CAMM Metals, Inc. Quotes Twice as Fast & Anticipates Growth After Getting Up & Running with Paperless Parts in < 8 Weeks

Background

CAMM Metals, Inc. is a Connecticut-based job shop that specializes in high-quality custom metal fabrication, machining, waterjet cutting, and welding services for a wide range of industries, including medical, aerospace & defense, and industrial machinery. They also handle many finishing services in-house, such as powder coating, anodizing, painting, and galvanizing.

CAMM Metals’ president, Matt Soucie, has been at the company for over 25 years and serves as both president and estimator. Matt has been up and running on Paperless Parts since December 2022—but this wasn’t his first rodeo.

Matt was a former customer of Paperless Parts over two years ago. Although he loved the quoting capabilities that Paperless Parts offered, he had a particularly robust JobBOSS ERP deployment and the two systems didn’t integrate, which created a lot of double data entry and manual steps for his team. Today, Paperless Parts integrates with JobBOSS (along with several other leading ERPs) and fulfills CAMM Metals’ integration needs.

Challenge

As CAMM Metals grew, Matt faced the challenge of keeping up with the increasing volume of work, especially as he was the only estimator.

“For those two years that we didn’t have Paperless Parts, it was difficult; I was struggling to handle the high volume of jobs and demanding customers. It was a constant challenge to keep pace with the workload and ensure that our quotes were accurate and competitive,” reflects Matt.

Quoting only out of his ERP, Matt’s quoting process was a manual one that took up a significant amount of time (for a simple job, it took between 15-20 minutes to produce a quote). This left Matt little time to focus on other important aspects of the business, like financial management and leadership.

“I’ll be honest, I was so engrossed in my work as an estimator that I didn’t realize I wasn’t giving enough time to my colleagues in the office,” Matt recalls. “It wasn’t until I noticed their anxiety and realized they weren’t getting the attention they needed to solve their problems that I knew something had to change.”

Solution

In October 2022, Matt caught wind that Paperless Parts built a seamless integration with JobBOSS. Within a week, he’d signed back up.

Matt was committed to getting up and running as soon as possible. He put in the work to get trained up on every feature, learn best practices, and understand the ins and outs of the platform. Within just a couple months, Matt was quoting all of his jobs using Paperless Parts in conjunction with JobBOSS. Now, quotes automatically pull data from JobBOSS and when a job is won, the pertinent information is automatically pushed back into JobBOSS.

“The difference was night and day. Quoting became so much easier and less time-consuming, and I was finally able to keep up with the fast-paced demands of our business,” he recalls.

Matt noted another important way he saw immediate value from the software: “The anxieties my colleagues were feeling have already decreased. My team is now able to talk about their problems openly, and I have the time to work through them with them as a team.”

The implementation of Paperless Parts has also allowed Matt to be more accessible to his team and customers, as he can now work on quotes from anywhere, without the need for specific software or equipment. “I can’t express how liberating it feels to have the ability to work on quotes from anywhere, at any time. I don’t have to worry about being tied to my desk or having all the necessary software with me—I recently did a quote while waiting for a call at home, and it was effortless. I no longer risk losing jobs because I’m out of the office. I can even work on quotes while on vacation or on a plane. With Paperless Parts, everything I need is in one platform, making my job so much easier and more efficient.”

Hear from Matt:

 

Not only has Paperless Parts given Matt additional time and flexibility, but it has also allowed him to get quotes out faster: “Getting a quote out quickly is often the deciding factor in winning an order, and being able to get quotes out twice as fast now is a significant advantage.”

Matt also has a lot of excitement for what the future holds now that he’s recently mastered certain features: “I can’t express how excited I am about using CAD files in the 3D format—it’s like a whole new world has opened up for me. Now, when I’m quoting parts, it’s so much easier to visualize them and catch any potential manufacturing troubles.” Matt also recently turned on the sheet metal nesting feature, which he describes as a “godsend” for his sheet metal fabrication work.

Overall, Matt believes that Paperless Parts has been instrumental in helping him be a better, more responsible manufacturing leader. “I encourage others to invest the effort required to fully implement the system,” he says.

“As a shop owner, I understand the importance of investing in new equipment and tools for our employees, but we often forget about investing in our office team. I see Paperless Parts for estimators the same way I see a new machine for someone on the shop floor,” continues Matt. “To be successful, we need to look at both sides of our business. It’s time to prioritize our office team and give them the tools they need to excel, just like we do for our shop floor.”

“With Paperless Parts, I have a warning system that keeps me on track. It’s been a game changer for me and my team.”

Results

With the help of Paperless Parts, Matt anticipates continued growth and success for CAMM Metals. But since implementing the platform, CAMM Metals, Inc. has already been able to:

• Gain time back to grow the shop. Overall, the implementation of Paperless Parts has allowed Matt to cut his quoting time in half, freeing up approximately 20 hours per week. “As we look to bring in a new estimator down the road,” he adds, “Paperless Parts will make the transition seamless and efficient. Instead of spending countless hours teaching them the nuances of each workstation and machine on the shop floor, we can simply train them on Paperless Parts.”
• Reduce risk. Paperless Parts has a function that automatically scans a part file for potential manufacturability issues, so Matt doesn’t miss them: “I used to overlook things all the time when I was looking at paper drawings on my desk, but now with Paperless Parts, I have a warning system that keeps me on track. It’s been a game-changer for me and my team.”
• Work better together. Paperless Parts makes it easier for Matt and his team to communicate and work together towards common goals. This is partly because of the built-in secure chat features and communication tools, but also because of the newfound time he has to give his colleagues the attention they need to work through problems together.