Testimonial From Paper to Real-Time Visibility at Exactatherm
Video title From Paper to Real-Time Visibility at Exactatherm
Customer Exactatherm Limited
Location Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Industry Commercial Heat Treating; Aerospace; Highly Regulated Manufacturing
Accreditations Nadcap; AS9100
Recorded July 2026
Video type Customer Story / Testimonial
Speakers Dhwanit Panchal; Vraj Shah; Sheela Samy; Isabel Marker, Steelhead; Lakhvinder Singh; Dhaval Tandel
Product/feature Steelhead ERP; Specs; Process Management; Production Tracking; Global Search; Workboards; Customer Portal; Certifications; Job Audit; Digital Traceability; Deployment
What this video covers Exactatherm Limited explains how it transitioned from a paper-based heat treating operation to Steelhead, digitizing production processes, specifications, quality records, customer communication, and audit documentation while maintaining the detailed traceability required for aerospace and Nadcap work.
Before Steelhead Exactatherm relied on paper records for production data, process readings, quality documentation, historical records, and job tracking. Finding a customer record from several years earlier could require half a day, and answering a simple job-status question often meant physically walking through multiple areas of the shop looking for the parts.
Deployment approach Exactatherm and Steelhead began by mapping the company’s process flows and specifications. The team defined what data had to be captured at each process node, including temperatures, times, hardness readings, quality checks, and other information required for Nadcap compliance. After testing the digital setup against the previous system, Exactatherm transitioned production into Steelhead.
Quantified outcomes • Fully launched production in Steelhead in approximately five weeks
• Historical record searches reduced from as much as half a day to an instant digital search
• Looking up several job statuses reduced from 5–10 minutes to about 1 minute
• Audit preparation reduced by more than 100 man-hours
• Audit preparation reduced from weeks to a few days
• Customer status calls and certificate requests drastically reduced through the Customer Portal
Production visibility Steelhead gives Exactatherm visibility into where each job is, what process it is currently undergoing, which furnace was used, when it ran, which operator completed each step, and the readings captured throughout production.
Quality & compliance Every production step is timestamped and tied to an operator. Required hardness readings, process values, stamps, signatures, and other quality information are captured digitally, helping Exactatherm ensure operators do not skip required steps and significantly simplifying audit preparation.
Customer Portal impact Customers can use the Steelhead Customer Portal to view job status, see whether work is in receiving, production, hardness testing, inspection, or shipping, and download certificates of compliance and packing slips without contacting Exactatherm directly.
Business impact By spending less time searching for parts, answering status calls, retrieving records, and preparing paperwork, Exactatherm employees have more time to focus on quality, process improvement, customer relationships, sales, diversification, and continued growth.
Core takeaway Steelhead gave Exactatherm a digital operating system for a highly regulated heat treating environment, replacing paper and manual searching with real-time production visibility, complete process traceability, easier audits, and self-service customer access.
Description Exactatherm Limited is a Nadcap-accredited commercial heat treater in Mississauga, Ontario, serving aerospace and other highly regulated industries.

Before Steelhead, Exactatherm relied on a paper-based system to manage production records, process data, and years of documentation. Finding historical records could take half a day, tracking down parts meant walking the shop floor, and preparing for audits required weeks of work.

With Steelhead, Exactatherm has digitized its processes and specifications while capturing the critical data required throughout production. Operators can track every step, reading, timestamp, and process in one system, giving the team complete visibility into where parts are and how they were processed.

The impact goes beyond the shop floor. Exactatherm estimates Steelhead has reduced audit preparation by more than 100 hours, while the Customer Portal has drastically reduced status calls and certificate requests by giving customers direct access to the information they need.

With less time spent searching for parts, paperwork, and customer answers, the team has more time to focus on quality, process improvement, sales, and continued growth.

See how Exactatherm made the transition from paper to Steelhead.

Learn more:
https://gosteelhead.com

#HeatTreating #Nadcap #Manufacturing #DigitalTransformation #GetAheadWithSteelhead
Transcript notes The transcript below is preserved from the provided source, including transcription errors, incomplete statements, repeated words, and informal phrasing.
Transcript [00:00:14:02 - 00:00:27:16]
We are Commercial Heat readers, and we are mainly focused on working on aerospace products. So we are as 9100 and nightcap certified accredited company and exactly has been in business since the last 40 years.

[00:00:27:16 - 00:00:35:03]
We do heat treatment for aerospace parts. We are commercial heat readers as well. We do quench gas, quench age hardening, special, even

[00:00:35:05 - 00:00:37:04]
service, nuclear, aerospace,

[00:00:37:05 - 00:00:40:05]
automotive industries, and tool and die industries as well.

[00:00:40:05 - 00:00:46:05]
we had a paper based system basically. So we had to make sure that we are going to capture every data that we used to

[00:00:46:05 - 00:00:49:22]
in Steelheads. So we had to figure out how are we going to set up our processes.

