Success Story: Talsco and Realtrac ERP Software

Learn how REALTRAC customers across the country and across all types of industries use the key features of this easy to use Enterprise Resource Planning to make a real difference in their operations. Companies use different modules to meet their needs, but they all agree: the software is very effective; it is so easy to use that you do not need a company administrator or expert and the return on investment is seen in a matter of weeks.

Read about how Talsco Aerospace Manufacturing uses REALTRAC to save money, maximize efficiency and easily track and meet very high quality standards.

If you aren’t using REALTRAC you are sacrificing profit margin every day. Companies of any size need REALTRAC to remain competitive and profitable.

SOMETIMES YOU NEED A COMPANY SUPERHERO

Jeff Piaskowski, Jose Castaneda Sr. and John Van Note of Talsco

Sometimes, even companies that operate in the demanding aerospace field need someone within their operations who can push every boundary and perhaps, even leap over tall buildings to implement new processes and new software. Talsco Aerospace Manufacturing is such a company and Jeff Piaskowski, the Production Manager, is that kind of company superhero. A medium-sized aerospace manufacturing company, Talsco is a family owned business that was founded in 1968. They serve an elite list of aerospace companies and the US Military by providing highly customized sheet metal components. They have consistently had strong leadership and a highly skilled workforce, but, until a few years ago, did not have the kind of operational focus that would allow them to maintain profitability with the strong growth they were experiencing. Jeff Piaskowski joined the firm and was given the mandate to improve operational efficiency and the vital management support to do what needed to be done.

Stepping into an established family operation and being charged with making big changes is not what most people would consider an easy task, but Piaskowski was just the man for the job; maybe even the company superhero for the job. Talsco had been using one module of REALTRAC’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software to help manage their operations. Jeff learned to use the ERP software and quickly realized he could do more, a lot more, with REALTRAC. Over the next few months, Mr. Piaskowski worked to build his case for each new module he added. Like any crusader, caped or not, he did his homework, learned what each module could do specifically for Talsco Aerospace manufacturing and took his plan to management. He then worked with his team to implement these modules. As a result, the new software modules rapidly improved the efficiency of Talsco’s operations.

Talsco's Management Team

Job Scheduling: Talsco utilizes the flexibility of the job scheduling feature in two different ways.

Everyone can see what jobs are top priorities at all times, ensuring that the entire team is focused on the right projects.

Like many firms, Talsco inputs a project and a start date and immediately know what date they will finish a customer order. On time delivery in the aerospace industry is essential and Talsco is able to provide better than 99% on time delivery. Talsco also leverages the backwards scheduling feature built into REALTRAC. By inputting the delivery date, the system provides the day the job must start in order to be ready on time. “If we start it late or early it will tell us how many days we are behind or ahead. REALTRAC also uses this information to tell us what our highest priority jobs are so that we have full visibility and knowledge of what is ‘HOT’ ” said Jeff Piaskowski. “Everyone can see what jobs are top priorities at all times, ensuring that the entire team is focused on the right projects”, he added.

REALTRAC enables us to schedule all the components in the order they must be manufactured in to produce a complete assembly by a a certain date.

Multi-component Jobs: REALTRAC’s “Tree Module” is used to schedule assembly or multi-level jobs. This is critical for parts that take multiple components and provides a view into the critical path for the entire project. Jeff commented that “REALTRAC enables us to schedule all the components in the order they must be manufactured in to produce a complete assembly by a certain date.” This kind of scheduling ‘super power’ makes complex jobs dramatically easier to manage.

Efficient and Successful Audits: Audits are important at many machine shop operations and when you work in the aerospace industry, preparing for them is an absolute necessity.

We Used to take as much as four weeks to prepare for an audit, now we can prepare in a couple of days. So we save an incredible amount of time and got a perfect audit.

This is critically important. “Not only has the company saved time – lots of time, but our last audit for AS9100 was perfect; not one thing was written up by the auditor and that is huge, in fact nearly unheard of”, Piaskowski said. He went on to attribute the audit’s success to the REALTRAC ERP software that tracks every aspect of the audit. “Even better” Jeff added, “We used to take as much as four weeks to prepare for an audit, now we can prepare in a couple of days. So we save an incredible amount of time and got a perfect audit.”

When we are quoting a new project and setting it up my team has everything they need at their fingertips.

No Time Wasted on Paperwork: Paper work can be a time waster, necessary, but it can delay the start of important jobs; but not at Talsco. Jeff Piaskowski explained why this is so important: “When we are quoting a new project and setting it up, my team has everything they need at their fingertips. They do not need to leave their desks to track down information or materials, and once the job is set up, it can be started immediately, if need be.”

Shazam!

Firms of any size can benefit from good ERP software. Even the smallest firms will realize a return on their investment within a few months. Every company needs a superhero that can fight waste, save time and save the company a lot of money. As Talsco’s own production superhero said: “It would be absolutely impossible to manage the kind of growth and the quality improvements we have seen without REALTRAC”. Become a crusader (cape optional) within your own organization and adopt an easy to use ERP system today.
Contact us today to learn more!

