Shop Talk
From Paper to Digital: Building a More Visible, Audit-Ready Heat Treat Operation
Identity & metadata
Video titleFrom Paper to Digital: Building a More Visible, Audit-Ready Heat Treat Operation | Steelhead Shop Talk
SeriesSteelhead Shop Talk
HostDean Halonen
GuestVraj Shah
CompanyExactatherm Limited
LocationMississauga, Ontario, Canada
IndustryCommercial Heat Treating; Aerospace; Highly Regulated Manufacturing
RecordedSeptember 17, 2026
Video typeSteelhead Shop Talk Podcast Episode
Product/featureSteelhead ERP; Production Tracking; Global Search; Watchtower; Customer Portal; Quoting; Contract Review; Specs; Process Nodes; PDF Power Tools; QuickBooks Integration; Digital Quality Records
AI-optimized summary block
What this episode coversDean Halonen talks with Vraj Shah of Exactatherm Limited about the heat treater's transition from a paper-heavy legacy system to Steelhead, including deployment, employee adoption, production visibility, customer communication, quoting, audit preparation, quality control, and the requirements of running an aerospace heat treating operation.
Before SteelheadExactatherm used a Microsoft Dynamics-based legacy system alongside extensive manual processes and paper travelers. Historical quality records had to be physically retrieved and scanned, job-status questions could require walking the shop floor, and operators manually recorded timestamps, process values, and hardness readings.
DeploymentExactatherm focused first on understanding and improving its workflows rather than simply digitizing existing processes. The team used Steelhead University before deployment, met with its deployment leader for two to three hours each day, and completed the implementation in less than six weeks despite originally planning for roughly eight to ten weeks.
Employee adoptionVraj describes change management as a major part of the transition. Exactatherm explained not only how employees would use the system but why the information and workflows mattered. Employees ranging from recent hires to team members with more than 30 years at the company adopted the new system together.
Visibility & recordsProduction and quality information became searchable from a desk or phone. Historical hardness records that previously could require hours of searching can now be generated digitally, while Global Search and Watchtower allow the team to see where a job is, what stage it is in, and what comes next without physically tracking it down.
Customer PortalExactatherm gives customers direct visibility into job status through the Customer Portal. Vraj says customers actively use the portal, including one customer who checks it multiple times per day, reducing status calls while increasing transparency and trust.
QuotingQuote turnaround improved from less than five days to less than three days, with Exactatherm working toward less than two days. Many quotes can be returned in less than a day, while more complex work may still require two to three days for requirements review.
Quality & auditsSteelhead helps Exactatherm control and demonstrate its existing quality processes by connecting job entry, production, inspection, certification, timestamps, specifications, revisions, contract review, and retained records. Vraj describes a recent successful Nadcap audit and says the digital system made objective evidence easier to present to auditors.
Audit preparationUnder the previous paper-based process, Vraj says he came in every weekend for roughly two months to prepare for an audit. With Steelhead, required timestamps, operator records, specifications, revisions, process logs, and job history are organized digitally, reducing manual review and overtime before an audit.
Quality dataExactatherm reports rework below 0.2% per quarter and uses Steelhead to capture rework when it occurs. The company has also connected its digital hardness testers to its workflow so operators can record hardness values directly rather than handwriting hundreds of individual readings.
Core takeawayExactatherm's experience shows how a highly regulated heat treating operation can move from paper and manual workarounds to a connected digital workflow without sacrificing process control. The result is faster access to information, stronger customer visibility, easier audit preparation, more structured workflows, and more time for employees to focus on value-added work.
Full transcript
Transcript notesThe transcript below is preserved from the provided source, including transcription errors, incomplete statements, repeated words, filler words, and incorrect automated name or terminology recognition.
Transcript
[00:00:00:00 - 00:00:16:01]
I think I have cut down the preparation time. Previously, I came for two months. I came every weekend in order to ensure that, you know, our paper based system. Or everything written on the paper was was.
[00:00:16:01 - 00:00:31:21]
Okay. You know, auditors always look for if you have done this job. Has
[00:00:31:23 - 00:00:35:16]
Perfect. All right. Roger, we got you here. Loud and clear. So welcome,
[00:00:35:20 - 00:00:49:22]
everybody. And thanks for joining another episode here of Shock Shop Talk. So Shop Talk is a it's a podcast and it's live actually for those that have dedicated their, their livelihood to the craft of manufacturing.
[00:00:50:02 - 00:01:17:06]
And so we like to pull in experts from around the country. North America, we do actually have some customers globally now in Australia too. And today we have a nice guest out of Ontario, Canada. So you want to introduce yourself and exactly therm and kind of explain your background briefly. And the company's background in terms of like who is exactly there.
[00:01:17:08 - 00:01:45:18]
Yes. Thank you so much for inviting and I really appreciate it. And thank you for the honor of allowing me to be on the podcast. Executive is a relatively small aerospace company here in Ontario, Canada, and being in business for over 40 years. The company was acquired by medics treating in 2024. And that's pretty much how I ended up at.
[00:01:45:20 - 00:02:12:24]
I had spent about 11 years at medics working mainly in process and quality engineering. So, when the acquisition happened. I moved over to the term and took on the quality manager's role here. Executive. We do a lot of, we do a range of aerospace processes, which includes vacuum heat treatment.
[00:02:13:01 - 00:02:44:23]
Gas and oil, vacuum or vacuum? Gas and vacuum. All quenching. Age hardening, stretch leaving plasma and nitride. So, you know, being being a smaller company, you end up wearing a lot of hats and especially in quality. I'm involved in the QMS customer requirements. Audits, production, troubleshooting sometimes. And, you know, working with the teams to ensure that everything actually works properly on the shop floor.
[00:02:45:00 - 00:03:18:06]
Exactly. Is a 9500 and accredited company. So even if we are a smaller company, the level of control and documentation expectation from our customer is is pretty high. Nice. And Ross, you said you're a small company. How many roughly employees. How many furnaces do you guys do you guys have? So we have we have 17 employees here, full time working and including myself and the other other manager, other management personnel.
[00:03:18:08 - 00:03:49:19]
We have one vacuum workbench furnace, two vacuum gas quench furnaces, and we have six, eight furnaces and two plasma iron furnaces. And we are working towards two more furnaces. So, in total, we'll have eight at a temper. Furnaces. Okay. Okay. Awesome. And you said you guys are nad cap and as 9100 approved. When did you guys get those certifications?
[00:03:49:21 - 00:04:19:17]
Yes, 9100. Again, those have been in place from a while ago. I believe that we have been accredited since last 15 years. And so and also with a 9100 as well. I think 20 1011 was when we got our ass 9100 certificate. Got it, got it. And, could you explain a little bit in terms of exactly therm.
[00:04:19:19 - 00:04:55:21]
You guys recently joined steelhead? Maybe. I don't know if it was within the last year, right. Yes. Yes. Our deployment was done last year in August, I believe. July, August and been fully, we have transition fully to steelhead since the. Since September. September or, mid September or October last year. We fully see that, you know, as the business grew here and the requirements became more complex.
[00:04:55:23 - 00:05:25:23]
Our own system was was becoming a limitation. It was it was little bit slow and, and but we had developed a lot of manual process around as a workaround to the whole system. So, you know, for us, your project really started with looking at our processes and asking, how can we do this better rather than simply just saying that, oh, we need a new software or we need a new ERP system, right?
[00:05:25:24 - 00:05:57:14]
And we were looking how we could improve the way we manage our entire workflow from the time we receive a customer order all the way through production, inspection, certification and ultimately, you know, traceability of the quality records and ultimately retaining the quality records. Right. And that's where really the conversation of steelhead started, right? Because, in aerospace, eating like or just in any other key treating, it's not just like putting the parts in a furnace and then taking them out.
[00:05:57:16 - 00:06:25:03]
Right? There are, there's a complete chain of information that goes around with every job. Or the customer has ordered what specification applies? What is the spec rev or the parts, the spec, the latest background? What process is required? What furnace is used in inspection that needs to be performed, certifications that are required, and ultimately your record retention.
[00:06:25:03 - 00:06:52:18]
And and so I guess like we needed an ERP that would help us control that workflow and the chain. Right. So essentially, when when we had our presentation done for steelhead, our initial presentation, we kind of felt that this, meets all of our internal requirements and, and, fills out all the check boxes that we had, that we were looking for.
[00:06:52:19 - 00:07:14:08]
And hence we ended up going with steelhead. Nice. And having. So sounds like you made that decision last July and then you went through the, the deployment process. And sounds like you're up and running in September. Can you explain like the there's often a lot of fear around the deployment. Like, because it's a big change, right.
[00:07:14:09 - 00:07:37:11]
And it's changing all the systems that have been running for ten, 20, 30 years. What was surprised, like, I guess. Was there anything surprising about that deployment process in terms of the amount of time it took or the difficulty or, getting everybody retrained in any comments there on the on the overall deployment process for steelhead. Yeah.
[00:07:37:16 - 00:08:02:06]
I mean, you know, what stood out for us was that, you know, deployment leaders and actually, even before the deployment had happened, we visited Steelhead Hatchery in June and, you know, still had listened to our actual process problems. They did not just show us, like, the generic PRV features, but they worked with us to understand how we operate.
[00:08:02:06 - 00:08:28:23]
And, you know, the deployment leader was, was kind enough to, for us to, bring out our, our issues, our problems, our workflow issues, and then, channelized and customize the system based on our requirements. So that was that was what what stood out. Right? Like, we didn't want to digitize a bad process, right? So we wanted to understand.
[00:08:29:00 - 00:08:54:15]
We want to see that you understand our process first and then build the workflow around it, which which they did, and, you know, deployment, was was really quick. We had we did not think that from, from start to finish, it would be done in less than six weeks. We had anticipated we had given ourselves about 8 to 10 weeks to completely go through with it, but still had had already a process.