[00:00:49:23 - 00:00:54:14]
We have different processes in terms of oil quench, gas quench, age hardening, stress relieving,

[00:00:54:14 - 00:00:59:05]
night riding. So every job has different data that we needed to capture.

[00:00:59:07 - 00:01:19:18]
you know, prior to steelhead, we had we had a few challenges, such as, you know, it was a completely paper based system. And, you know, we were having difficulties finding looking for things. Everything was manual. We have a storage up here where we where we have ten years worth of records that we are supposed to keep. As for as 9100 requirements.

[00:01:19:18 - 00:01:33:00]
And we had to manually keep all these records, manually store them, all of them. If our customer asked us of any records two years prior, we had to go up, fetch it. It would be a half days worth of work.

[00:01:33:00 - 00:01:43:08]
And there was a time every morning I start till evening, I'll be just running around to see where the parts are.

[00:01:43:09 - 00:01:50:02]
If the customer say this is the pure number where the parts are. Guess what. Nothing on the system. I don't know where it is.

[00:01:50:05 - 00:02:14:13]
I do not know where the parts are. So I have to run section A a. You don't have the parts here. Okay. Be where the process is done. Is it here or. No, it's not here. Okay. See inspection area. Do you guys have it? Then I find the parts right there. So it's like every morning till evening. I'll be doing that crazy every day until steelhead came to our life.

[00:02:14:13 - 00:02:28:22]
So we designed the process with the help of steelhead on how to do the nodes and everything. What data will be captured at what node, how can the jobs move very smoothly. So we designed the process first. Then we design the specification

[00:02:29:00 - 00:02:33:17]
comparing what data we need to capture and how are we going to capture it.

[00:02:33:18 - 00:02:53:02]
Will it be temperature based? Will it be a time based. Is it number? Is it text? What do we need to write down? What needs to be captured for madcap, for us to be compliant with madcap. And we basically build it out, tested it for a couple of jobs and checked it with our old system to understand how are we capturing it?

[00:02:53:02 - 00:02:58:06]
Once we had the confidence that we are capturing everything, we switched it all to steelhead.

[00:02:58:07 - 00:03:14:19]
exactly therm is a nad cab key trader. So whenever we're deploying any shop, especially an ad cab shop, the main focus of the deployment is always going to be processes and specs. Our goal with the deployment is to create a digital replica of your shop on steelhead.

[00:03:14:20 - 00:03:32:14]
before we look at anything else, before we're looking at order entry, invoicing, anything like that, we need to build out a process flow of how parts are going to move through the shop. And then with that, we need to build out a spec which tells us how do we run the parts, how long do parts need to go into the furnace for?

[00:03:32:14 - 00:03:40:22]
How what hardness are we looking for? How many checks do we need to do on each part? All these things are going to be super crucial to how we process the parts.

[00:03:41:01 - 00:03:50:01]
When we started the deployment we spent one day covering processes and specs, and from there they took the build out and ran with it.

[00:03:50:01 - 00:03:57:02]
We like to do a train, the trainer, the approach where I show them how to do something, and then they take it and show it to their operators.

[00:03:57:06 - 00:04:05:14]
The biggest fear was the timeline. Basically, for us, it was set pretty aggressive. It was a month, and the biggest fear was, will we be ready in a month

[00:04:05:14 - 00:04:20:11]
But it became apparent very quickly. You know, we are built for heat treaters. We take the processing and the specs and the quality management side very serious. And in about five weeks. Exactly. There was fully launched on production in steelhead.

[00:04:20:13 - 00:04:26:05]
really amazed with software, right? Because in aerospace we are required to keep track of a lot of things.

[00:04:26:05 - 00:04:40:21]
And if everything needs to be perfect, we can't take any chances in that, right? So once we enter the data and the steelhead, the really good thing that I like about is it allows us to choose the processes that we want

[00:04:40:23 - 00:04:51:15]
before there was a lot of paperwork. So if we have to find a particular job for a particular customer, it was a little bit difficult and a time consuming process.

[00:04:51:15 - 00:05:00:11]
But because now we have we are using steelhead, it is easy for us because we just put a job number or a customer name and we have every details

[00:05:00:15 - 00:05:06:22]
where we ran it, which furnace we ran it, what time we ran it, and everything. So it's really easy for

[00:05:07:04 - 00:05:17:14]
Steelhead has make our life really easy because as much as we use steelhead, we know what where the parts are, what we are doing with the parts, what process has to be

[00:05:17:16 - 00:05:17:21]
there.

[00:05:18:02 - 00:05:30:00]
We also do quench hardness stuff, and it's a little bit tricky process because there are so many readings, but Steelhead really helps us to keep track of each and every reading.

[00:05:30:02 - 00:05:52:17]
it really saves our time for to be honest, it really saves our time because previously I worked in paper and it is a time consuming because there are so many job works that are dealing with at the same time, different temperatures, different time. Steelhead helps us to keep it easy and track the records, keep everything together.

