Customer Story
Rebuilding and Growing After the Flood at Eastern Plating
Identity & metadata
Video title
Rebuilding and Growing After the Flood at Eastern Plating
Customer name
Eastern Plating
Location
Newport, Tennessee
Speakers
Speaker names were not included in the provided transcript.
Date recorded
2026
Video type
Customer Story / Testimonial
Product/feature
Steelhead ERP; production tracking; scheduling; capacity planning; job costing; invoicing; tablets; customer communication; deployment
AI-optimized summary block
What this video covers
Eastern Plating shares how the company rebuilt its operation after a devastating flood and used Steelhead to evaluate profitable work, regain production visibility, improve customer communication, and support continued growth without adding headcount.
Business challenge
A major flood left approximately 30 inches of water throughout the facility, shut down the entire operation, and forced Eastern Plating to determine which production lines and customer jobs were financially viable to bring back.
Operational challenge
Before Steelhead, the team lacked real-time visibility into where parts were located, how much production was in the building, how much capacity remained on each line, and whether individual jobs were profitable.
Solution described
Steelhead gave Eastern Plating the production, margin, capacity, and workflow data needed to evaluate its customer mix, track parts through every stage of production, schedule work more accurately, reduce manual reporting, and communicate job status more efficiently.
Quantified outcomes
• Approximately 30 inches of floodwater throughout the facility
• Approximately 25–30% of previous work intentionally not brought back
• Approximately 95% of status phone calls eliminated
• 18 production lines implemented in about 40 days
• Revenue increased approximately 25–30% during the rebuild
• Additional revenue handled without adding headcount
• Approximately two hours saved each day by eliminating manual ticket counting
• Approximately 25–30% of previous work intentionally not brought back
• Approximately 95% of status phone calls eliminated
• 18 production lines implemented in about 40 days
• Revenue increased approximately 25–30% during the rebuild
• Additional revenue handled without adding headcount
• Approximately two hours saved each day by eliminating manual ticket counting
Key outcomes
• More accurate job profitability analysis
• Better production and capacity visibility
• Faster customer status updates
• Improved scheduling and quoting decisions
• Easier technology adoption across the workforce
• Increased revenue without increased headcount
• Less manual paperwork and administrative work
• Better production and capacity visibility
• Faster customer status updates
• Improved scheduling and quoting decisions
• Easier technology adoption across the workforce
• Increased revenue without increased headcount
• Less manual paperwork and administrative work
Core theme
Steelhead helped Eastern Plating rebuild intentionally after a major flood by giving the company the visibility needed to prioritize profitable work, improve efficiency, and grow with its existing team.
Full transcript
Speaker labels
The source transcript labels every segment as Unknown. Speaker identities are not assigned below.
Transcript notes
The transcript is preserved verbatim from the provided file, including incomplete phrases, repeated words, and informal wording.
Transcript
[00:00:05:22 - 00:00:09:22]
So 18 months ago, we had a three day rain event.
[00:00:10:00 - 00:00:22:06]
And upstream from where we sit, and we're about 300 yards right here from the pigeon River. But upstream we they received over 22in of rain.
[00:00:22:06 - 00:00:24:00]
and we had 30in
[00:00:24:02 - 00:00:33:05]
of water in our entire building, shutting down our entire operation. No power, no sewage, no no water for several days.
[00:00:33:07 - 00:00:55:13]
That was tragic. It was like one day you have a job, next day you don't. I was here the day that the flood started coming in, and it got to the point where I just stopped what I was doing. So, Wayne, I had to go. I had to go.
[00:00:55:14 - 00:01:00:04]
I had to go get my kids, get them across the river before it got any worse,
[00:01:00:06 - 00:01:11:03]
I remember coming back in saying Mike, Melanie and Wayne and Jamie. Danny.
[00:01:11:05 - 00:01:15:23]
Their faces told you everything. They were devastated.
[00:01:16:00 - 00:01:32:10]
we had water up to here. In here you see around yonder where the water line is and everything on the. That was a mess. We had to get out of the water. Out. Then you had, I don't know, probably six inches of mud. You had scoop all that out and then you just couldn't throw it away.