[00:08:54:19 - 00:09:33:07]
How? There is a there's university, which they had after we visited the hatchery, they created logins for us and all of our operators underwent steelhead university courses for all the processes that they were involved with. And and likewise for myself and for other job entry personnel, and operations personnel, they underwent their different processes, their trainings, and they got them selves familiarized, even, I would say at least 60 to 70% familiarized before the deployment even took place.
[00:09:33:07 - 00:09:55:05]
So when the deployment was happening and, you know, we were able to recollect all that information, that okay, this is what we learned and this is how it is going to work out in our system. And that's and hence it was an easy transition in deployment. They did not, you know, Russia's they did not push us that.
[00:09:55:05 - 00:10:17:16]
Oh, we got to get this done. No. Or or we, we have five other jobs reading in line. Let's push this through. No, it was a very patient and effective deployment. If we wanted anything to be changed, it was done either before the session ended or it was done before the next day. Is meeting. Right. So deployment happened every single day.
[00:10:17:20 - 00:10:44:02]
We used to meet with our deployment leader for 2 to 3 hours a day. And then that's how we work through the processes. That's how we work through the work boards and and and all the different different modules there. Awesome. And now that that is sounds like a pretty, pretty smooth, which is a sign of well, a we have we believe we have a strong product and a strong deployment team here on steel.
[00:10:44:06 - 00:11:11:13]
But the most important part is you guys have to have strong leadership and strong employees as well. And then that's when it works best together. So on on that side, how did you find the best way to keep everybody on the exact third team marching towards a common goal? Or is there anything that you found to be to work very well in terms of the culture of adopting new technology, new workflows, new innovation?
[00:11:11:15 - 00:11:49:17]
To achieve a, a smooth and a efficient deployment? Yeah. So with the in terms of culture, right. Like, I mean, when we when we had decided when the upper management had decided that they wanted to change. So they, they first told us that, you know, let's, let's change it. And I think, I think the culture is, is an is a very adopting culture where we know that the only thing that is constant, the changing is change and change.
[00:11:49:19 - 00:12:14:12]
Do all these have to adapt to new technologies? You always have to ensure that you're doing the right things at the right time in order to stay at the top of your game. So, you know, for us to, to be impactful at our customer service, to be us to be impactful and even, you know, doing, doing value added things at work, we wanted to have a smoother and an efficient system.
[00:12:14:12 - 00:12:41:18]
And that's where, you know, having a new ERP was brought in by everyone at work. Right? Not there was everyone was up for the change. Everyone was up for the challenge that it's going to be a six week deployment. We're going to move fast with it. But we want to do ensure that, you know, the objective of the training was just not to teach people to just push buttons.
[00:12:41:18 - 00:13:07:13]
We wanted them to understand the workflow and why the information was required. So that's how we were able to when we believe that when you tell the people the why, if they know the end goal, they are more, you know, they're more there is acceptance of the change rather than if you just shove it down their throats, then not going to accept the change.
[00:13:07:13 - 00:13:34:01]
You have to be patient with it. You have to be able to provide them the information, provide them a bigger picture, a complete picture, and then they're more willing to change. That's how that's what we have seen here. And that's how people have easily been able to adapt to Steve Hat. We've had employees who are being here for more than 30, 35 years, you know, and, and there are fairly new people who had just joined six months prior to the implementation.
[00:13:34:01 - 00:14:02:10]
So again, there was a huge spectrum, but all the people who were, were, were on it together. Our team here is very, you know, cohesive. And they work. Everyone works together in order to ensure that we put our best foot forward and, and and, take the change head on. Yeah. That's awesome. Actually, very, very clever and smart and accurate is the the why.
[00:14:02:12 - 00:14:26:14]
The why is so important. In order to, there has to be a great why, right? Otherwise, like, it has to be clear and obvious and real and tangible. And I think you mentioned two things there, one being customer service and two being so they can focus more on the value add things. Okay, I know you have all this busy work, this administrative work today.
[00:14:26:16 - 00:14:44:24]
And tomorrow, right, we're going to go through 5 or 6 weeks of, work hard effort. Right. Work. But the light at the end of the tunnel is you can be, you know, working on more value add things, which I think everybody wants to work on the value add things because that's what excites them about coming to work in the first place.
[00:14:45:01 - 00:15:11:09]
Now, on the value add side, is there anything that that was a I guess, what are the big value add things that that you see, getting freed up in the business from the the paper based or the pre steelhead days to today. Is there like like one of the big one two, three like hey now we have a lot more time, a lot more resources focusing on these key value add areas.
[00:15:11:11 - 00:15:52:12]
Right? I think I think biggest thing is that is, you know, visibility of the job status right from your, from your cell phone or from your desk. And we are able to, you know, steelhead has become part of how we control our, our quality system, our how we control our production system. Right. Like, I mean, you know, in, in the past, let's say, for example, if a customer had asked me that, you know, what job number a, B, c, has, can you provide me a hardness test report for this job?
[00:15:52:14 - 00:16:17:24]
So in our space, we have to save records for ten years. We have a storage up here. In at executor, where if a customer asks me for anything about, let's say, from 2024, I would have to go up, take out the paper, sift through the whole year's job and find out that paperwork, take a scan copy. Because it was manual entry on our.
[00:16:18:01 - 00:16:40:10]
We had a sheet where we manually entered all the hardness test results in our space. You do 100% hardness checking. So we then take out that copy as a photo or either take a picture of it or photocopy it, scan it and then send it to our customer. Oh, that all is eliminated because now all the results are recorded in this detail.
[00:16:40:12 - 00:17:10:15]
And just click on create PDF with the hardness test results. And it will give me be 45 pieces okay, 45 pieces, your hardness results of each and every piece numbered. Boom. Send it to the customer. That five six hours of has been done in ten minutes. Less than ten minutes, right? Wow. The second was, you know, our operation manager, had like.
[00:17:10:17 - 00:17:29:07]
I mean, you know, if customer had called the call, if customer calls her about the status of the part, for example, where is my job? That was given to you that that was sent on, on, let's say, 14th September. And, I have not received it. Right. Or whatever it is. I just want to know the status of it.
[00:17:29:07 - 00:17:53:23]
Has it been entered or whatever it is? She should have to go out in the shop floor as a job in person, I would say, oh, I release the job that day to the shop floor. Oh, that. Then she goes to the operator. Oh no, no, this is being processed. It's in she she goes to QC and like I mean everything steelhead you she can sit on her desk global search bar and type in the Po number or the job number.
[00:17:53:24 - 00:18:11:11]
Boom. You see it. You see it where it is. Oh it's in QC right now getting quality checked. Fine. You know. Watch tower is such a such a cool feature because we, we frequently use Watch Tower because, you're able to completely see the status of what stage the part is in and what is the next stage it is going to go.
[00:18:11:12 - 00:18:37:01]
So, yeah, you're able to see it here that all the time and effort of manually running around, trying to trying to just get the traceability or just gather some information that all has gone away. Right. You know, information is more searchable. We are less dependent on paper. Where we are, we had you no information. Inspection information on steelhead.
[00:18:37:03 - 00:19:00:04]
Then even, you know, our process information is more structured. The workflows are more structured. First, any small information? If a customer had sent an information in that or make sure you you run this coupon with the party. If we have to manually write it down on the people, if it was not manually written down on the paperwork, the operator would tell us that, oh, it's not written on the paperwork, so I didn't realize it.
[00:19:00:07 - 00:19:22:23]
Now we see that and every operation that that job goes through has that node on it that, oh, this needs to be done. So then, so then there's no excuse at the end of the day, right? Like, oh, I did see it or I, oh, this was not to be done. So all of those process, you know, constraints we have eliminate all of those as well.
[00:19:23:00 - 00:19:45:22]
Customer our customers love the customer portal. Right. Because we have given them visibility. We have given them trust that we are okay for you to see where the status is, what the status of the parts is, right? Because sometimes are you scared to tell the customer or back in the day you are scared to tell the customer that, oh, this is the status of your part.
[00:19:45:23 - 00:20:05:19]
But now customer portal. Yeah, okay, fine. Yeah, I set my job with the 14. It has been entered of the 15th or 14th evening. I can see it. And then it is in the operations right now. And oh, it is a quality. So they know that in two, three days, if the lead time is seven days, they know that exactly how the job is working.
[00:20:05:19 - 00:20:27:04]
And by the 20th they are going to receive the parts because they can exactly see it on the customer portal that where the job is. At what stage. Recently we had a customer reading where the customer was like, I checked the portal six times a day. Wow. Because they want big customers. They have sent us this and as many parts a day.
[00:20:27:04 - 00:20:52:12]
So she's like, oh, I just want to just keep on checking every time. I have a doubt rather than calling you. I just checked the customer so the phone calls are dropped. Wow. Right. Phone calls have dropped, customers have taken the visibility of the portal and and. Yeah. And I mean, they they also call us and say that, you know, the portal it's showing that that that that it wasn't quality two days ago.
[00:20:52:12 - 00:21:12:15]
So I'm just assuming that it's done right. Because I mean, you know, at quality, we, we they can't see anything after quality. I mean, they can only see if the product is shipped after quality. So we, they said, oh, are you shipping the product? You say, yeah, we are shaping the product. Right? So like, I mean, and we said that it should be on your door today.
[00:21:12:16 - 00:21:31:18]
So at least like I mean that is increased customers trust on us. And we have also increased our trust on them that you know what, they are seeing this. It's okay because we know that we are being due diligence and we are doing our job more diligently and are we're providing all the facts to the customers. It's like an open book.
[00:21:31:20 - 00:21:55:03]
Wow. That is that is amazing. And what happens when you have a heightened level of trust with the customers? Do they end up sending you guys more business? Absolutely. Right. Like, I mean, you know, they we have we have seen more quotes coming through. Customers love the quotes going through steelhead and their ability to to, you know, quickly have all the information.
