Momentum Manufacturing Group Increases Profit Margins 4% with Paperless Parts

Background

Momentum Manufacturing Group opened in 1982 in Vermont and has gradually expanded to nine locations employing over 800 people. They offer end-to-end metalworking manufacturing solutions, including process engineering, precision machining, metal fabrication, aluminum extrusion, finishing, assembly, packaging, and shipping.

Momentum Manufacturing Group is among the top 10 largest metal manufacturers in the United States and is the largest in the Northeast. They recently rolled out Paperless Parts at their operation in Georgetown, Massachusetts, which serves as their corporate headquarters.

Challenge

Before implementing Paperless Parts, Momentum Manufacturing Group used its ERP system to create and manage quotes. It was hard to train people to quote through the ERP and it was an incredibly time-consuming process. Each quote had to pass through their customer service branch, which delayed quote turnaround significantly. The quote letters that were generated through the ERP looked unprofessional, and Momentum Manufacturing Group team members often had to make edits before finalizing quotes.

“The quoters couldn’t send quotes out at 7 PM, they had to wait until the next morning for the quote to go through the customer service branch. This added step where we had to wait for the quote to be generated before we could send it drove us nuts,” said Dave Doherty, VP of Engineering at Momentum Manufacturing Group.

The company received consistent feedback that their quoting process was too slow. “It was taking us too long to turn around quotes, sometimes 2-3 weeks. Customers would tell me that by the time they received our quote they had already ordered and received product from another competitor,” said Steve Gore, Chief Operating Officer at Momentum Manufacturing Group.

On top of quote turnaround time, their ERP’s interface was difficult to navigate: it displayed thousands of figures on a single screen, which made it challenging to identify errors. As a result, estimators risked making costly mistakes due to oversights.

Complicating matters further, Momentum Manufacturing Group regularly quoted large packages consisting of hundreds of components without a fixed quoting formula in place. When the margins were adjusted for a project, the team had to make extensive re-calculations, resulting in errors and delays.

Solution

With Paperless Parts’ cloud-native software, and its integration with MIE Trak Pro, Momentum Manufacturing Group’s quoting speed has increased significantly. “Especially because we’re so busy, saving even 5 minutes is a lot of time,” said Dave.

Paperless Parts streamlines communication, so Dave and his team can easily loop in the relevant parties to help quote a project. The software allows team members to adjust margins with one click instead of making calculations. When quoting projects with upwards of 400 components, Momentum Manufacturing Group can easily ensure that the quote is accurate without losing valuable time. “It’s so fluid that I don’t even think about it anymore. I can just click a button, and it’s done,” said Dave.

With the Paperless Parts platform in place, the team no longer worries about making costly mistakes. An initial inputting error on a quote they generated recently could have cost them nearly $40,000, but they were able to quickly identify the error and fix the quote.

Estimators can send quotes as soon as they’re ready, and each user has their own template with a consistently branded logo and signature. The quotes go out much faster and look more professional.

“We want to be easy to do business with, we want to be customer friendly. Having a quote go out that is more professional, where you can see the part, the quantity breaks, the terms and conditions, everything you need right there in one nice cloud-based document, makes it easier for us and our customers. They don’t have to call back with questions,” said Steve.

Results

With Paperless Parts, Momentum Manufacturing Group:

1. Increases profit margins 4%. Because Paperless Parts makes it easy to adjust margins for different pieces of a quote, Momentum Manufacturing Group can easily update prices. This capability has helped them generate more revenue and increase profit margins.
2. Avoids costly mistakes. Momentum Manufacturing Group’s previous quoting interface was so packed with data that mistakes didn’t stand out. With Paperless Parts’ simple dashboard, they can easily identify errors and avoid quoting mistakes that could cost them tens of thousands of dollars.
3. Presents professional digital quotes to customers. Paperless Parts streamlines the quoting process and provides an automated quoting template that generates professional quotes for customers, enhancing the customer experience and saving significant time for the team.

“We’re very impressed with the team at Paperless Parts. The implementation was smooth, efficient, and it was so easy to work with the full team,” said Steve.

Momentum Manufacturing Group’s cumbersome quoting process was slow and hard to navigate, costing them valuable time and inhibiting business growth. Since implementing Paperless Parts, they’re turning around quotes much faster, ensuring greater accuracy and consistency, and generating more revenue. Momentum Manufacturing Group will soon be rolling out Paperless Parts to their Amherst, New Hampshire operation.