Ace Anodizing, a metal finishing job shop from Illinois, is recognized as one of the top metal finishing shops in North America by Products Finishing. Ace Anodizing specializes in exceeding expectations in three different areas, including anodizing, powder coating, and vacuum impregnation with a team of 100 specialists. Ace sought a way to modernize its facility and take full advantage of optimized, digital solutions while eliminating paper processes once and for all.
Before partnering with Steelhead, Ace Anodizing’s quoting was entirely paper-based and relied on manual management of the documentation. Quotes were typed, printed, and scanned for customers as necessary. This process was extremely inefficient and time-consuming and posed a risk of losing paper copies.
Since moving their quoting to the Steelhead module in an electronic format, Ace Anodizing has eliminated many of the inefficiencies. Some of the many improvements the quoting module has afforded Ace, include:
- Centralized. All quotes are now in one place, accessible by any user given permission. They don't have to waste time wading through a sea of manila in their filing cabinets or worry about human error, and losing/misplacing improperly filed quotes.
- Increased Data Capture. Ace can now upload prints, schematics, CAD files, etc. Any documents or part information they wish to attach to a quotation can be stored in Steelhead and attached to a quote or part number.
- Searchable Information. Customer quotes on parts are often revised many times, and at each revision, a new part number is assigned. Steelhead makes searching for and identifying those previous revisions very simple so Ace can build upon the initial quote instead of just creating a new entry each time.
- Traceable Data. The Steelhead module allows Ace to see when a customer views a quote so they can be sure to follow up with them to see where their pricing is at.
- Brand Excellence. The formatting of the quotation provided is organized, visually appealing, and clean for clients. It is also customizable to include fields that were necessary for their specific enterprise.
- Convertible. Steelhead allows Ace to convert a quotation very easily into a live order. This effortless approach has saved the team time and frustration.
"I cannot speak highly enough about all the ways Steelhead has improved our quoting process. These are certainly high-level points. The list of benefits continues to grow the longer we continue to utilize the quoting module." ~ EVA CURTO, SYSTEMS DIRECTOR