Manualism

Howdy from a hot Friday afternoon in Texas,

It's been a good week for Synchro.  I did a trial system installation last night for a metalcaster in Malaysia.  Things went well, other than the twelve hour time difference between Texas and there - exactly the opposite side of the world from each other.

Manaulism - at Texas Foundries a term was coined of "manualism" and referred to doing a lot of work by hand, instead of with computers.  The amount of man-hours spent entering data, especially payroll data for a weekly incentive system was beyond belief.

What I find hard to believe is that there are a number of foundrymen that still do estimating and costing by hand on the back of an envelope and use cents per pound as a guide.  Not only costing and estimating, but everything in the foundry is cobbled together with a few spreadsheets.  I am a bottom line kinda guy and financials are always in the back of my mind, as well as ways of improving the bottom line.

Few foundrymen come to exhibitions and shows to look at software, unless it's a PLC attached to a new core or molding machine.  Let's face it, ERP/MRP software is not all that "sexy", when compared to a new machine.  But, ERP/MRP software is so essential to doing business in todays global economy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not berating or belittling the foundryman that does it all with the number two pencil and an envelope, but I am just concerned about their long-term viability of missed opportunities.  In economics, there is a term of "opportunity costs" - which are costs of partaking or not partaking in various opportunities.

Synchro ERP is so for the metalcaster and can be easily used by any sized metalcaster - and is affordable as well.  Extremely affordable with no barrier to entry such as upfront costs.  There are not a lot of required fields and the foundryman does not even need to use all of the modules available.

Give it some thought, think about what your opportunity costs are by doing it with manualism.

Until next time, see you on down the road.

Shane Allen
Head of Synchro ERP North American Operations