C&M Precision Tech Improves Efficiency and Increases Revenue
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C&M Precision Tech Improves Efficiency and Increases Revenue

Location

Hudson, NH

Company Plan

Enterprise

Processes

CNC Machining

The Challenge

C&M Precision Tech was looking to streamline the manufacturing job quoting process to improve resource utilization, shorten the quote-to-cash cycle, and deliver quotes within 24 hours in response to growing customer demand for substantially shorter quote turnaround times.

The Solution

C&M Precision Tech automates the quoting process by utilizing the cloud-based Paperless Parts collaborative quoting and viewing solution.

The Results

  • Cut quote turnaround time from days to hours.

  • Realized $40,000 in expedited revenue in just three months.

  • Increased volume of quotes while reducing quoting overhead.

  • Reduced manual data entry and eliminated redundant data entry.

Background

C&M Precision Tech is a world-class supplier of precision-engineered, designed, and manufactured metal and plastic parts and components and assemblies. As a veteran and family-owned business, the company has worked with leading product manufacturers in a variety of industries—from aerospace & defense, to medical devices, semiconductors, and more—to provide services ranging from creating precision prototypes to manufacturing production parts and mechanical assemblies for the past 40 years. With an energetic staff of knowledgeable professionals; a wide range of high-tech, multi-axis production machinery; and an impressive array of quality- and productivity-enhancing features, C&M Precision Tech can handle manufacturing jobs of any volume, while still meeting firm delivery commitments.C&M Precision Tech

Over its four-decade history, the company has leveraged investments in emerging technologies to consistently meet changing customer requirements and expectations. According to President Dan Villemaire, customers have become more demanding, expecting to receive quotes in response to requests for quotes (RFQs) and requests for proposals (RFPs) as quickly as they can buy something online. “Today’s customers have little patience for waiting a few days to a couple weeks to receive a quote for a job,” Villemaire points out. “In this increasingly fast-paced, competitive environment, we simply have to reduce the time and effort required to create and deliver quotes, without negatively impacting the accuracy of our job estimates.”

Until 2019, C&M Precision Tech used a combination of Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets and the company’s Job Boss® enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to develop quotes, a process that required a good deal of manual and redundant data entry; substantial time and effort demands on the company’s Engineering Department; and delays of days to weeks to deliver a quote. “Our former quote development process was both cumbersome and clunky,” Villemaire explains.

C&M shop floor
C&M Precision Tech meets with Paperless Parts

“We’d have to enter all of the job information more than once in our ERP system, and then go to the Engineering Department to calculate cycle time, setup time, tooling requirements, etc.,” Villemaire adds. “In short, we were spending a lot of time engineering a quote rather than estimating a quote, which is a real drag on efficiency when you consider that we win roughly 35 percent of the jobs that we quote. We were spending way too much time on the 65 percent of quotes that we don’t win and needed a solution for streamlining and automating the quote development process so we can deliver accurate quotes promptly.”

C&M Precision Tech’s search for an automated job-shop-quoting software led the company to Paperless Parts, a cloud-based, collaborative quoting solution for manufacturing job shops. C&M Precision Tech chose the Paperless Parts solution because it allows the company to rapidly pinpoint manufacturability issues, automatically create quotes, and quickly process orders, while complying with U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) cybersecurity requirements. “An important metric in our value-stream process is the length of the quote-to-cash cycle. With Paperless Parts, we leverage our data and the data contained in the customer model to automate and improve quoting thus helping us reduce the length of time from quote to cash.”

Turning Around Quotes within 24 Hours

In the first three months of using the Paperless Parts automated quoting solution, C&M Precision Tech is well on its way to meeting its goal of turning around all quotes within 24 hours of receipt and most quotes within hours or on the same day. “The faster that we can create a quote and the more accurate the quote is, the better our shop will perform,” Villemaire stresses. “There will still be situations in which quote development may take a bit longer, such as when we have to go outside to quote things that we don’t do, like heat treatment, plating, or when working with an uncommon material.

“The more that we use the Paperless Parts system, the faster the quoting system will become because we will be adding intelligence,” Villemaire continues. “In the beginning, we still have to enter data related to the job and the part—although we only have to do it once, unlike the redundant data entry required in the past. However, as our database of parts grows we will be able to use the Paperless Parts geometry comparison capability to compare parts that are currently being quoted to previous jobs, and reference actual runtimes to generate more accurate quoting information.”

Increasing Customer Options, Capturing Expedited Revenue

In addition to helping C&M Precision Tech automate and streamline quote development, the Paperless Parts solution allows the company to include other options, such as the use of different materials or expedited delivery times, on a single quote rather than as separate quotes. This capability enables the job shop to include cost increases for expedited delivery dates on its standard quote, an option that more and more of the firm’s customers choose.

“Before we had Paperless Parts, a customer would receive a quote and come back to us saying, I like the price but I need the parts a week sooner,” Villemaire notes. “That situation used to involve an awkward conversation with the customer about how expedited delivery dates would cost more. To avoid that discussion, we’d often honor the price even though completing the job required overtime and additional costs. Now, the customer can see in the quote just what an expedited delivery date will cost. We were surprised by the fact that many customers choose to pay for expedited delivery. In just the first three months of using Paperless Parts, we received $40,000 in additional expedited revenue that we would not have seen in the past.

C&M Precision Tech

“With Paperless Parts, we can create more accurate quotes more quickly—increasing the overall volume of quotes and shortening our quote-to-cash cycle—while reducing quoting overhead and boosting the overall efficiency of our shop. Paperless Parts gives us the quoting agility and flexibility that we need to continue to grow our business.”

Receiving Metalworking Expertise On-Demand, Any Time, from Anywhere

C&M Precision Tech is continually looking for ways to streamline processes, and was therefore one of the first customers to use MSC’s TechMate® service in the Paperless Viewer. TechMate® enables manufacturers to securely view and share any and all job-related files with their Metalworking Associate for advice and tooling recommendations.

MSC has been C&M Precision Tech’s biggest supplier, but before TechMate® the process was to wait to have a Metalworking Associate come into the shop to help the team and give them feedback. Having Metalworking Associates there for the team on-demand through TechMate® has sped up the process and streamlined the communication between their team and the Metalworking Associates.

“Since we’ve had TechMate®, the biggest advantage for me is time. Before TechMate®, the time it would take to get a quote out would be anywhere from 10 minutes to days. Now I can ask my questions and I can go about finishing the quote or go help other people.” – Brett McCafferty, Manufacturing Engineer

C&M Precision Tech uses TechMate

“Those are the people that I want to partner with, the people that are bringing me solutions like Paperless Parts and MSC are with TechMate®. Those are the people that are looking into the future and really looking at what we need to compete on a global level. We expect to grow with Paperless Parts and with MSC.” – Dan Villemaire, President

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Dan Villemaire

“In just the first three months of using Paperless Parts, we received $40,000 in additional expedited revenue that we would not have seen in the past.”