[00:21:55:07 - 00:22:23:00]
We love sending codes because if the customer sends us that part. It automatically ties to, to our sales order because we can just click on the button, added code lines, and boom, we have everything, everything on it. Right. So whatever we encoded. So I mean, this is definitely resulted in, in, in improved efficiency. And yeah, I mean, you know, at exact value executives.
[00:22:23:02 - 00:22:50:22]
You know, work ethic has, has shown through through steelhead now. And we are we're getting more customers, we're getting more sales calls, recording more jobs efficiently. So our turnaround time has gone down and which is drastically, helped us gain more customers, which is which is what we want. Yeah. Do you know what your quote turnaround time is?
[00:22:50:24 - 00:23:17:21]
It's less than initially it was previously it was about less than five days. Now we have dropped it down to less than three days. We're trying to improve it down to less than two days now. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. More a lot of our codes, we give it a give it less than a day. There are some complex codes that we have to ensure that we are following it, going through all the requirements.
[00:23:17:23 - 00:23:40:23]
And and for those the lead time is 2 to 3 days. But for majority of them, we try to even cut them down more. Okay. And it sounds like Raj the. So there's a lot of things going through there. That you just mentioned and I appreciate that. So it sounds like there's a lot of free time on the quality side.
[00:23:40:23 - 00:24:03:01]
There's a lot of time freed up on the customer service side. And maybe even some friction removed on the customer side via the portal. On the on the quality side, though, you mentioned the operator instructions. There's no excuse not to miss anything. How is that? And maybe some time freed up from the re sending those hardness tests.
[00:24:03:01 - 00:24:23:03]
So those certifications, to the customers. How is it impacted? The one thing I like to think about is like the total cost of quality. If you're having, like, reworks or or any sort of scrap, what is the impact been on, on, on the quality side. And I guess it also is an audit component as well.
[00:24:23:04 - 00:24:58:02]
I mean, obviously when your NAD cap and asked any 100 you will get audited. So maybe how has it impacted the audits and the overall quality team performance? You know, I'd like to like we were not kept compliant before and and like, I mean, yeah, you had not only, I mean, steel did not make us not have compliant our processes, procedures and people did that, but still had helped us control and demonstrate those processes to the auditor.
[00:24:58:03 - 00:25:23:18]
Right. Like, I mean, you know, we just, We just had a knack about it recently, and, it was a very successful audit. There were no non-conformists. And the auditor said that they were impressed with how the system is transparent, because we were able to show the auditor completely from the job entry process to the certification process.
[00:25:23:20 - 00:26:00:03]
Everything transparent, every, you know, detailed, written on the job. Very, very clearly. And explaining the operators, all the descriptions, the process description, the process nodes description, everything written properly. So, auditor was, was, was very impressed with that seamless transition from the, a paper based system to and to a digital system and, you know not about it as expect objective evidence and not just the statement that the procedure exists.
[00:26:00:03 - 00:26:34:16]
So we just we, we, we try to, combine, the procedure along with the objective evidence using steelhead and, and then show it to the show, to the auditor. Cost of quality has drastically has gone down. I would say. But one thing with Clyde is that we are able to capture a lot of rework if, if and ever we do it, our, you know, our rework is percentage is less than 0.0 point 2%, per quarter.
[00:26:34:17 - 00:26:43:18]
So we have tried to we try to nail that down. As, which as we can, you know,
[00:26:43:20 - 00:27:14:08]
But for from an auditing perspective, even our as 9100 auditor was also impressed with the with our contract review. Feature that you had that, that we haven't had where, you know, we have a double review. One is a job approval we had one is a contract review, which you had. So yeah, like, I mean, we have not been able to the auditor has not been able to find any mistakes with steelhead till now.
[00:27:14:10 - 00:27:37:17]
So so we are so we are we are we're okay with it. And you know auditor always looks to see a risk management matrix. Then when you transition the new system to the old system. So steelhead on our risk management matrix was, was at a very low risk level. And all the risk level that were there were accepted by us.
[00:27:37:17 - 00:28:03:03]
So, so yeah, auditor was happy to see that. And that's why was there without any scramble. Right. You know. Yeah. That's good. And any comment on the audit prep like in terms of like the prep before when you're on paper versus the audit prep time when you're on select. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Right. Because so I have done an app on it.
[00:28:03:03 - 00:28:29:22]
I mean, I run it with a paper based system and this was my, my, my first audit with, with steelhead. So huge drastic difference. I think I have cut down the preparation time. Previously, I came for two months. I came every weekend in order to ensure that, you know, our paper based system. Or everything written on the paper was was.
[00:28:29:22 - 00:28:54:14]
Okay. You know, auditors always look for if you have done this job. Has it been time stamp? Has the person who is working here has done this job at the right time, you know, is there an evidence for that? And in paper based operations, sometimes when you're stamping, when you're manually stamping and manually stamping the time, the date and everything, you know, you tend to miss it on certain operations.
[00:28:54:14 - 00:29:19:05]
Sometimes you might have missed it even though you have completed the operation, but you have missed it because you've gone to the next step. See, that doesn't allow you to move the job to the next step. So one of the things that I did have to worry about in any of the jobs I selected was that. Oh, you know, I'm missing a timestamp information, or I'm missing the person who has chosen this job and not not effectively done their job.
[00:29:19:07 - 00:29:48:10]
So those things got eliminate then, even my preparation wise, when I said that we created a process log that showed that all the, you know, all the specification and all the workflow and all the all the revision information, everything was easier to identify. The system has made it easier for us to follow, a job from customer requirements to production and inspection, certification and record retention wise.
[00:29:48:11 - 00:30:11:23]
So, you know, you you have a fully transparent system. You're showing the auditor fully transparent system. And and that's how, you know, our, our because it was a transparent system, our preparation time has gone down. So, I think our, our upper management has appreciated that we haven't done much over time this year for preparation. So so that was good.
[00:30:12:00 - 00:30:34:13]
That was good. That's my time. And no weekends. So just to be just to be clear, you're coming in on the weekends just to review the paper travelers that might be audited. Absolutely. Yes, yes. Right. Because for you, you have to look at the history jobs, right? So again, what we try to do is we don't.
[00:30:34:15 - 00:30:57:24]
And luckily again, I think this year it was it was a little bit different is because, you know, any job that is coming in through the door, we try to ensure that we do it. We do it right the first time rather than relying it that you know what? Okay, we'll take care of it later. No, it has to be done right the first time so that, you know, there is no hiccups later on.
[00:30:58:00 - 00:31:16:24]
You don't have to review it too much. From our past experiences, we have learned that. And that's what we have implemented in see that. So that's why that was also part of the reason why preparation time. Go on down this time, right. That we ensure that all the workflows, all the procedures that we put in the steelhead is, was, was done correctly the first time?
[00:31:17:01 - 00:31:44:22]
Yeah. This has been amazing. I think we're about, at time here. Maybe if you could go back to say if we could rewind the clock, you know, 13 months and we're sitting here and June of of 20, 25, is there anything that you'd have told 2025 or 2025 exactly like, hey, they're considering making this big investment in this big transformation.
[00:31:44:24 - 00:32:10:12]
But like, hey, look out for these couple of things, or make sure to do these couple things, or is there anything like if you could rewind the clock and do it again, that you could like, you know, as far as lessons learned? Yeah. Lessons. You know what I would absolutely tell, ten 2025 Raj and the executive team, including the upper management, is let's not forget about the change, right?
[00:32:10:13 - 00:32:35:22]
Like, I mean, it's going to be okay. We are going to be fine. Because, you know, the new system will help us, you know, make everything more, our information more organized and more accessible, even during all the audits. Right? When I had come, for revenue. Riptide in 2025, September of 2025, we had just implemented that.
[00:32:35:22 - 00:33:01:07]
And my biggest concern was that how is this going to be not kept compliant? I was more, I was more, you know, worried about a digital system that that how my auditor will take a look at it. And, you know, for us, I would tell the 2025 Raj that let's not let's not forget about a digital system because digital system is going to help you.
[00:33:01:07 - 00:33:11:11]
It is going to help you control the processes and demonstrate the evidence, objective evidence that an auditor needs are.
[00:33:11:13 - 00:33:42:13]
You know, we had we we had an old system that had had become that had become outdated and slow, and that over time we had developed a lot of manual processes around it. We knew we had to change it. We just didn't want to simply replace one system with another. So let's in 2025, what we did good was we identified our problems, including the manual data entry issues, the paper records, the specification records.
[00:33:42:15 - 00:34:08:18]
And then we worked with steelhead to and explained those challenges and that, you know, there were several meetings, iterations where we worked through how the system could address all all those issues. So we mapped our existing processes and use them as a baseline for building new workflows. And then we updated our procedures, trained our employees, and validated the new system against our existing.
[00:34:08:22 - 00:34:32:23]
So once we live, once we went live, you know, the biggest change was, was having the job become the central focal point of information, right? Rather than a lot of other things becoming central point. A job becomes the central point for information and the contract review, production, inspection, certification. Everything is connected in that one job in steelhead.
[00:34:33:00 - 00:35:07:24]
So, you know, and from a perspective, right, you know, our people, our quality system made us more compliant, you know, and, and, steel steelhead helped us in doing that. You know, made it easier for us to demonstrate our processes. And demonstrate the objective evidence and, and. Yeah, like, I mean, you know, have all the information organized an accessible to the auditor in an effective and easier manner.
[00:35:08:01 - 00:35:32:19]
Meet our biggest, biggest point is made our customer service more effective. Lead our, you know, phones ring a little bit less. So these are the things, right? Like, I mean, I would just say that, to anyone who is looking to change the system, don't fret. Don't fret about it, because you will. You are in the hands of a.
[00:35:32:22 - 00:35:57:14]
You are in good hands, right? You're in good hands and you are in. You'll be dealing with capable people who will ensure that they understand your your process, your issues and then work towards solving them. Right. Yeah. I don't know if you if, if there's anything else, but. Yeah. No, I think that's that's pretty much a wonderful summary, Raj.
