CNC Shop Feels The Impact Of Shop Management Software
Littlestar Plastics, Inc. located in Machesney Park, Illinois, has been providing CNC-machined plastic components to the electrical, food processing and equipment manufacturing industries since 1992.
Littlestar Plastics, Inc. located in Machesney Park, Illinois, has been providing CNC-machined plastic components to the electrical, food processing and equipment manufacturing industries since 1992. As a start-up company they knew a computer system and manufacturing software were necessary parts of their business plan. Littlestar began to search for software that would maintain traceability on materials, consistency in pricing and allow tracking of actual costs.
"After thoroughly reviewing dozens of shop management software systems we settled on Henning Industrial Software's EstiTrack system," explained Philip Preston, founder and CEO of Littlestar Plastics. "The program functions were more realistic for the operation of a machine shop, not limited to how a programmer thinks a shop should operate." Being a start-up business, they needed a system that could grow with their changing needs.
Henning Industrial Software, Inc. of Hudson, Ohio specializes in practical and affordable software solutions for the manufacturing industry. Littlestar Plastics installed the EstiTrack job estimating and shop management software in September 1993. After a very short learning curve they noticed an immediate impact. "EstiTrack identified jobs that were not profitable and it gave us a more professional image to our customers," stated Mr. Preston.
Now in a new building, and after adding five personal computers and local area network (LAN) software, estimating, job tracking/scheduling, automatic bar coded time collection, purchasing/shipping/receiving and invoicing are being shared the way it was planned for. "We're even interfacing EstiTrack's invoicing transactions with our Peachtree accounting system," commented Jerry Kosinski, director of financing, "making my job truly almost seamless."
Littlestar Plastics is now moving toward a paperless interface between the shop and office while increasing capacity utilization with smoother flow of jobs through the shop with the guidance of Henning Industrial Software and EstiTrack. Mr. Preston explained, "If you want or need to track your operation, EstiTrack is the best system available, without having to go broke to buy it. Support is excellent and someone is always there to help, even at odd times and off hours."
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