Success Story: Alliance Broach & Tool with Realtrac ERP Software

Learn how REALTRAC customers across the country and across all types of industries use the key features of this easy to use Enterprise Resource Planning to make a real difference in their operations. Companies use different modules to meet their needs, but they all agree: the software is very effective; it is so easy to use that you do not need a company administrator or expert and the return on investment is seen in a matter of weeks.

Alliance Broach & Tool has utilized REALTRAC software for many years. It has streamlined their operations, increased their profit margins and allowed them to support strong growth in their business.

If you aren’t using REALTRAC you are sacrificing profit margin every day. Companies of any size need REALTRAC to remain competitive and profitable.

LEVERAGING THE RIGHT TOOLS MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

Running a small to medium sized machine shop business presents many challenges. Alliance Broach & Tool (part of J& L Turning) in East China, Michigan (Alliance Broach Tool website) has been in the business of building their operations and client base for over 35 years; they know about some of these challenges. In spite of a tough economic climate, however, Alliance continues to grow – a lot, in fact. After thirty six years, that is an impressive accomplishment. “My father always said that if we were not growing the business we were on our way to being out of business” said company president, Mike Johnson. The company is still run by one of the founders, Helen Johnson, together with her son Mike Johnson.

Alliance Broach and Tool’s 28,000 square foot facility in East China, Michigan

Alliance Broach and Tool do highly customized broach manufacturing and re- working for a full range of industries from agriculture to aerospace, from automotive to medical and from marine to heavy equipment. They have continuously expanded their operations and offerings to include highly specialized broaches of all types and specifications including custom spirex broaches and splines up to 84 inches.

Managing hundreds of customers while running a tight, just –in-time operation requires the kinds of management tools REALTRAC provides.

“We are like custom cabinet makers”, said Mike Johnson, everything we do is completely custom and done to the exact specifications of our customers.

Working with hundreds of customers both domestically and internationally Alliance Broach & Tool runs a tight, just-in-time operation. They have also been able to build an international customer base; an important achievement for a smaller firm.

Mike Johnson and Helen Johnson, owners Alliance Broach & Tool

New customers and new markets are always top of mind at Alliance Broach & Tool. One of the tools that they have leveraged to both manage this growth and their costs is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software from REALTRAC. This one tool often saves companies, even very small firms more money than any tool on their shop floor. ERP software allows even small firms to effectively manage their operations by providing up-to-date information at all times for quoting, costing, and managing projects as the move through an operation. Many small shops believe that using a program like REALTRAC should be delayed until they are larger. By doing so, they can miss a significant cost savings. Alliance's experience validates this, founder Helen Johnson commented “We had a pretty quick return, the improvement in our job planning, cost analysis and floor operations meant that within a matter of months the software paid for itself."

"We had a pretty quick return, the improvement in our job planning, cost analysis and floor operations meant that within a matter of months the software paid for itself."

Small firms can get a large return on their investment. Alliance Broach & Tool’s President Mike Johnson will tell you, that the time and money saved by effectively using ERP software has made a huge difference in their profitability. “The saved history in our system helps us develop quotes more quickly and more accurately, and if I want to know the status of any item on the shop floor, that information is just a few clicks away”, said Mr. Johnson. He estimates that over the years they would have had to add several additional administrative people to do the same sorts of tracking and management that their REALTRAC ERP software provides.

In an increasingly global marketplace, efficiency matters in any size operation. Systems and software that increase your productivity help you remain competitive.

“I know about a project, especially if there is a problem, before anyone from the shop floor comes to my office to talk to me about it.” said Mike Johnson. “Even better,” he added “Once we make an adjustment or resolve a problem it is documented and we don’t have to revisit it later.” This type of efficiency is what shops of any size need to stay competitive and keep their business growing. In an increasingly global marketplace, efficiency matters in any size operation. ERP Systems and ERP software that increase your productivity help you remain competitive.

It is all about the ROI (return on investment). As any small business owner, and especially the owners of a busy machine shop know, running a smooth operation with tight scheduling and minimum inventory levels is absolutely vital to staying profitable and in some cases, staying in business. Often time shops rely on two or three individuals just to manage the operations. Good ERP software means that businesses can operate with less administrative headcount allowing them to hire more productive floor headcount. A strong ERP system tracks the entire job and coordinates the work flow for all current projects and provides instant visibility to the entire team on the floor and in the front offices. It is both the reduction in head count and the ability to optimize work flows that allow ERP systems to pay for themselves within a few months. REALTRAC can be run and leveraged by the entire team. No one individual has to be specially trained to run the system; generating smoother operations and additional cost savings.

ERP systems also help firms prepare for audits and certifications. With a few simple key strokes the documentation needed for nearly any type of audit or certification process can be completed. This regularly saves dozens of hours that can be focused on your business, rather than searching for and compiling documentation.

