Published
Beyond the Essentials
This shop discovered that it needed more than equipment and expertise to address the challenges of dealing with a diverse, complex workload.
Bob Coster (right), third-generation owner of Nolte Precise Manufacturing, passed the reins to his son Doug (left) in 2009. When the father-son team began to diversify Nolte’s capabilities and customer base in 2002, expanding the company’s use of E2 shop management software was a critical part of the transition.
Flip through an issue of Modern Machine Shop, and you'll likely encounter instances of shops attributing their success to having some combination of the right people and the right equipment. Although the importance of each can’t be denied, even the most talented staff armed with the most sophisticated machinery available can falter if, for example, no one knows what the next job is, where to find materials needed for that job and whether material inventory levels are high or low. Suffice to say that equipment and expertise goes only so far with things like quoting, scheduling, purchasing, properly documenting processes and procedures, and myriad other activities that characterize the day-to-day existence of a modern contract shop.
Such activities can be especially complex for shops like Nolte Precise Manufacturing, which takes on such a diverse range of work that no single sector accounts for more than 10 to 15 percent of its business. To manage that complexity, the company relies on Shoptech Software's E2 shop management system, a software package that also played a key role in transitioning away from its roots as a manufacturer of production screw machine components. Learn more here.