Beringer Plating, a specialized plating service provider, offering Zinc Plating, Cadmium Plating, Passivation, and various surface treatments, entered the realm of customer success with Steelhead Technologies. Their proactive approach to technological adoption positioned them as an ideal candidate for leveraging Steelhead's capabilities.
The Challenge
Before Steelhead, Beringer Plating was barraged with siloed systems, causing inefficient quoting, production, shipping, and invoice creation. The absence of an integrated system led to the recreation of paperwork, resulting in redundant data entry efforts. Processing information for previous orders was confined to physical filing cabinets, leading to stacks of paper scattered across the plant. The former ERP system was severely limited to creating work order travelers, highlighting the lack of comprehensive integration and a centralized database for critical operational tasks. With Steelhead the goal was to:
Eliminate Duplicate Data Entry: Beringer sought to avoid repetitive data entry in projects like quoting, production, and invoicing.
Streamline Operator Training: The team was searching for a way to expedite Operator onboarding by providing effective work instructions.
Save Time to Focus on Training & Quality: The Plant Manager desired more time in their day to train and coach operators to ensure quality and efficiency.
Data Visibility: Plant leaders desired a centralized location to view data and make actionable business decisions to improve operations.
Beringer Plating's deployment journey with Steelhead was marked by a focused approach and a commitment to growth. Without requiring major prerequisites, the company swiftly transitioned to the Steelhead plating plant management platform. They seized the opportunity of a focus week, replacing their incumbent ERP subscription, to expedite their deployment process. The kickoff of Steelhead’s plant operating platform paved the way for a productive week of finalizing domain configurations before the on-site deployment in early December.
Implementation Ease and Expansion
The on-site implementation was a pivotal moment. The Steelhead team ensured a seamless transition to live production matched with extensive customer support and subsequent domain buildouts to solidify integration with Steelhead's platform.
The dynamic at Beringer Plating was characterized by a high-energy, tech-savvy team. The company demonstrated an inherent adaptability and openness to technological advancements. Their approach to technology adoption was marked by enthusiasm, indicating a readiness to leverage technology for growth and increased profitability.
Results
Working diligently with Steelhead’s deployment team, Beringer quickly experienced significant benefits, including, but not limited to:
Efficiency with Power Orders: Additional information is automatically applied to each work order depending on processing requirements for the order, preventing potential quality concerns.
Workboard Instructions: Operators are provided with work instructions at the right place and at the right time within Steelhead’s workboards.
Digital Specifications: Quality evaluations are performed by Operators and can be reviewed by the Quality Manager at the final inspection to eliminate any need for rework.
Reporting & Insights: Access to reports measures the production efficiency over a specified amount of time to ensure appropriate pricing and lead times to boost profitability.
Digital Maintenace Management: Beringer is now able to perform and store all data for Preventative Maintenace and chemical tank titrations ensuring production uptime and proper chemical requirements for plating.
Find Parts & Info in One Click: Quickly and easily find the status of any Received Order and Work Order when the customer calls using the Global Search Bar.
“...What’s great is that double entry is gone. There was so much time in double entry. When you add creating the cert and shipper - it was actually more like triple or quadruple entry.” - Cody Weaver, Plant Manager
A Growth-Oriented Journey
Beringer Plating's swift integration with Steelhead Technologies showcased their commitment to growth and efficiency. Their proactive stance in adopting technology, coupled with an enthusiastic workforce, positioned them favorably for scalability and increased profitability. The seamless transition to Steelhead's platform indicates a promising trajectory, with Beringer Plating poised for an exciting future marked by technological prowess and operational excellence.
With Steelhead in place, the company's leaders can invest valuable time in training and coaching their team members, unburdened by the tedious tasks of paperwork chasing and duplicate data entry. The incorporation of powerful tools like Insights and Reporting enables real-time analysis of the company's health, eliminating the need to wait until the month or quarter-end. This ensures that the company's growth plans are not just supported but firmly anchored on a solid foundation.
About Steelhead Technologies
Steelhead Technologies is committed to serving the parts-in, parts-out, metal finishing industry. With an in-depth understanding of chemical processing, plating, and coatings process of the manufacturing services industry, Steelhead designed the job shop software to track and process every step of the workflow to digitize, automate, and optimize plant operations. By eliminating paper and tedious data entry, providers like Beringer Plating save time, increase profits, and improve quality at the click of a button.