[00:35:57:15 - 00:36:18:10]
I think you guys are leaders, honestly, in the heat treat industry, from my perspective in terms of how you've adopted it. So, efficiently and proficiently and how you have like an open book policy and some people are scared to do that. I think there's a saying like, fortune favors the bold. And you guys certainly are operating with that open book policy and being rewarded.
[00:36:18:12 - 00:36:43:12]
So it's great to see that. There is a question here in the chat from James Stoll. James is asking is the pricing module quoting pricing kind of being the I think what James is referring to. How is that working? Is it working well, yes. So hi James, the pricing module is basically, we we send all of our quotes through steelhead.
[00:36:43:12 - 00:37:14:00]
And when we create a new sales order. And let's say if the same customer has sent us that job, then you would just click on add quoted lines and then all the, and if that job already has a quote, then everything that you have quoted from it being your processing price to your, let's say hardness check price or or anything else, like, I mean, pertaining to your process, whatever, whatever, any lab work price.
[00:37:14:02 - 00:37:45:03]
So everything would come out and that you would just send and an updated amendment to the customer and, and then, you know, get that price approval from the customer. So for us, we have we, we have been able to use the pricing module really well. We don't use the maintenance module, but the accounting integration, we have integrated the steelhead system with our QuickBooks.
[00:37:45:05 - 00:38:11:13]
So I think the accounting integration has worked out very well as well. Okay. There's another question from William Cummings on hard copies. So like hard copies of the, the orders, the work orders and presenting those to the NAD cap auditor. How do you handle that? Right. So all the hard copies. So what we did was, we created our own process.
[00:38:11:13 - 00:38:34:04]
Log in. Steelhead. Steelhead gives you ability to do that. There's a power tools for PDF so you can create your own PDFs. You can create the logs in a way in the way that you want. So we kind of created a process log for all of for all of our processes. So let's say I had a long job that I, that, that, that the auditor looked at as a, as a history job.
[00:38:34:04 - 00:39:01:23]
So everything. The work that you create, that's just one paper, but the, all the information regarding the receiving, the, the dimensions, the, the cross section thickness, everything was, was as the spec fields, the spec fields that you create on the, on the using the process nodes, those spec fields can everything can be taken into a PDF.
[00:39:02:02 - 00:39:29:08]
And then essentially you can show the auditor that PDF, or you can even print out that PDF and show it as your as your actual hard copy. It will have all the spec revisions listed. Let's say for example, for all quenching, if you have your preheat time, preheat temperature, the time in, time out, your vacuum levels, your all current temperature, the start temperature, the end temperature.
[00:39:29:10 - 00:39:50:21]
But these are all the spec fields. You have to ensure that you have already inputted in the process. Because whatever you input, you'll be able to take it out on on the PDF. But you have to ensure that all of these fields you have, you have input. So essentially, essentially, I think you'll be able to show the auditor the process log.
[00:39:50:21 - 00:40:14:09]
And then and then they'll be able to exactly say that. Let's say, for example, if you have to put a job in snap temper for less than within two hours of quenching, so the auditor will say that we'll be able to see the time out of, of quench. And then if you put a job in the because the time in of entering the quench, if that is less than two hours, then our auditor can can see the objective evidence right there.
[00:40:14:09 - 00:40:34:12]
So that's how we were able to do it. We were we showed the auditor that. And if you want, please email me. I can send you a I can show you. Show you an email. Sorry. I can email you a copy of our process log so that you'll be able to see, how it is or what we did.
[00:40:34:12 - 00:40:42:06]
Rather, I'm just going to put my email in the chat in the, in the chat as well.
[00:40:42:08 - 00:41:12:11]
Awesome. Well, that's very, very, I, I appreciate that, from my side being so open there, there's there's another question here from Johanna. Lisa, what was the previous system and what implementation challenges did you face? Specifically lay around importing or converting, master files for customers, equipment, operating ranges, tolerances, specs, processing operations and also in progress jobs.
[00:41:12:11 - 00:41:43:23]
So kind of like an overview from what is the previous system. And we're any notable challenges coming in that six week implementation process around converting some things from the customer equipment, this back to the process, etc.. Right. So so our previous system was a Microsoft dynamics system and it was called cost. And so it was it was a very it, it had been with us since the last 20 years or so.
[00:41:43:23 - 00:42:04:22]
And now I think the support for that system had had gone down a little bit. So we were not able to, you know, make the necessary changes, update the necessary, necessary changes. So it was still coming out as we were able to enter all the information, but we have to manually type in all the information on the paperwork and then the paperwork would come out.
[00:42:04:24 - 00:42:21:19]
And then that shop, that job traveler traveled around the shop where each process is there was there was a space for the operator to time stamp it. There was a, a space for the operator to fill out the vacuum level. So it had to be, but it still had to be filled out. Everything had to be done manually.
[00:42:21:21 - 00:42:52:06]
So so that was our previous, previous system. Implementation challenges we face was a we were initially we had to ensure that we did all of our, you know, we we, we developed our own workflows. So we had to ensure that whatever information we give steelhead was, was clear from our end. And like such as that we wanted double review on the for for the job approval for the contract review.
[00:42:52:06 - 00:43:13:10]
So we had to ensure that they made sure that that there was a there was a contract review feature for that. We had to, for our workflows. So for an for an aging job, we had to undergo these, these, these requirements for an awkward job. It needed this, this, this. And as part of a packet was it was different.
[00:43:13:10 - 00:43:39:06]
As for a another another customer spec. It's different for for different for different customers. So essentially we created our own own processes, own workflows. And then we, give those workflows to see that, that this is what we want. And then they kind of created a generic workflow for us. And then we, we put it all of our spec fields, whatever we wanted.
[00:43:39:06 - 00:44:15:21]
So, we're import convert utilities available for master files such as customers, equipment. So all the master files for customers. So right now, right now we don't upload any of our customer joins or or anything on steelhead as such. But we have taken all the information from, let's say, relevant information from the specs such as in AMS spec for he treat at for for 55 or 17 for each that age 900 age 1000 age 1025.
[00:44:15:22 - 00:44:38:03]
Each 150. We have taken out. We've taken all of that information the time required for hours plus 30 minutes max. We have taken all of that information and put that in steelhead. So anytime my the job entry personnel is entering the job, he would just click on a the he would enter the material and he would click on age 1025.
[00:44:38:03 - 00:44:59:18]
So H 1025 so then when the job goes to the operator, the operator doesn't have to. He would just look at the the temperature and the time required. He doesn't have to manually write down the temperature or manually write down the time. He would just do a time in that this is the time that we have put the job and then the the heat chart.
[00:44:59:19 - 00:45:21:05]
The data logger does its own thing. So the temperature controller is recorded is is connected to the data logger. And that's how we get our each. And we send the church to the customer. Operator has to just do a time in and time out and rest. Everything is done by quality. So operating ranges, tolerances, we have included all of that into into steelhead.
[00:45:21:05 - 00:45:43:23]
So if a vacuum level there's a maximum min, there's a target target max and min. I think these are the three options that seen it as so. So for let's say for for for an aging job 1025 for hours. So our minimum time would be 240 our our target time, let's say if we keep if we keep it for 255 minutes and your max time is 270.
[00:45:43:24 - 00:46:04:05]
So, your job, we have to run it for 255 minutes, for example. Right. So then the operator would operate it. Operator already knows because it's already when the job entry was done, it was said that you have to run it at 255 minutes. So they would just program the controller 1455 minutes.
[00:46:04:07 - 00:46:28:23]
Awesome. Rajan. Last one from Johanna. Communication with SSI in euro therm instruments. We do have a SSI integration. I'm not sure exactly about euro therm. I did hear maybe in the office here today that you guys might have a hardness test or integration that you guys have built. So anyways. What about the, equipment integration? Have you guys hooked any of that up yet?
[00:46:29:00 - 00:46:59:06]
We have not hooked. And I think that's a, that's a that's a dream for any of the any of you. I think we are also looking for that. I think last time when, when I was here, I think one of the I think the leadership was here. We did speak to them that we would like to see that to communicate with our, with our equipment so that in order to even, you know, be more robust and more diligent and not having any goof ups with the operator entry.
[00:46:59:07 - 00:47:25:00]
So, so, yeah, like, I mean, that is that is again, G for all of our lives right now, we don't have any SSI controls, control. So we have our equipment is not communicating with Steel Head for now. But, that's ideally I mean, we would want that. However, what we have done is we have a hard we have digital hard disk testers and we have integrated our hardness testers.
[00:47:25:00 - 00:47:53:03]
We have we developed our own software. That could communicate from the hardness tester. It could communicate to that. So, what we have eliminated is that is previously I mentioned that if there was 200 pieces and we do percent hardness testing, operator was writing down manually each reading on paper and sometimes 45.6, if the handwriting is not clear, you can read it 48.6 sometimes or 43.6.
[00:47:53:03 - 00:48:13:09]
Right. So I mean, what what we have done with the software is that we put the cursor on just steelhead and on the hardness checking. Data entry. And it would automatically record the hardness from the hardness tester. So all operator has to do is record that like I mean just click on submit after the first hardness test is done.
[00:48:13:10 - 00:48:34:08]
And for 200 you'd be able to just click submit submit submit. All they have to do is click submit. They don't have to manually write down any readings. So that is the only instrument that is communicating right now. A hardness tester is communicating with steel. But other than that. No. No processing controls. They are not communicating with.
[00:48:34:10 - 00:49:01:04]
Yep. So we will have to add that in the future with your specifics. We do have an SSI integration today. And more for logging the temperature directly from the furnace to the PLC. Is the primary goal there. We are looking to push some data on, like the recipe from steelhead, from those specs. 2759. And then run that down to the furnace that that is coming in the future as well.
