Easy Engineering Magazine is an international publication focused on the technology industry serving the world. Reporting about the most innovative products available today, Easy Engineering Magazine enchants and raises readers’ curiosity beyond the limits of imagination and provides value through quality topics.
Jeff Halonen was asked many questions about who Steelhead Technologies is and where the focus is for the coming year. One question Easy Engineer Magazine asks is, "at what stage is the market where you are currently active?" Jeff Halonen, Chief Executive Officer of Steelhead Technologies, explains how the market Steelhead serves has been around for ages but has traditionally relied on manual paper processes.
"The job shop market is very mature. This industry includes value add services such as Powder Coating, Plating, Casting, Heat Treating, and contract machining which have been around for many years but have always lagged on having the latest technology to manage operations as the spotlight usually goes to end-of-line assembly manufacturers that finish the refrigerator, dishwasher or other appliance within our homes. Although the industry has been around for ages, the technology deployed to serve it has been underdeveloped for years. Out-of-box ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions and MES (manufacturing execution systems) fill a very basic hole with much of the “automation” purposes still relying on paper and spreadsheets. Steelhead digitizes the entire process with direct integration into accounting systems so nobody has to flip through a paper trail of work orders or sort through spreadsheets to identify process improvement opportunities."
"Job shops will continue to demand more automation to deal with supply chain delays and ongoing labor challenges such as hiring skilled workers, training the workers, and reviewing rework needs/issues. Job shops will need more and more tools to handle complex management in order to unlock the fast lead times that the market demands. Speed (and quality) is the name of the game and Steelhead delivers."