[00:01:32:11 - 00:01:38:03]
Had to be able to have man, you got how the chemicals and stuff. So it was really, really a thing.
[00:01:38:05 - 00:01:46:08]
with the shutdown, we had to evaluate what work we had that was worth bringing back.
[00:01:46:10 - 00:02:03:20]
When we did the evaluation, for what work was worth coming back, the biggest thing we did to know was what's how, what works, coming back, how much gross margin we could get off that work to pay for the investment of getting any line back up and running.
[00:02:03:20 - 00:02:22:22]
We did that methodically with every job we have in the building. Now, not only did that help us come back and be profitable and get the work done for our customers, but it also helped us evaluate a lot of the business that we were doing before, whether it was profitable or not, and whether we should take it back.
[00:02:22:22 - 00:02:29:17]
And there's probably 25, 30% of the work we were doing that we are no longer doing.
[00:02:29:19 - 00:02:33:10]
Before Steelhead, we had a system
[00:02:33:14 - 00:02:41:09]
we decided a few years back that we needed to move and improve our business for our own growth.
[00:02:41:11 - 00:02:46:23]
the ability to know how much production we have in the building is so much better with steelhead.
[00:02:46:23 - 00:02:51:15]
And it's very easy to look at what we have in raw material and
[00:02:51:17 - 00:03:01:20]
in staging for plating, and calculate exactly how many hours of production we have on any given production line, which is a lot easier for scheduling people,
[00:03:01:20 - 00:03:04:08]
a lot easier for capacity planning,
[00:03:04:08 - 00:03:08:21]
and just easier, you know, to see if we have room in the building for new quotes.
[00:03:08:21 - 00:03:09:14]
We're taking
[00:03:09:16 - 00:03:14:00]
You didn't see where your parts were at any given time.
[00:03:14:00 - 00:03:35:00]
And this is one thing that is great about steelhead is because it goes from raw inventory to staging, to the plating line to weight check. Depending on treatments, it could go to post-process cure, post-process packaging. Each step you'll know where these parts are at, and that is a huge benefit when you're trying to answer
[00:03:35:02 - 00:03:38:03]
they can look on this tablet and see where it's at on the line.
[00:03:38:04 - 00:03:40:08]
That way we know how long it's going to
[00:03:40:10 - 00:03:49:08]
And then it comes to writing to take some more handwriting. So you just hit the button that everything information is already in the tablet studio in.
[00:03:49:10 - 00:04:12:00]
Now we can tell when the parts in raw and when it's took to the line for staging and when they when they're plating it and when they, they would do weight check and then take it to shipping and then shipping sends it out so we know where our parts are any, any time once they're entered into steelhead.
[00:04:12:01 - 00:04:16:20]
It probably 95% of the phone calls have been eliminated. Truly.
[00:04:16:22 - 00:04:21:16]
Now we could look at steelhead and see where it is in the process,
[00:04:21:18 - 00:04:23:20]
That's a huge time saver.
[00:04:24:01 - 00:04:25:19]
when the transition occurred
[00:04:25:23 - 00:04:33:05]
to Steelhead, we had some production supervisors. A couple of them who are my age are a little bit older, and
[00:04:33:10 - 00:04:40:12]
a couple of them that have now been here 40 years, and they were incredibly afraid of the technology
[00:04:40:14 - 00:04:46:09]
once it was introduced to them. And they saw the ease of use, you know, they took to it rather easily.
[00:04:46:09 - 00:04:48:15]
And we're really comfortable
[00:04:48:17 - 00:04:52:13]
using the product and processing the parts of the system
[00:04:52:18 - 00:04:53:07]
Tim, who's
[00:04:53:09 - 00:05:02:16]
was one of our older production managers now. Been here 41 years. Never touched a tablet in his life. Never. Doesn't even have a smartphone. No problems
[00:05:02:19 - 00:05:03:19]
using the system.
[00:05:03:22 - 00:05:09:22]
I mean, I'm not real, real smart on computer stuff my age, I guess. But you know, I had no issue with it.
[00:05:09:22 - 00:05:14:03]
the team that came in here, you know, they spent long days,
[00:05:14:04 - 00:05:25:20]
working with first, second and third shift for this implementation and very accommodating for our people and our our people were in turn very accommodating for them during the deployment.