[00:49:01:06 - 00:49:29:18]
But in general, I would say we've talked to tons of heat feeders across the globe. And I think if if I'm a, if I'm a manufacturer in the greater Mississauga, Ontario region, there's no better place, maybe even on planet Earth to send the parts than to to for team and the exact therm team. So Raj, thank you so much for being so gracious with your time, with your answers, even sharing your email directly to to send to send data directly to the to to to these people.
[00:49:29:19 - 00:49:50:01]
We do view you guys as a leader. And I hope the customers respond accordingly. And it sounds like the sales, everything's kind of going up over there in Mississauga. So, thanks again for joining. Thanks again for for leading the team in such a great direction. And, yeah, if you're ever in Minnesota or Michigan, we'll have to.
[00:49:50:03 - 00:50:08:17]
You have to swing by the office and we'll swing by next time out in Ontario. Yeah, absolutely. No. Thank you so much to you. And thank you so much. The the team at select for inviting me. I appreciate it. And and thank you again for having for giving the opportunity to speak about exact and steelhead in general.
[00:50:08:17 - 00:50:34:00]
And, yeah, if anyone has any questions ever, you know, please feel free to contact us. Our team here is that other will be will be available and we'll be able to help you out with any with any issues that you have, hopefully. You know, the, the change that, that everyone is probably going to go through and see that now hopefully that's, that's an effective one.
[00:50:34:00 - 00:50:42:06]
And, and more beneficial to everyone. Thank you so much again. Awesome. Thanks. Thanks, everybody. Have a great day.
I think I have cut down the preparation time. Previously, I came for two months. I came every weekend in order to ensure that, you know, our paper based system. Or everything written on the paper was was.
[00:00:16:01 - 00:00:31:21]
Okay. You know, auditors always look for if you have done this job. Has
[00:00:31:23 - 00:00:35:16]
Perfect. All right. Roger, we got you here. Loud and clear. So welcome,
[00:00:35:20 - 00:00:49:22]
everybody. And thanks for joining another episode here of Shock Shop Talk. So Shop Talk is a it's a podcast and it's live actually for those that have dedicated their, their livelihood to the craft of manufacturing.
[00:00:50:02 - 00:01:17:06]
And so we like to pull in experts from around the country. North America, we do actually have some customers globally now in Australia too. And today we have a nice guest out of Ontario, Canada. So you want to introduce yourself and exactly therm and kind of explain your background briefly. And the company's background in terms of like who is exactly there.
[00:01:17:08 - 00:01:45:18]
Yes. Thank you so much for inviting and I really appreciate it. And thank you for the honor of allowing me to be on the podcast. Executive is a relatively small aerospace company here in Ontario, Canada, and being in business for over 40 years. The company was acquired by medics treating in 2024. And that's pretty much how I ended up at.
[00:01:45:20 - 00:02:12:24]
I had spent about 11 years at medics working mainly in process and quality engineering. So, when the acquisition happened. I moved over to the term and took on the quality manager's role here. Executive. We do a lot of, we do a range of aerospace processes, which includes vacuum heat treatment.
[00:02:13:01 - 00:02:44:23]
Gas and oil, vacuum or vacuum? Gas and vacuum. All quenching. Age hardening, stretch leaving plasma and nitride. So, you know, being being a smaller company, you end up wearing a lot of hats and especially in quality. I'm involved in the QMS customer requirements. Audits, production, troubleshooting sometimes. And, you know, working with the teams to ensure that everything actually works properly on the shop floor.
[00:02:45:00 - 00:03:18:06]
Exactly. Is a 9500 and accredited company. So even if we are a smaller company, the level of control and documentation expectation from our customer is is pretty high. Nice. And Ross, you said you're a small company. How many roughly employees. How many furnaces do you guys do you guys have? So we have we have 17 employees here, full time working and including myself and the other other manager, other management personnel.
[00:03:18:08 - 00:03:49:19]
We have one vacuum workbench furnace, two vacuum gas quench furnaces, and we have six, eight furnaces and two plasma iron furnaces. And we are working towards two more furnaces. So, in total, we'll have eight at a temper. Furnaces. Okay. Okay. Awesome. And you said you guys are nad cap and as 9100 approved. When did you guys get those certifications?
[00:03:49:21 - 00:04:19:17]
Yes, 9100. Again, those have been in place from a while ago. I believe that we have been accredited since last 15 years. And so and also with a 9100 as well. I think 20 1011 was when we got our ass 9100 certificate. Got it, got it. And, could you explain a little bit in terms of exactly therm.
[00:04:19:19 - 00:04:55:21]
You guys recently joined steelhead? Maybe. I don't know if it was within the last year, right. Yes. Yes. Our deployment was done last year in August, I believe. July, August and been fully, we have transition fully to steelhead since the. Since September. September or, mid September or October last year. We fully see that, you know, as the business grew here and the requirements became more complex.
[00:04:55:23 - 00:05:25:23]
Our own system was was becoming a limitation. It was it was little bit slow and, and but we had developed a lot of manual process around as a workaround to the whole system. So, you know, for us, your project really started with looking at our processes and asking, how can we do this better rather than simply just saying that, oh, we need a new software or we need a new ERP system, right?
[00:05:25:24 - 00:05:57:14]
And we were looking how we could improve the way we manage our entire workflow from the time we receive a customer order all the way through production, inspection, certification and ultimately, you know, traceability of the quality records and ultimately retaining the quality records. Right. And that's where really the conversation of steelhead started, right? Because, in aerospace, eating like or just in any other key treating, it's not just like putting the parts in a furnace and then taking them out.
[00:05:57:16 - 00:06:25:03]
Right? There are, there's a complete chain of information that goes around with every job. Or the customer has ordered what specification applies? What is the spec rev or the parts, the spec, the latest background? What process is required? What furnace is used in inspection that needs to be performed, certifications that are required, and ultimately your record retention.
[00:06:25:03 - 00:06:52:18]
And and so I guess like we needed an ERP that would help us control that workflow and the chain. Right. So essentially, when when we had our presentation done for steelhead, our initial presentation, we kind of felt that this, meets all of our internal requirements and, and, fills out all the check boxes that we had, that we were looking for.
[00:06:52:19 - 00:07:14:08]
And hence we ended up going with steelhead. Nice. And having. So sounds like you made that decision last July and then you went through the, the deployment process. And sounds like you're up and running in September. Can you explain like the there's often a lot of fear around the deployment. Like, because it's a big change, right.
[00:07:14:09 - 00:07:37:11]
And it's changing all the systems that have been running for ten, 20, 30 years. What was surprised, like, I guess. Was there anything surprising about that deployment process in terms of the amount of time it took or the difficulty or, getting everybody retrained in any comments there on the on the overall deployment process for steelhead. Yeah.
[00:07:37:16 - 00:08:02:06]
I mean, you know, what stood out for us was that, you know, deployment leaders and actually, even before the deployment had happened, we visited Steelhead Hatchery in June and, you know, still had listened to our actual process problems. They did not just show us, like, the generic PRV features, but they worked with us to understand how we operate.
[00:08:02:06 - 00:08:28:23]
And, you know, the deployment leader was, was kind enough to, for us to, bring out our, our issues, our problems, our workflow issues, and then, channelized and customize the system based on our requirements. So that was that was what what stood out. Right? Like, we didn't want to digitize a bad process, right? So we wanted to understand.
[00:08:29:00 - 00:08:54:15]
We want to see that you understand our process first and then build the workflow around it, which which they did, and, you know, deployment, was was really quick. We had we did not think that from, from start to finish, it would be done in less than six weeks. We had anticipated we had given ourselves about 8 to 10 weeks to completely go through with it, but still had had already a process.
[00:08:54:19 - 00:09:33:07]
How? There is a there's university, which they had after we visited the hatchery, they created logins for us and all of our operators underwent steelhead university courses for all the processes that they were involved with. And and likewise for myself and for other job entry personnel, and operations personnel, they underwent their different processes, their trainings, and they got them selves familiarized, even, I would say at least 60 to 70% familiarized before the deployment even took place.
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So when the deployment was happening and, you know, we were able to recollect all that information, that okay, this is what we learned and this is how it is going to work out in our system. And that's and hence it was an easy transition in deployment. They did not, you know, Russia's they did not push us that.
[00:09:55:05 - 00:10:17:16]
Oh, we got to get this done. No. Or or we, we have five other jobs reading in line. Let's push this through. No, it was a very patient and effective deployment. If we wanted anything to be changed, it was done either before the session ended or it was done before the next day. Is meeting. Right. So deployment happened every single day.
[00:10:17:20 - 00:10:44:02]
We used to meet with our deployment leader for 2 to 3 hours a day. And then that's how we work through the processes. That's how we work through the work boards and and and all the different different modules there. Awesome. And now that that is sounds like a pretty, pretty smooth, which is a sign of well, a we have we believe we have a strong product and a strong deployment team here on steel.
[00:10:44:06 - 00:11:11:13]
But the most important part is you guys have to have strong leadership and strong employees as well. And then that's when it works best together. So on on that side, how did you find the best way to keep everybody on the exact third team marching towards a common goal? Or is there anything that you found to be to work very well in terms of the culture of adopting new technology, new workflows, new innovation?
[00:11:11:15 - 00:11:49:17]
To achieve a, a smooth and a efficient deployment? Yeah. So with the in terms of culture, right. Like, I mean, when we when we had decided when the upper management had decided that they wanted to change. So they, they first told us that, you know, let's, let's change it. And I think, I think the culture is, is an is a very adopting culture where we know that the only thing that is constant, the changing is change and change.
[00:11:49:19 - 00:12:14:12]
Do all these have to adapt to new technologies? You always have to ensure that you're doing the right things at the right time in order to stay at the top of your game. So, you know, for us to, to be impactful at our customer service, to be us to be impactful and even, you know, doing, doing value added things at work, we wanted to have a smoother and an efficient system.