“We’ve been using REALTRAC software since 1994 and I know it has saved us a ton of money” said Mike Johnson. Building efficiencies into every process means that even small and medium sized firms like Alliance Broaching & Tool get a very fast return on the investment they make into an easy to use ERP system. No matter how small your firm is or how complicated, or streamlined, your operations are, you need to evaluate ERP software. It is no longer something that is just for big business or very sophisticated operations, it is for businesses that want to grow and stay in business. 

Take a tip from the Johnson Family at Alliance Broaching & Tool and use ERP software to streamline your operations so that you can focus on what matters, building your business and your profitability. New generation ERP software will help ensure that your business is passed along to your next generation.

Contact us today to learn more!

Realtrac ERP Software Development Team - Beta Phase Blog

Greetings again from Realtrac Headquarters,

Since the last Realtrac ERP Software development blog, we've transitioned from Alpha testing to Beta testing.  Testing a new product at a customer’s site is always a fun, hectic time. 

We've had some great feedback from all of our testing sites. We haven't had any issues that we'd call showstoppers (big issues where we all drop what we're doing to focus on an issue, and update all customers). That's not to say we haven't gotten great feedback; we have, and we've made changes based upon it. But, we're happy to say the majority of our feedback has been in the form of "We love it, and we want it to do X, Y and Z too!". This is great feedback to get, and we've got a great list of future features and modules. We've got years of new features and modules to work on and bring out to market.

Transitioning from active development to testing doesn't mean the development team has been sitting on our laurels. We've been tackling a whole bunch of new tasks, and even managed to add some new features to the product based on the feedback from our amazing alpha and beta testers.

On the task front, we've been busy doing writing and editing our manual and quick start guides.  Our approach to both documents is guided by the main principles of our ERP software. We say Realtrac is “The Easy Resource Planning” (ERP) software, and that needs to be reflected in our documentation as well as the product itself. I doubt we'll be able to make something that someone curls up next to a warm fire and reads by the flicker of candlelight. But if our documentation can actually help users solve their business problems, feel empowered to use our ERP software and learn all its features, we're going to be pretty happy campers.

We're also working on a series of videos to help our users get started, and eventually, feel comfortable to use all the powerful features of the product. Having videos available at a user’s finger tips is required today. One of the most common things we've heard in the past 18 months of working with Realtrac users is "I didn't know it could do that!". For any complex ERP software product (and, as easy as Realtrac 10 is, it's still a product designed to run your business, and it is an in depth product) this is natural. It's impossible for someone to know everything about a product; Learning is a function of practice and exploration. But still, we want to close that window as quickly as possible. Instead of having a customer take 6 months to master the product, we're hoping our video series takes a Realtrac user from neophyte to expert much, much quicker. If that fails, we're working on our backup plan of cloning all of the development team and shrink wrapping them in boxes to send to customers. So far we've had minimal success, but we'll keep working on it.

I did tease that we have added some new features, so I would like to take a moment and highlight some of the great new features that are going to be present in Realtrac 10 at launch.

The process of ordering material for upcoming jobs can be incredibly difficult and time consuming. We've been working with customers to try to develop some tools to help Realtrac users solve this problem. We're launching Realtrac 10 with a Material Resource Planning (MRP) feature that will make material ordering much easier. Using the powerful search and browse capabilities built in to Realtrac 10, users are able to easily see a list of the materials required for all upcoming, or a specific set of upcoming jobs. Want to see the materials required for jobs of 'Customer XYZ' set to start in April? No problem. Wonder how much 4140 3" Round you need for jobs in the next 3 months? No problem.

Once we had the foundation of the Realtrac ERP system in place, we decided to address some additional needs for our existing and future customer base. All manufacturing shops need a quality process; it’s just a matter of when they implement it and how vast the ERP system needs to be. Even if a customer doesn't need a strict quality program in place today, as part of the growth of their business, eventually they will need one. We wanted to ship Realtrac 10 with tools in place to let a business grow in to using our simple yet powerful tools.

Realtrac 10 will allow a user to create and save both non-conformance (NC) and corrective action (CA) reports. These reports are easy to produce, meaning they are easy to understand and integrate with existing workflows. A difficult tool is one less likely to be used, understood and adopted. And an unused quality system is worthless.

Using our built in messaging system, we can automatically warn users when they are building a part that has had non-conformance of corrective actions filed against them. Our quality tools, built in to the base product, can help satisfy many demands on your business:

• Satisfy the needs of specific customers and/or specific industries that require a quality system in place.
• Combined with policies, the Realtrac quality system can be an important part of the quality systems and certification.
• The built in messaging system allows Realtrac users to actually use the NC and CA reports to ensure they are profitably building parts.

Well, back to work. We'll write another entry here shortly about the Realtrac 10 Mobile App.  Coming soon to an iOS device near you!

The Realtrac ERP Software Development Team