Products Finishing is a media publication focused on all things related to the finishing industry. Electroplating, anodizing, liquid and powder coating job shops have all come to rely on Products Finishing magazine as their No. 1 resource for news and technology for over 85 years.
Products Finishing interviewed Dean Halonen, Steelhead Technologies’ Head of Sales and asked, “My shop already uses manufacturing software, but it is a bit old. Is implementing new manufacturing software worth the investment?”
The article, Digitizing Your Job Shop for Increased Production and Profitability, was published on Product Finishing, highlighting the significance in leveraging updated and intuitive technology in job shops across the world.
Dean shared that traditionally, the industry has been left with clunky, outdated solutions to manage their multi-million-dollar processes – a dangerous thought to muddle. So how has software changed and how can it help a shop run more smoothly? Here are a few examples:
- Software is now reliable while totally online so there is no need for on-site servers with backups that crash or slow down and need IT personnel to fix.
- New user interfaces match the consumer-grade usability of modern applications such as Facebook and Google, so employee training takes minutes, not hours.
- New software tools allow for fast development of easy-to-use software specifically tailored for niche industries like plating and painting job shops. For example:
- Racking modules built to match your reality
- Automated job costing algorithms built to mirror automated lines, batch ovens, batch booths
- Automated quoting to match the true job cost
- Drag and drop scheduling to facilitate high-powered plant production
Most importantly, deployments of modern, industry-tuned software take weeks, not months.
For more information, read the full article on Products Finishing’s website.