade our software, and our company."

Miller called the metal finishers association and asked if they were aware of any software that was suited to job shops like Ace Plating. Representatives of the organization said that they had heard positive things about Visual Shop.

"I contacted Cornerstone Systems, and they supplied us with a customer list," said Miller. "I called quite a few of their customers, and heard nothing bad about the software-in fact, most people were really enthusiastic about it. They told me how easy it was to use, and how they could do things now that they never could have done before with their old software packages. I called people who had been using Visual Shop for three years, and some that had only had the software for two weeks. I wanted to know if they were overwhelmed when they first started the changeover, and if long-term users had worked out any little glitches that they might have found."

Shortly thereafter, Ace Plating purchased Visual Shop. The firm also purchased the first year with full technical support from Cornerstone Systems. Ace then spent a month or two downloading information from its old system.

"Oh, we had minimal glitches, problems you run into with any new program," says Miller. "But support was always there from Cornerstone. We were promised responses within 24 hours, but we usually received immediate assistance. They have an incredible support system. Our production manager and accountant both love it!"

Ace Plating is primarily using the A/R, order entry, customer listing, invoicing, report generation, and order tracking functions of the software. Visual Shop has also blended with their A/P software. The company has yet to integrate the bar coding.

"Visual Shop is totally user friendly," says Miller. "Even the people in shipping use the program with ease. And you can download upgrades at your convenience. We really couldn't be happier."

More about the Software
Visual Shop is a scaleable package that can be run on one PC or a network of many PCs. Because the creators of Visual Shop are familiar with the heat-treating, finishing, and coatings industries, the program is very thorough and anticipates these industries' needs, according to users across the country. Written and designed specifically for the heat-treating, finishing, and coatings industries, the Microsoft Windows-based software integrates office tasks—from quoting to order entry to certification to invoicing—into the entire process. Customers reap the benefits as time is saved throughout the production process.

Soon, a feature that is currently being developed will enable customers to log onto a shop's Internet site and view job status and order-related information-without having to call and talk to customer service. This new augmentation, called Visual Net™, will allow customers to directly access information on their orders 24 hours per day.

Marshall Handelsman founded the company in 1993 with the goal of providing commercial heat-treating, finishing, and coating shops with an easy-to-use software package that would be affordable and that would help them manage their business activities more efficiently. Prior to forming Cornerstone Systems, Handelsman worked for over 21 years developing and installing software systems for these industries.

Cornerstone Systems, Inc. (CSI) is a privately held company with corporate offices in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and a Customer Support Center in Plano, Texas. The company is an active member of the Metal Treating Institute (MTI), the National Association of Metal Finishers (NAMF), the Powder Coating Institute (PCI), and the Heat Treating Network (HTN). It is also a member of the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers Society, Inc. (AESF), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and the Metal Finishing Suppliers Association (MFSA).

For more on the Visual Shop Software from Cornerstone Systems, Inc., visit (www.ask4csi.com).