[00:05:25:22 - 00:05:32:23]
We were able to get, at that time, all 18 production lines that we had going, all done within about 40 days.
[00:05:33:01 - 00:05:35:19]
As we've continued rebuilding from the flood.
[00:05:35:19 - 00:05:41:01]
we've been able to increase our revenue by about 25, 30%.
[00:05:41:01 - 00:06:02:04]
And with that, you know, with becoming more efficient, with knowing our our capacity and what a line can do at any given point in time or any through any given week or any given day, we were able to schedule all of that additional revenue with our existing headcount didn't add any headcount at all.
[00:06:02:05 - 00:06:10:21]
I say during a day, it saves me about two hours not having to count those tickets. The information on those tickets daily.
[00:06:10:23 - 00:06:15:23]
if I did not have steelhead for the invoicing side, I would not be able to help with receiving.
[00:06:15:23 - 00:06:19:20]
we're still today utilizing more and more of it that we haven't in the
[00:06:20:02 - 00:06:27:19]
We'll continue to grow with steelhead and improve our ERP system with steelhead and improve what we're doing internally.
So 18 months ago, we had a three day rain event.
[00:00:10:00 - 00:00:22:06]
And upstream from where we sit, and we're about 300 yards right here from the pigeon River. But upstream we they received over 22in of rain.
[00:00:22:06 - 00:00:24:00]
and we had 30in
[00:00:24:02 - 00:00:33:05]
of water in our entire building, shutting down our entire operation. No power, no sewage, no no water for several days.
[00:00:33:07 - 00:00:55:13]
That was tragic. It was like one day you have a job, next day you don't. I was here the day that the flood started coming in, and it got to the point where I just stopped what I was doing. So, Wayne, I had to go. I had to go.
[00:00:55:14 - 00:01:00:04]
I had to go get my kids, get them across the river before it got any worse,
[00:01:00:06 - 00:01:11:03]
I remember coming back in saying Mike, Melanie and Wayne and Jamie. Danny.
[00:01:11:05 - 00:01:15:23]
Their faces told you everything. They were devastated.
[00:01:16:00 - 00:01:32:10]
we had water up to here. In here you see around yonder where the water line is and everything on the. That was a mess. We had to get out of the water. Out. Then you had, I don't know, probably six inches of mud. You had scoop all that out and then you just couldn't throw it away.
[00:01:32:11 - 00:01:38:03]
Had to be able to have man, you got how the chemicals and stuff. So it was really, really a thing.
[00:01:38:05 - 00:01:46:08]
with the shutdown, we had to evaluate what work we had that was worth bringing back.
[00:01:46:10 - 00:02:03:20]
When we did the evaluation, for what work was worth coming back, the biggest thing we did to know was what's how, what works, coming back, how much gross margin we could get off that work to pay for the investment of getting any line back up and running.
[00:02:03:20 - 00:02:22:22]
We did that methodically with every job we have in the building. Now, not only did that help us come back and be profitable and get the work done for our customers, but it also helped us evaluate a lot of the business that we were doing before, whether it was profitable or not, and whether we should take it back.
[00:02:22:22 - 00:02:29:17]
And there's probably 25, 30% of the work we were doing that we are no longer doing.
[00:02:29:19 - 00:02:33:10]
Before Steelhead, we had a system
[00:02:33:14 - 00:02:41:09]
we decided a few years back that we needed to move and improve our business for our own growth.
[00:02:41:11 - 00:02:46:23]
the ability to know how much production we have in the building is so much better with steelhead.
[00:02:46:23 - 00:02:51:15]
And it's very easy to look at what we have in raw material and
[00:02:51:17 - 00:03:01:20]
in staging for plating, and calculate exactly how many hours of production we have on any given production line, which is a lot easier for scheduling people,
[00:03:01:20 - 00:03:04:08]
a lot easier for capacity planning,
[00:03:04:08 - 00:03:08:21]
and just easier, you know, to see if we have room in the building for new quotes.
[00:03:08:21 - 00:03:09:14]
We're taking
[00:03:09:16 - 00:03:14:00]
You didn't see where your parts were at any given time.