[00:05:52:19 - 00:05:59:04]
now we know one thing we are 100% sure of is that operator has not missed a previous step.

[00:05:59:07 - 00:06:04:09]
Every step that the operator has done is timestamp and his name stamped

[00:06:04:11 - 00:06:24:14]
They need to flip through loads of paper just to ensure that everything is written correctly. Is that has there been a typo on the wild typing the well typing the process? Has there been a typo by the operator? So all of those things have been taken care of? Has there been a typo by the quality inspector while writing the hardness?

[00:06:24:15 - 00:06:40:18]
There's been no typo. Is the quality stamp and signature? There it is. There is the hardness units. There it is there. So those things I would say it has reduced our man hours by probably more than 100 hours for the audit

[00:06:40:18 - 00:06:46:13]
with a click of a button, they can generate a cert. They can generate a job audit in the software.

[00:06:46:13 - 00:06:58:00]
And what used to take them weeks and weeks of preparing. They now can prep in a few days ahead of time, and all the data is at their fingertips for them to show to the auditor.

[00:06:58:04 - 00:07:04:00]
now we can just go and steelhead, we can look at the word boards, or I can look at the system and see where the job is.

[00:07:04:01 - 00:07:12:02]
It tells us the station, if it's in temper, if it's in oil, quench wherever it is. And I can tell the customer, okay, it's at this stage in the process and

[00:07:12:04 - 00:07:19:00]
it will take this much time so I don't have to go out on the floor. I can just give them an answer in a couple of minutes before I used to have to call them back.

[00:07:19:01 - 00:07:23:08]
If I had to look at a couple of jobs, it took me five ten minutes. Now on steelhead it takes me a minute.

[00:07:23:10 - 00:07:37:20]
The global search button on steelhead is a boon for us because you type in your work order number or your Po number, your customer name or your part number, anything added a pop up the result for that particular part number.

[00:07:37:23 - 00:07:52:03]
You have a complete visibility by just sitting on your desk. And sometimes there are days when you're busy and you don't want to take a take a step on the shop floor. You're just able to see it from your desktop and respond to your customer request.

[00:07:52:06 - 00:08:00:14]
So with portal, a lot of customers are using it to get the CFC and packing slips, but they can also look at what are the parts that has it started the process?

[00:08:00:15 - 00:08:07:18]
Is it in paperwork? Is it being harnessed, tested and stuff like that? We have given visibility to them to see what stage the parts are at.

[00:08:07:20 - 00:08:16:14]
We are not answering that many calls. Where are parts. So that is good. We are getting less and less emails on certificate of compliances. They can download it from the portal.

[00:08:16:14 - 00:08:48:00]
Customer portal has been has been a massive change. Our operations manager, myself, the both of us has seen a drastic reduction in the phone calls that we get from our customers because of the customer portal they are. They have a complete visibility of when they sent us the Po where the product right now, is it in production, is it in just in receiving or is it as we've been shipped or is it a QC in inspection, you know, has the job been entered or not entered there being able to see all of this.

[00:08:48:01 - 00:08:50:21]
So they're calling us less and we are very happy about

[00:08:50:23 - 00:09:03:10]
Guess what? Now I have enough time. So the boss sent me for sales. Now realize I'm not running around pulling my hair everywhere. So now I got enough time to do other jobs now,

[00:09:03:11 - 00:09:07:19]
So it's like I'm going everywhere to meet customers because it's giving me lots of time.

[00:09:07:19 - 00:09:20:16]
having more time to focus on quality, more time to focus on our improvement in our processes, and more time to expand our horizon, to go for different diversification in our process as well.

[00:09:20:16 - 00:09:29:14]
Maybe I can say this we are breaking records. What happened? Every year, every month we have sales. Now we are just breaking records,

[00:09:29:14 - 00:09:32:15]
And Steelhead made my dream come true.

[00:09:32:17 - 00:09:38:12]
We are exactly located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. We run on steelhead and we love steelhead.
Industry Heat Treating; Commercial Heat Treating; Aerospace; Nuclear; Automotive; Tool & Die; Manufacturing
Compliance Nadcap; AS9100; Aerospace Quality; Audit Readiness; Traceability
Feature/module Specs; Process Management; Workboards; Production Tracking; Global Search; Customer Portal; Certifications; Job Audit; Quality Management
Workflow category Receiving; Heat Treat; Oil Quench; Gas Quench; Age Hardening; Stress Relieving; Nitriding; Hardness Testing; Quality; Inspection; Shipping; Customer Service
Use case Paperless manufacturing; Nadcap compliance; historical record retrieval; production traceability; job tracking; customer self-service; audit preparation; digital transformation
Theme Visibility; Traceability; Compliance; Efficiency; Customer Experience; Quality; Time Savings; Growth
Stage of journey Advocacy