[00:12:14:12 - 00:12:41:18]
And that's where, you know, having a new ERP was brought in by everyone at work. Right? Not there was everyone was up for the change. Everyone was up for the challenge that it's going to be a six week deployment. We're going to move fast with it. But we want to do ensure that, you know, the objective of the training was just not to teach people to just push buttons.
[00:12:41:18 - 00:13:07:13]
We wanted them to understand the workflow and why the information was required. So that's how we were able to when we believe that when you tell the people the why, if they know the end goal, they are more, you know, they're more there is acceptance of the change rather than if you just shove it down their throats, then not going to accept the change.
[00:13:07:13 - 00:13:34:01]
You have to be patient with it. You have to be able to provide them the information, provide them a bigger picture, a complete picture, and then they're more willing to change. That's how that's what we have seen here. And that's how people have easily been able to adapt to Steve Hat. We've had employees who are being here for more than 30, 35 years, you know, and, and there are fairly new people who had just joined six months prior to the implementation.
[00:13:34:01 - 00:14:02:10]
So again, there was a huge spectrum, but all the people who were, were, were on it together. Our team here is very, you know, cohesive. And they work. Everyone works together in order to ensure that we put our best foot forward and, and and, take the change head on. Yeah. That's awesome. Actually, very, very clever and smart and accurate is the the why.
[00:14:02:12 - 00:14:26:14]
The why is so important. In order to, there has to be a great why, right? Otherwise, like, it has to be clear and obvious and real and tangible. And I think you mentioned two things there, one being customer service and two being so they can focus more on the value add things. Okay, I know you have all this busy work, this administrative work today.
[00:14:26:16 - 00:14:44:24]
And tomorrow, right, we're going to go through 5 or 6 weeks of, work hard effort. Right. Work. But the light at the end of the tunnel is you can be, you know, working on more value add things, which I think everybody wants to work on the value add things because that's what excites them about coming to work in the first place.
[00:14:45:01 - 00:15:11:09]
Now, on the value add side, is there anything that that was a I guess, what are the big value add things that that you see, getting freed up in the business from the the paper based or the pre steelhead days to today. Is there like like one of the big one two, three like hey now we have a lot more time, a lot more resources focusing on these key value add areas.
[00:15:11:11 - 00:15:52:12]
Right? I think I think biggest thing is that is, you know, visibility of the job status right from your, from your cell phone or from your desk. And we are able to, you know, steelhead has become part of how we control our, our quality system, our how we control our production system. Right. Like, I mean, you know, in, in the past, let's say, for example, if a customer had asked me that, you know, what job number a, B, c, has, can you provide me a hardness test report for this job?
[00:15:52:14 - 00:16:17:24]
So in our space, we have to save records for ten years. We have a storage up here. In at executor, where if a customer asks me for anything about, let's say, from 2024, I would have to go up, take out the paper, sift through the whole year's job and find out that paperwork, take a scan copy. Because it was manual entry on our.
[00:16:18:01 - 00:16:40:10]
We had a sheet where we manually entered all the hardness test results in our space. You do 100% hardness checking. So we then take out that copy as a photo or either take a picture of it or photocopy it, scan it and then send it to our customer. Oh, that all is eliminated because now all the results are recorded in this detail.
[00:16:40:12 - 00:17:10:15]
And just click on create PDF with the hardness test results. And it will give me be 45 pieces okay, 45 pieces, your hardness results of each and every piece numbered. Boom. Send it to the customer. That five six hours of has been done in ten minutes. Less than ten minutes, right? Wow. The second was, you know, our operation manager, had like.
[00:17:10:17 - 00:17:29:07]
I mean, you know, if customer had called the call, if customer calls her about the status of the part, for example, where is my job? That was given to you that that was sent on, on, let's say, 14th September. And, I have not received it. Right. Or whatever it is. I just want to know the status of it.
[00:17:29:07 - 00:17:53:23]
Has it been entered or whatever it is? She should have to go out in the shop floor as a job in person, I would say, oh, I release the job that day to the shop floor. Oh, that. Then she goes to the operator. Oh no, no, this is being processed. It's in she she goes to QC and like I mean everything steelhead you she can sit on her desk global search bar and type in the Po number or the job number.
[00:17:53:24 - 00:18:11:11]
Boom. You see it. You see it where it is. Oh it's in QC right now getting quality checked. Fine. You know. Watch tower is such a such a cool feature because we, we frequently use Watch Tower because, you're able to completely see the status of what stage the part is in and what is the next stage it is going to go.
[00:18:11:12 - 00:18:37:01]
So, yeah, you're able to see it here that all the time and effort of manually running around, trying to trying to just get the traceability or just gather some information that all has gone away. Right. You know, information is more searchable. We are less dependent on paper. Where we are, we had you no information. Inspection information on steelhead.
[00:18:37:03 - 00:19:00:04]
Then even, you know, our process information is more structured. The workflows are more structured. First, any small information? If a customer had sent an information in that or make sure you you run this coupon with the party. If we have to manually write it down on the people, if it was not manually written down on the paperwork, the operator would tell us that, oh, it's not written on the paperwork, so I didn't realize it.
[00:19:00:07 - 00:19:22:23]
Now we see that and every operation that that job goes through has that node on it that, oh, this needs to be done. So then, so then there's no excuse at the end of the day, right? Like, oh, I did see it or I, oh, this was not to be done. So all of those process, you know, constraints we have eliminate all of those as well.
[00:19:23:00 - 00:19:45:22]
Customer our customers love the customer portal. Right. Because we have given them visibility. We have given them trust that we are okay for you to see where the status is, what the status of the parts is, right? Because sometimes are you scared to tell the customer or back in the day you are scared to tell the customer that, oh, this is the status of your part.
[00:19:45:23 - 00:20:05:19]
But now customer portal. Yeah, okay, fine. Yeah, I set my job with the 14. It has been entered of the 15th or 14th evening. I can see it. And then it is in the operations right now. And oh, it is a quality. So they know that in two, three days, if the lead time is seven days, they know that exactly how the job is working.
[00:20:05:19 - 00:20:27:04]
And by the 20th they are going to receive the parts because they can exactly see it on the customer portal that where the job is. At what stage. Recently we had a customer reading where the customer was like, I checked the portal six times a day. Wow. Because they want big customers. They have sent us this and as many parts a day.
[00:20:27:04 - 00:20:52:12]
So she's like, oh, I just want to just keep on checking every time. I have a doubt rather than calling you. I just checked the customer so the phone calls are dropped. Wow. Right. Phone calls have dropped, customers have taken the visibility of the portal and and. Yeah. And I mean, they they also call us and say that, you know, the portal it's showing that that that that it wasn't quality two days ago.
[00:20:52:12 - 00:21:12:15]
So I'm just assuming that it's done right. Because I mean, you know, at quality, we, we they can't see anything after quality. I mean, they can only see if the product is shipped after quality. So we, they said, oh, are you shipping the product? You say, yeah, we are shaping the product. Right? So like, I mean, and we said that it should be on your door today.
[00:21:12:16 - 00:21:31:18]
So at least like I mean that is increased customers trust on us. And we have also increased our trust on them that you know what, they are seeing this. It's okay because we know that we are being due diligence and we are doing our job more diligently and are we're providing all the facts to the customers. It's like an open book.
[00:21:31:20 - 00:21:55:03]
Wow. That is that is amazing. And what happens when you have a heightened level of trust with the customers? Do they end up sending you guys more business? Absolutely. Right. Like, I mean, you know, they we have we have seen more quotes coming through. Customers love the quotes going through steelhead and their ability to to, you know, quickly have all the information.
[00:21:55:07 - 00:22:23:00]
We love sending codes because if the customer sends us that part. It automatically ties to, to our sales order because we can just click on the button, added code lines, and boom, we have everything, everything on it. Right. So whatever we encoded. So I mean, this is definitely resulted in, in, in improved efficiency. And yeah, I mean, you know, at exact value executives.
[00:22:23:02 - 00:22:50:22]
You know, work ethic has, has shown through through steelhead now. And we are we're getting more customers, we're getting more sales calls, recording more jobs efficiently. So our turnaround time has gone down and which is drastically, helped us gain more customers, which is which is what we want. Yeah. Do you know what your quote turnaround time is?
[00:22:50:24 - 00:23:17:21]
It's less than initially it was previously it was about less than five days. Now we have dropped it down to less than three days. We're trying to improve it down to less than two days now. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. More a lot of our codes, we give it a give it less than a day. There are some complex codes that we have to ensure that we are following it, going through all the requirements.
[00:23:17:23 - 00:23:40:23]
And and for those the lead time is 2 to 3 days. But for majority of them, we try to even cut them down more. Okay. And it sounds like Raj the. So there's a lot of things going through there. That you just mentioned and I appreciate that. So it sounds like there's a lot of free time on the quality side.
[00:23:40:23 - 00:24:03:01]
There's a lot of time freed up on the customer service side. And maybe even some friction removed on the customer side via the portal. On the on the quality side, though, you mentioned the operator instructions. There's no excuse not to miss anything. How is that? And maybe some time freed up from the re sending those hardness tests.
[00:24:03:01 - 00:24:23:03]
So those certifications, to the customers. How is it impacted? The one thing I like to think about is like the total cost of quality. If you're having, like, reworks or or any sort of scrap, what is the impact been on, on, on the quality side. And I guess it also is an audit component as well.
[00:24:23:04 - 00:24:58:02]
I mean, obviously when your NAD cap and asked any 100 you will get audited. So maybe how has it impacted the audits and the overall quality team performance? You know, I'd like to like we were not kept compliant before and and like, I mean, yeah, you had not only, I mean, steel did not make us not have compliant our processes, procedures and people did that, but still had helped us control and demonstrate those processes to the auditor.
[00:24:58:03 - 00:25:23:18]
Right. Like, I mean, you know, we just, We just had a knack about it recently, and, it was a very successful audit. There were no non-conformists. And the auditor said that they were impressed with how the system is transparent, because we were able to show the auditor completely from the job entry process to the certification process.