[00:03:14:00 - 00:03:35:00]
And this is one thing that is great about steelhead is because it goes from raw inventory to staging, to the plating line to weight check. Depending on treatments, it could go to post-process cure, post-process packaging. Each step you'll know where these parts are at, and that is a huge benefit when you're trying to answer
[00:03:35:02 - 00:03:38:03]
they can look on this tablet and see where it's at on the line.
[00:03:38:04 - 00:03:40:08]
That way we know how long it's going to
[00:03:40:10 - 00:03:49:08]
And then it comes to writing to take some more handwriting. So you just hit the button that everything information is already in the tablet studio in.
[00:03:49:10 - 00:04:12:00]
Now we can tell when the parts in raw and when it's took to the line for staging and when they when they're plating it and when they, they would do weight check and then take it to shipping and then shipping sends it out so we know where our parts are any, any time once they're entered into steelhead.
[00:04:12:01 - 00:04:16:20]
It probably 95% of the phone calls have been eliminated. Truly.
[00:04:16:22 - 00:04:21:16]
Now we could look at steelhead and see where it is in the process,
[00:04:21:18 - 00:04:23:20]
That's a huge time saver.
[00:04:24:01 - 00:04:25:19]
when the transition occurred
[00:04:25:23 - 00:04:33:05]
to Steelhead, we had some production supervisors. A couple of them who are my age are a little bit older, and
[00:04:33:10 - 00:04:40:12]
a couple of them that have now been here 40 years, and they were incredibly afraid of the technology
[00:04:40:14 - 00:04:46:09]
once it was introduced to them. And they saw the ease of use, you know, they took to it rather easily.
[00:04:46:09 - 00:04:48:15]
And we're really comfortable
[00:04:48:17 - 00:04:52:13]
using the product and processing the parts of the system
[00:04:52:18 - 00:04:53:07]
Tim, who's
[00:04:53:09 - 00:05:02:16]
was one of our older production managers now. Been here 41 years. Never touched a tablet in his life. Never. Doesn't even have a smartphone. No problems
[00:05:02:19 - 00:05:03:19]
using the system.
[00:05:03:22 - 00:05:09:22]
I mean, I'm not real, real smart on computer stuff my age, I guess. But you know, I had no issue with it.
[00:05:09:22 - 00:05:14:03]
the team that came in here, you know, they spent long days,
[00:05:14:04 - 00:05:25:20]
working with first, second and third shift for this implementation and very accommodating for our people and our our people were in turn very accommodating for them during the deployment.
[00:05:25:22 - 00:05:32:23]
We were able to get, at that time, all 18 production lines that we had going, all done within about 40 days.
[00:05:33:01 - 00:05:35:19]
As we've continued rebuilding from the flood.
[00:05:35:19 - 00:05:41:01]
we've been able to increase our revenue by about 25, 30%.
[00:05:41:01 - 00:06:02:04]
And with that, you know, with becoming more efficient, with knowing our our capacity and what a line can do at any given point in time or any through any given week or any given day, we were able to schedule all of that additional revenue with our existing headcount didn't add any headcount at all.
[00:06:02:05 - 00:06:10:21]
I say during a day, it saves me about two hours not having to count those tickets. The information on those tickets daily.
[00:06:10:23 - 00:06:15:23]
if I did not have steelhead for the invoicing side, I would not be able to help with receiving.
[00:06:15:23 - 00:06:19:20]
we're still today utilizing more and more of it that we haven't in the
[00:06:20:02 - 00:06:27:19]
We'll continue to grow with steelhead and improve our ERP system with steelhead and improve what we're doing internally.
Taxonomy tags
Industry
Metal Finishing; Plating; Manufacturing; Job Shop
Feature/module
Production Tracking; Scheduling; Capacity Planning; Job Costing; Invoicing; Tablets; Reporting
Workflow category
Receiving; Production; Plating; Quality; Packaging; Shipping; Finance; Management
Use case
Disaster recovery; profitability analysis; digital transformation; shop floor visibility; customer communication; capacity planning; scaling without adding headcount
Theme
Resilience; Visibility; Efficiency; Profitability; Growth; Ease of Use; Customer Service
Stage of journey
Advocacy