In the steel and metal fabrication industry, the average length of time between sales quoting and closing can be anywhere from 30 to 90 days. Generally speaking, it’s a lengthy process in all sectors, but metal fabrication comes with many variables—materials, labor costs, processing costs, and overheads—and this can complicate and lengthen the process.
The traditional method is to leave everything to calculators and spreadsheets. For a time, manufacturers turned to software that expedited and simplified the process, but as this software was often built with other industries in mind, it was far from problem-free.
Thankfully, a lot has changed over the last decade or so. Manufacturers can now utilize a variety of different software solutions to streamline the sales quoting process, introducing technologies such as machine learning and automation to save time and money while also reducing mistakes.
Automate and Improve Your Sales Quoting Process with RealSTEEL™
RealSTEEL™ was designed specifically for the steel and metal industry. It includes various software features designed to simplify, streamline, optimize, and free up vital resources. These features include:
Built-in Cost Calculators
RealSTEEL™ features built-in cost calculators that account for elements such as material costs, labor costs (both direct and indirect), and processing time. Your sales team simply enters the information into our modern business management solution—including the size and grade of the metal, as well as specific project attributes—and it creates a cost analysis.
The calculation also considers remnant inventory to produce the least amount of scrap and prevent costly wastage.
Specific Processes
Employees will have instant, real-time access to the quoting and production process, giving them insights into everything from material cost usage to set-up time, as well as scheduling features such as:
- Coil Slitting: Employees can create specific slitting layouts using integrated coil slitting software.
- AMS Eclipse Integration: Orders can be easily and quickly fed into production while monitoring real-time changes to ensure a streamlined production process.
- SigmaNEST Integration: Accurate nesting processes will reduce metal fabrication time while minimizing waste.
- Outside Processes: If you work with outside vendors, you can also capture their information and costs.
Purchasing Details
RealSTEEL™ provides detailed information on all of your ongoing and planned purchases, helping you to manage your stock and order process.
You can purchase materials more efficiently to reduce the risk of overstocking and understocking, quickly create purchase orders, and capture information on all materials as soon as they enter your warehouses.
This all-in-one order management solution simplifies multi-line processing, and by eliminating the need for manual inputs and relying on evolving software solutions, it should also reduce the number of mistakes.
Greater Customer Transparency
By helping you to produce faster quotes and invoices, you can foster positive relationships with your vendors and clients. But RealSTEEL™ goes far beyond that and includes financing solutions tailored toward promising your client relationships:
- Tiered Customer Hierarchy: Create customer hierarchy charts to help you better understand your relationships and monitor satisfaction levels while providing production and order transparency.
- Credit Management: Establish credit agreements with fixed policies to improve business revenue and reduce your financial exposure and risk.
- Identify Low-Preforming Areas: RealSTEEL™ increases your visibility on product profitability with real-time insights into the revenue generated by specific products and services. Using this information, you can judge which areas are most and least successful, helping you to find underperforming areas in need of optimization.
- Business Intelligence Reporting: Uncover vital insights into business trends using an array of business analytics and reporting features. These tools will keep your brand competitive and help you to stay ahead of the curve.
Real-Time Inventory Management
RealSTEEL™ inventory management solutions are essential for monitoring current and incoming stock and helping you steer your business in the right direction. You can view all current inventory in real time, check incoming orders, and incorporate metrics such as predictive trends to determine whether you need to increase your holding.
Collaboration and Coordination
Various documents and details are needed during the quoting process. With RealSTEEL™, you can include all of these documents and comments in sales and order lines. Instructions can then be shared with other departments, including manufacturing, shipping, and accounting, keeping everyone on the same page and preventing downtime and mistakes resulting from miscommunications.
You can make sure that the project is handled in complete accordance with the quote, accounting for all of the customer’s needs and preferences.
Improve Your Sales Quoting Process with RealSTEEL™
To learn how you can save time, protect profit margins, and improve customer relationships, click here to request a demo of RealSTEEL™ and discover how it can benefit your business.
Our software solutions are tailormade for the metal and steel industry and include features designed to meet your specific needs, including:
- Pipe and tube software
- Metals nesting software
- Metal framing software
- Plate processing software
- Steel service center software
You can choose the features you need and create a tailored and fully scalable package that will assist your business from day one and grow with you as your orders, client base, and responsibilities increase.