[00:25:23:20 - 00:26:00:03]
Everything transparent, every, you know, detailed, written on the job. Very, very clearly. And explaining the operators, all the descriptions, the process description, the process nodes description, everything written properly. So, auditor was, was, was very impressed with that seamless transition from the, a paper based system to and to a digital system and, you know not about it as expect objective evidence and not just the statement that the procedure exists.
[00:26:00:03 - 00:26:34:16]
So we just we, we, we try to, combine, the procedure along with the objective evidence using steelhead and, and then show it to the show, to the auditor. Cost of quality has drastically has gone down. I would say. But one thing with Clyde is that we are able to capture a lot of rework if, if and ever we do it, our, you know, our rework is percentage is less than 0.0 point 2%, per quarter.
[00:26:34:17 - 00:26:43:18]
So we have tried to we try to nail that down. As, which as we can, you know,
[00:26:43:20 - 00:27:14:08]
But for from an auditing perspective, even our as 9100 auditor was also impressed with the with our contract review. Feature that you had that, that we haven't had where, you know, we have a double review. One is a job approval we had one is a contract review, which you had. So yeah, like, I mean, we have not been able to the auditor has not been able to find any mistakes with steelhead till now.
[00:27:14:10 - 00:27:37:17]
So so we are so we are we are we're okay with it. And you know auditor always looks to see a risk management matrix. Then when you transition the new system to the old system. So steelhead on our risk management matrix was, was at a very low risk level. And all the risk level that were there were accepted by us.
[00:27:37:17 - 00:28:03:03]
So, so yeah, auditor was happy to see that. And that's why was there without any scramble. Right. You know. Yeah. That's good. And any comment on the audit prep like in terms of like the prep before when you're on paper versus the audit prep time when you're on select. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Right. Because so I have done an app on it.
[00:28:03:03 - 00:28:29:22]
I mean, I run it with a paper based system and this was my, my, my first audit with, with steelhead. So huge drastic difference. I think I have cut down the preparation time. Previously, I came for two months. I came every weekend in order to ensure that, you know, our paper based system. Or everything written on the paper was was.
[00:28:29:22 - 00:28:54:14]
Okay. You know, auditors always look for if you have done this job. Has it been time stamp? Has the person who is working here has done this job at the right time, you know, is there an evidence for that? And in paper based operations, sometimes when you're stamping, when you're manually stamping and manually stamping the time, the date and everything, you know, you tend to miss it on certain operations.
[00:28:54:14 - 00:29:19:05]
Sometimes you might have missed it even though you have completed the operation, but you have missed it because you've gone to the next step. See, that doesn't allow you to move the job to the next step. So one of the things that I did have to worry about in any of the jobs I selected was that. Oh, you know, I'm missing a timestamp information, or I'm missing the person who has chosen this job and not not effectively done their job.
[00:29:19:07 - 00:29:48:10]
So those things got eliminate then, even my preparation wise, when I said that we created a process log that showed that all the, you know, all the specification and all the workflow and all the all the revision information, everything was easier to identify. The system has made it easier for us to follow, a job from customer requirements to production and inspection, certification and record retention wise.
[00:29:48:11 - 00:30:11:23]
So, you know, you you have a fully transparent system. You're showing the auditor fully transparent system. And and that's how, you know, our, our because it was a transparent system, our preparation time has gone down. So, I think our, our upper management has appreciated that we haven't done much over time this year for preparation. So so that was good.
[00:30:12:00 - 00:30:34:13]
That was good. That's my time. And no weekends. So just to be just to be clear, you're coming in on the weekends just to review the paper travelers that might be audited. Absolutely. Yes, yes. Right. Because for you, you have to look at the history jobs, right? So again, what we try to do is we don't.
[00:30:34:15 - 00:30:57:24]
And luckily again, I think this year it was it was a little bit different is because, you know, any job that is coming in through the door, we try to ensure that we do it. We do it right the first time rather than relying it that you know what? Okay, we'll take care of it later. No, it has to be done right the first time so that, you know, there is no hiccups later on.
[00:30:58:00 - 00:31:16:24]
You don't have to review it too much. From our past experiences, we have learned that. And that's what we have implemented in see that. So that's why that was also part of the reason why preparation time. Go on down this time, right. That we ensure that all the workflows, all the procedures that we put in the steelhead is, was, was done correctly the first time?
[00:31:17:01 - 00:31:44:22]
Yeah. This has been amazing. I think we're about, at time here. Maybe if you could go back to say if we could rewind the clock, you know, 13 months and we're sitting here and June of of 20, 25, is there anything that you'd have told 2025 or 2025 exactly like, hey, they're considering making this big investment in this big transformation.
[00:31:44:24 - 00:32:10:12]
But like, hey, look out for these couple of things, or make sure to do these couple things, or is there anything like if you could rewind the clock and do it again, that you could like, you know, as far as lessons learned? Yeah. Lessons. You know what I would absolutely tell, ten 2025 Raj and the executive team, including the upper management, is let's not forget about the change, right?
[00:32:10:13 - 00:32:35:22]
Like, I mean, it's going to be okay. We are going to be fine. Because, you know, the new system will help us, you know, make everything more, our information more organized and more accessible, even during all the audits. Right? When I had come, for revenue. Riptide in 2025, September of 2025, we had just implemented that.
[00:32:35:22 - 00:33:01:07]
And my biggest concern was that how is this going to be not kept compliant? I was more, I was more, you know, worried about a digital system that that how my auditor will take a look at it. And, you know, for us, I would tell the 2025 Raj that let's not let's not forget about a digital system because digital system is going to help you.
[00:33:01:07 - 00:33:11:11]
It is going to help you control the processes and demonstrate the evidence, objective evidence that an auditor needs are.
[00:33:11:13 - 00:33:42:13]
You know, we had we we had an old system that had had become that had become outdated and slow, and that over time we had developed a lot of manual processes around it. We knew we had to change it. We just didn't want to simply replace one system with another. So let's in 2025, what we did good was we identified our problems, including the manual data entry issues, the paper records, the specification records.
[00:33:42:15 - 00:34:08:18]
And then we worked with steelhead to and explained those challenges and that, you know, there were several meetings, iterations where we worked through how the system could address all all those issues. So we mapped our existing processes and use them as a baseline for building new workflows. And then we updated our procedures, trained our employees, and validated the new system against our existing.
[00:34:08:22 - 00:34:32:23]
So once we live, once we went live, you know, the biggest change was, was having the job become the central focal point of information, right? Rather than a lot of other things becoming central point. A job becomes the central point for information and the contract review, production, inspection, certification. Everything is connected in that one job in steelhead.
[00:34:33:00 - 00:35:07:24]
So, you know, and from a perspective, right, you know, our people, our quality system made us more compliant, you know, and, and, steel steelhead helped us in doing that. You know, made it easier for us to demonstrate our processes. And demonstrate the objective evidence and, and. Yeah, like, I mean, you know, have all the information organized an accessible to the auditor in an effective and easier manner.
[00:35:08:01 - 00:35:32:19]
Meet our biggest, biggest point is made our customer service more effective. Lead our, you know, phones ring a little bit less. So these are the things, right? Like, I mean, I would just say that, to anyone who is looking to change the system, don't fret. Don't fret about it, because you will. You are in the hands of a.
[00:35:32:22 - 00:35:57:14]
You are in good hands, right? You're in good hands and you are in. You'll be dealing with capable people who will ensure that they understand your your process, your issues and then work towards solving them. Right. Yeah. I don't know if you if, if there's anything else, but. Yeah. No, I think that's that's pretty much a wonderful summary, Raj.
[00:35:57:15 - 00:36:18:10]
I think you guys are leaders, honestly, in the heat treat industry, from my perspective in terms of how you've adopted it. So, efficiently and proficiently and how you have like an open book policy and some people are scared to do that. I think there's a saying like, fortune favors the bold. And you guys certainly are operating with that open book policy and being rewarded.
[00:36:18:12 - 00:36:43:12]
So it's great to see that. There is a question here in the chat from James Stoll. James is asking is the pricing module quoting pricing kind of being the I think what James is referring to. How is that working? Is it working well, yes. So hi James, the pricing module is basically, we we send all of our quotes through steelhead.
[00:36:43:12 - 00:37:14:00]
And when we create a new sales order. And let's say if the same customer has sent us that job, then you would just click on add quoted lines and then all the, and if that job already has a quote, then everything that you have quoted from it being your processing price to your, let's say hardness check price or or anything else, like, I mean, pertaining to your process, whatever, whatever, any lab work price.
[00:37:14:02 - 00:37:45:03]
So everything would come out and that you would just send and an updated amendment to the customer and, and then, you know, get that price approval from the customer. So for us, we have we, we have been able to use the pricing module really well. We don't use the maintenance module, but the accounting integration, we have integrated the steelhead system with our QuickBooks.
[00:37:45:05 - 00:38:11:13]
So I think the accounting integration has worked out very well as well. Okay. There's another question from William Cummings on hard copies. So like hard copies of the, the orders, the work orders and presenting those to the NAD cap auditor. How do you handle that? Right. So all the hard copies. So what we did was, we created our own process.
[00:38:11:13 - 00:38:34:04]
Log in. Steelhead. Steelhead gives you ability to do that. There's a power tools for PDF so you can create your own PDFs. You can create the logs in a way in the way that you want. So we kind of created a process log for all of for all of our processes. So let's say I had a long job that I, that, that, that the auditor looked at as a, as a history job.
[00:38:34:04 - 00:39:01:23]
So everything. The work that you create, that's just one paper, but the, all the information regarding the receiving, the, the dimensions, the, the cross section thickness, everything was, was as the spec fields, the spec fields that you create on the, on the using the process nodes, those spec fields can everything can be taken into a PDF.
