Pinnacle Precision Scales Team, Enables Cross-Site Collaboration with Paperless Parts

Background

Known for fast turnarounds, tight tolerances, and a no-excuses approach to getting parts out the door, Pinnacle Precision has been a leading metal fabricator for over 50 years. Over time, they’ve expanded well beyond sheet metal into CNC machining, finishing, complex assemblies, and full-service manufacturing for high-stakes industries like aerospace, defense, medical, and telecom.

In 2022, Pinnacle joined The Partner Companies (TPC), a group of specialty manufacturers that operate like a consortium, sharing resources, best practices, and a common mindset: do great work, move fast, and make life easier for your customers. Around that same time, Kevin Beatty stepped in as General Manager to help lead the company through a new phase of growth and cultural transformation, focusing on teamwork and true collaboration with its customers.

Fast forward to today: Kevin now also runs L&T Precision, Pinnacle’s sister shop in Poway, CA. While Pinnacle leans heavier on sheet metal and assembly, L&T brings deeper machining horsepower to the table. Together, the two facilities work in tandem, combining their strengths to offer a broader set of capabilities to their customer base. “We’re one team, even though we’re nearly two hours apart,” said Kevin. “That mindset has been a huge part of our success.”

Challenge

When Kevin came on board, quoting was a bottleneck because everything ran through one highly experienced estimator who was nearing retirement. If he was out, quotes stalled. And when he retired, a critical link in the process would walk out the door. “We knew we needed to build a more resilient, scalable solution,” said Kevin. “We couldn’t afford to lose our estimator’s tribal knowledge or put pressure on a single point of failure.”

At the time, the team quoted directly in their ERP system, which wasn’t well-suited for collaboration. “We needed a way to bring in more estimators, involve planners, programmers, even customer service so everyone could work together without stepping on each other’s toes,” Kevin said. He saw a strategic opportunity to turn quoting into a collaborative, tech-enabled process that could support growth across both Pinnacle and L&T Precision.

Solution

Pinnacle implemented Paperless Parts in 2022 after hearing positive feedback from a peer in the industry. The rollout was focused on speed, collaboration, and reducing onboarding friction for new team members.

“The onboarding experience was one of the best I’ve seen,” said Kevin. “The Paperless Parts team was responsive, flexible, and solution-oriented. They worked with us to build something that made sense for our shop rather than just trying to push us into the system.”

Immediately after implementation was completed, Pinnacle transitioned a planner into a lead estimating role and hired two additional estimators — neither of whom had previous quoting experience. “We were able to quickly involve more estimators because of Paperless Parts’ clean interface and the ability to add guardrails to our workflows. It allows us to quote quickly without sacrificing accuracy.” Kevin can quickly review cost builds, adjust margins, and approve quotes without getting bogged down.

Today, Paperless Parts enables collaboration across departments and across sites. Kevin and his team can quickly review quotes, tag colleagues, and align in real-time. “The quoting process builds the foundation for everything that comes next,” Kevin explained. “With Paperless Parts, we’re quoting, but we’re also planning. The router is already there when you win the job. That saves us a ton of time.”

When Kevin took over L&T Precision, implementing Paperless Parts there was a no-brainer. Previously, L&T’s lone estimator relied on exported PDFs and phone calls with Pinnacle to collaborate. With both sites on Paperless Parts, Pinnacle and L&T can now quote on each other’s behalf and push jobs directly into the correct ERP—MieTrak Pro or Global Shop Solutions.

Results

With Paperless Parts, Pinnacle Precision has modernized their quoting process and built a foundation for cross-site collaboration and growth. Key outcomes include:

• Efficiently growing and training their estimating team: Paperless Parts made it possible to onboard additional estimators quickly, even with them being new to the team.
• Improved team collaboration across departments: Estimating, programming, planning, and customer service now work in sync, speeding up response times and reducing back-and-forth.
• Actionable quoting analytics: The team uses win/loss reporting to understand estimator performance and drive continuous improvement.

As Kevin puts it, “Managing two facilities an hour and a half apart would be impossible without this kind of platform. Paperless Parts lets us operate as a true team.”