Portable drawing application and order entry tool
The metal components industry, it’s fair to say, has not been on the leading edge of the factory automation curve. But the business efficiencies, and the profits, that can result from embracing new software solutions are changing that.
In the metal components industry today, it is still more common than not for people to send orders to the office or work to the factory floor with pieces of paper, with hand-drawn sketches for parts. Perhaps nowhere is that more likely than in metal trim shops. Those in the business who sometimes look at their trim shop as a kind of “black hole,” where miscommunication happens and too much profit disappears, know the problem all too well.
That is the challenge Peachtree City, Ga.- based MetalForming Inc. looked to solve with a portable drawing application and order entry tool called TrimSpec. For more than a decade, MetalForming Inc. and Schechtl have been working to connect computers and sheet metal machinery in ways that improve throughput, precision and profits.
The “what if” questions
The software development process often revolves around some “what if” questions. What would it mean to a metal roofing or construction business if the site foreman could use his finger and a tablet computer-instead of pencil and paper-to draw up all of his trim parts at the job site? And what if he could then electronically send everything back to the office, including the project name, quantity needed, material types and so on?
And what if the information could be downloaded right to the sheet metal brake, and the drawings with correct dimensions and angles were automatically programmed into the machine so the operator knew every detail of the job? It would likely mean the productivity and efficiency of your trim operation would increase exponentially. All those labor and scrap costs resulting from redundant work, or unreadable order forms or miscommunications would be dramatically reduced or could disappear.
With TrimSpec, MetalForming Inc. took the touch screen drawing engine from the Schectl iFold and made it portable, available for use on mobile tablets, as well as laptop and desktop environments. With iFold, the user literally draws and edits parts with a finger. By making it possible for the software to be loaded onto different devices, it is also now possible for a contractor, site foreman, shear operator, salesman or your customer, to take parts out of your parts catalog, input information about color, size, quantities and type, as well as where it’s needed and when it needs to be delivered.
Ordering and payoff
That order can be sent via email, Dropbox, flash drive, USB connection or whatever. It can move seamlessly into an ERP system, or be sent directly to the machine for production to start before the person in the field gets back to the office.
With software products now being developed for the metal components industry, the goal always should be to design the solution to scale, whether the business is a small roofing firm with a single folder or a $1 billion components company with a squadron of salesmen in the field. That was certainly the goal with TrimSpec.
Sometimes, for larger metal components manufacturers, software applications, such as TrimSpec, actually may generate the greatest returns when they are licensed in bulk by the manufacturer and then given away to good customers, both to help cement the relationship to their parts supplier and to improve customer service and turnaround time by reducing the chance for errors or miscommunication in the order process.
Whatever software helps you to do, the payoff should be measurable. Has it reduced your labor costs? Has it increased throughput, and do you have a good way of measuring that? Can you quantify savings from reduced scrap? What kind of customer feedback are you getting and what is it telling you about the automation solutions you have adopted? As more software solutions are developed for the metal components industry, each should be evaluated for the competitive efficiencies that it can bring.
Geoff Stone is CEO of MetalForming Inc., Peachtree City, Ga. For more information on TrimSpec or any of MetalForming Inc.’s innovative solutions, call (770) 632-0002 or visit www.metalforming-usa.com.
