Yeah. So we're probably a little bit different from a lot of the other Steelhead customers where we had a preexisting software, ERP in place, and then we just sort of replaced it. Whereas I'm assuming most of the other Steelhead customers didn't have any ERP system at all.
And we're just kind of using like, pen and paper or spreadsheets, Excel, that type of thing. Our quoting hasn't changed much in terms of how we actually do it. In terms of like, you know, formulas being used and, and whatnot, the software has changed, which has allowed me to.
So when we used to quote in the old system, administratively, it would just be, you know, entering a part number and putting a price to it with Steelhead. I'm able to enter a part number, assign it to a specific process, upload diagrams, pictures of the parts, if there's any special requirements such as masking requirements or special hanging requirements, or A surfaces versus B surfaces, all those instructions, all that kind of stuff I can actually put right into the, part number, profile in Steelhead.
So that, you know, directly from the quote, they can flip it into a, into an order. And then my operators on the, on the shop floor can actually see all the special instructions, the hanging instructions and the masking instructions and whatnot.
So it kind of streamlines communication instead of where our old system, we had, we actually had a different database for quoting then for production. So, Steelhead is all one database and it streamlines it so that it there's, fewer miscommunications from one database to the next.
It's just all one. Like I said, it's streamlined and it's very easy to use. double entries, double entries for sure. Because they were separate databases, we weren't able to flip a quote into an order.
And when we had tried doing that, we had tried setting up macros and stuff to, to handle that. You know, in terms of the actual coding itself in the software, theoretically we could do it, but it was just, in, in action.
It wasn't working the way we wanted it to. Now with Steelhead, because everything is so streamlined. It's it's at the point now where our operations guys, are able to reference quote numbers quite easily.
Whereas in our old system, they weren't, our customers with the, with the new customer portal are able to go in and see all their quotes or, you know, sales orders and invoices, all that stuff. So everybody's able to see it and reference these numbers so that when they do send us purchase orders, you know, the quote reference is on there.
They sometimes even physically attach the PDF to their email where they're sending us the purchase order. And it just sort of keeps everything streamlined so that we can we know, okay, this is this quote, and we can just flip it into an order and all the instructions are on there and there's no miscommunication.
Absolutely. It saves time. Yeah. The double entry is a big one. Because, I do I have seen occasions here where my guys have, like, I've spent all kinds of time entering a quote and then, the customer doesn't reference it, and my guys have to go in and enter it a second time.
They're they're entering a purchase order a second time. And, it's a lot of wasted time. And that's basically what we used to do with our old software all the time. So, yeah, it's a huge time saver. And because, you know, it's coming right from quoting, it's coming right from the top of the process.
So, if there's any, any special, like I said, any special instructions or whatever, it's coming directly from the quote. It's coming directly from the top. You know, I'm even structurally, I'm at the top of the company, so if there's any issues, they know to come right to me.
And just keeps it all streamlined. That's a great question in terms of specifics. I would say just a stab in the dark. At least we're running, you know, 30% more efficiently based on timing saved, from everything running through Steelhead.
Yeah. I mean, I think, just, there's a couple of aspects to that. I think the fact that we are able to see everything in real time, plan effectively, and, more efficiently, it definitely helps with the execution of, you know, our process.
So, having the more efficient processes, both in the software or, sorry, I should say, having the more efficient process with the software directly translates to the process on the floor as well. The more efficient software makes us able to plan and execute more efficiently.
there's, several benefits. You know, number one, with, with the scheduling module and the way it works in Steelhead, you know, you have an actual calendar view. If you set it up properly with, you know, treatment times and estimated times and all that stuff, which, you know, I know we're getting into the weeds now, but, if you set it up all properly, you can see visually, you can see on a calendar when orders are going to be ready.
Based on those estimated estimations. So when you know, when a customer calls and is asking when is it my order going to be ready, you can visibly look at a calendar and say, it's going to be ready tomorrow at 3 p.m.
based on this schedule. Additionally, with the new customer portal, customers are actually able to just log in and take a look and see what's, you know, what the status is on their order. It reduces the amount of calls that we get.
The amount of emails that we get frees up a lot more time for us to focus on the internal, processing, and operation of the company itself. So, it's a huge, huge benefit for sure. Time saver. No. I, I guess just because of how we set it up in the portal because you can, you know, sort of give customers permissions on what they can see and what they can't see.
So, you know, as long as you set it up properly and, and you're, you know, you set up the permissions properly. It's fine. I haven't had any issues with that at all. I'm Marino Manzoli, I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Colourfast and we are powered by Steelhead.