[00:39:02:02 - 00:39:29:08]
And then essentially you can show the auditor that PDF, or you can even print out that PDF and show it as your as your actual hard copy. It will have all the spec revisions listed. Let's say for example, for all quenching, if you have your preheat time, preheat temperature, the time in, time out, your vacuum levels, your all current temperature, the start temperature, the end temperature.
[00:39:29:10 - 00:39:50:21]
But these are all the spec fields. You have to ensure that you have already inputted in the process. Because whatever you input, you'll be able to take it out on on the PDF. But you have to ensure that all of these fields you have, you have input. So essentially, essentially, I think you'll be able to show the auditor the process log.
[00:39:50:21 - 00:40:14:09]
And then and then they'll be able to exactly say that. Let's say, for example, if you have to put a job in snap temper for less than within two hours of quenching, so the auditor will say that we'll be able to see the time out of, of quench. And then if you put a job in the because the time in of entering the quench, if that is less than two hours, then our auditor can can see the objective evidence right there.
[00:40:14:09 - 00:40:34:12]
So that's how we were able to do it. We were we showed the auditor that. And if you want, please email me. I can send you a I can show you. Show you an email. Sorry. I can email you a copy of our process log so that you'll be able to see, how it is or what we did.
[00:40:34:12 - 00:40:42:06]
Rather, I'm just going to put my email in the chat in the, in the chat as well.
[00:40:42:08 - 00:41:12:11]
Awesome. Well, that's very, very, I, I appreciate that, from my side being so open there, there's there's another question here from Johanna. Lisa, what was the previous system and what implementation challenges did you face? Specifically lay around importing or converting, master files for customers, equipment, operating ranges, tolerances, specs, processing operations and also in progress jobs.
[00:41:12:11 - 00:41:43:23]
So kind of like an overview from what is the previous system. And we're any notable challenges coming in that six week implementation process around converting some things from the customer equipment, this back to the process, etc.. Right. So so our previous system was a Microsoft dynamics system and it was called cost. And so it was it was a very it, it had been with us since the last 20 years or so.
[00:41:43:23 - 00:42:04:22]
And now I think the support for that system had had gone down a little bit. So we were not able to, you know, make the necessary changes, update the necessary, necessary changes. So it was still coming out as we were able to enter all the information, but we have to manually type in all the information on the paperwork and then the paperwork would come out.
[00:42:04:24 - 00:42:21:19]
And then that shop, that job traveler traveled around the shop where each process is there was there was a space for the operator to time stamp it. There was a, a space for the operator to fill out the vacuum level. So it had to be, but it still had to be filled out. Everything had to be done manually.
[00:42:21:21 - 00:42:52:06]
So so that was our previous, previous system. Implementation challenges we face was a we were initially we had to ensure that we did all of our, you know, we we, we developed our own workflows. So we had to ensure that whatever information we give steelhead was, was clear from our end. And like such as that we wanted double review on the for for the job approval for the contract review.
[00:42:52:06 - 00:43:13:10]
So we had to ensure that they made sure that that there was a there was a contract review feature for that. We had to, for our workflows. So for an for an aging job, we had to undergo these, these, these requirements for an awkward job. It needed this, this, this. And as part of a packet was it was different.
[00:43:13:10 - 00:43:39:06]
As for a another another customer spec. It's different for for different for different customers. So essentially we created our own own processes, own workflows. And then we, give those workflows to see that, that this is what we want. And then they kind of created a generic workflow for us. And then we, we put it all of our spec fields, whatever we wanted.
[00:43:39:06 - 00:44:15:21]
So, we're import convert utilities available for master files such as customers, equipment. So all the master files for customers. So right now, right now we don't upload any of our customer joins or or anything on steelhead as such. But we have taken all the information from, let's say, relevant information from the specs such as in AMS spec for he treat at for for 55 or 17 for each that age 900 age 1000 age 1025.
[00:44:15:22 - 00:44:38:03]
Each 150. We have taken out. We've taken all of that information the time required for hours plus 30 minutes max. We have taken all of that information and put that in steelhead. So anytime my the job entry personnel is entering the job, he would just click on a the he would enter the material and he would click on age 1025.
[00:44:38:03 - 00:44:59:18]
So H 1025 so then when the job goes to the operator, the operator doesn't have to. He would just look at the the temperature and the time required. He doesn't have to manually write down the temperature or manually write down the time. He would just do a time in that this is the time that we have put the job and then the the heat chart.
[00:44:59:19 - 00:45:21:05]
The data logger does its own thing. So the temperature controller is recorded is is connected to the data logger. And that's how we get our each. And we send the church to the customer. Operator has to just do a time in and time out and rest. Everything is done by quality. So operating ranges, tolerances, we have included all of that into into steelhead.
[00:45:21:05 - 00:45:43:23]
So if a vacuum level there's a maximum min, there's a target target max and min. I think these are the three options that seen it as so. So for let's say for for for an aging job 1025 for hours. So our minimum time would be 240 our our target time, let's say if we keep if we keep it for 255 minutes and your max time is 270.
[00:45:43:24 - 00:46:04:05]
So, your job, we have to run it for 255 minutes, for example. Right. So then the operator would operate it. Operator already knows because it's already when the job entry was done, it was said that you have to run it at 255 minutes. So they would just program the controller 1455 minutes.
[00:46:04:07 - 00:46:28:23]
Awesome. Rajan. Last one from Johanna. Communication with SSI in euro therm instruments. We do have a SSI integration. I'm not sure exactly about euro therm. I did hear maybe in the office here today that you guys might have a hardness test or integration that you guys have built. So anyways. What about the, equipment integration? Have you guys hooked any of that up yet?
[00:46:29:00 - 00:46:59:06]
We have not hooked. And I think that's a, that's a that's a dream for any of the any of you. I think we are also looking for that. I think last time when, when I was here, I think one of the I think the leadership was here. We did speak to them that we would like to see that to communicate with our, with our equipment so that in order to even, you know, be more robust and more diligent and not having any goof ups with the operator entry.
[00:46:59:07 - 00:47:25:00]
So, so, yeah, like, I mean, that is that is again, G for all of our lives right now, we don't have any SSI controls, control. So we have our equipment is not communicating with Steel Head for now. But, that's ideally I mean, we would want that. However, what we have done is we have a hard we have digital hard disk testers and we have integrated our hardness testers.
[00:47:25:00 - 00:47:53:03]
We have we developed our own software. That could communicate from the hardness tester. It could communicate to that. So, what we have eliminated is that is previously I mentioned that if there was 200 pieces and we do percent hardness testing, operator was writing down manually each reading on paper and sometimes 45.6, if the handwriting is not clear, you can read it 48.6 sometimes or 43.6.
[00:47:53:03 - 00:48:13:09]
Right. So I mean, what what we have done with the software is that we put the cursor on just steelhead and on the hardness checking. Data entry. And it would automatically record the hardness from the hardness tester. So all operator has to do is record that like I mean just click on submit after the first hardness test is done.
[00:48:13:10 - 00:48:34:08]
And for 200 you'd be able to just click submit submit submit. All they have to do is click submit. They don't have to manually write down any readings. So that is the only instrument that is communicating right now. A hardness tester is communicating with steel. But other than that. No. No processing controls. They are not communicating with.
[00:48:34:10 - 00:49:01:04]
Yep. So we will have to add that in the future with your specifics. We do have an SSI integration today. And more for logging the temperature directly from the furnace to the PLC. Is the primary goal there. We are looking to push some data on, like the recipe from steelhead, from those specs. 2759. And then run that down to the furnace that that is coming in the future as well.
[00:49:01:06 - 00:49:29:18]
But in general, I would say we've talked to tons of heat feeders across the globe. And I think if if I'm a, if I'm a manufacturer in the greater Mississauga, Ontario region, there's no better place, maybe even on planet Earth to send the parts than to to for team and the exact therm team. So Raj, thank you so much for being so gracious with your time, with your answers, even sharing your email directly to to send to send data directly to the to to to these people.
[00:49:29:19 - 00:49:50:01]
We do view you guys as a leader. And I hope the customers respond accordingly. And it sounds like the sales, everything's kind of going up over there in Mississauga. So, thanks again for joining. Thanks again for for leading the team in such a great direction. And, yeah, if you're ever in Minnesota or Michigan, we'll have to.
[00:49:50:03 - 00:50:08:17]
You have to swing by the office and we'll swing by next time out in Ontario. Yeah, absolutely. No. Thank you so much to you. And thank you so much. The the team at select for inviting me. I appreciate it. And and thank you again for having for giving the opportunity to speak about exact and steelhead in general.
[00:50:08:17 - 00:50:34:00]
And, yeah, if anyone has any questions ever, you know, please feel free to contact us. Our team here is that other will be will be available and we'll be able to help you out with any with any issues that you have, hopefully. You know, the, the change that, that everyone is probably going to go through and see that now hopefully that's, that's an effective one.
[00:50:34:00 - 00:50:42:06]
And, and more beneficial to everyone. Thank you so much again. Awesome. Thanks. Thanks, everybody. Have a great day.
Taxonomy tags
IndustryHeat Treating; Commercial Heat Treating; Aerospace; Manufacturing
ComplianceNadcap; AS9100; Aerospace Quality; Audit Readiness; Objective Evidence; Traceability; Record Retention
Feature/moduleGlobal Search; Watchtower; Customer Portal; Quoting; Contract Review; Specs; Process Nodes; Production Tracking; PDF Power Tools; QuickBooks Integration; Digital Quality Records
Workflow categoryOrder Entry; Contract Review; Production; Heat Treating; Hardness Testing; Inspection; Certification; Quality; Quoting; Customer Service; Record Retention
Use caseERP deployment; paperless manufacturing; audit preparation; Nadcap compliance; production visibility; historical record retrieval; customer self-service; quality traceability; quoting efficiency; change management
ThemeVisibility; Efficiency; Compliance; Traceability; Customer Trust; Digital Transformation; Operator Adoption; Quality; Time Savings
Stage of journeyAdvocacy