Fabricators, Inc. is a diversified sheet metal fabrication company in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Fabricators, Inc. is a full service quality-oriented manufacturing company serving over 100 customers with a wide range of applications, from precision sheet metal to 1/4″ plate. They have been servicing customers since 1951. Their talented sheet metal engineers and skilled craftsmen work together to provide high quality custom metal products.
Interview with Saul Patel, President of Fabricators Inc.
"Our company is typical manufacturing, job shop company.
My background is also financial accounting. I'm about to be a CPA. So my goal with the xTuple was, obviously, "How I can run the manufacturing operation with the most efficiency I can get and also see if I can get some help with the Accounting in the xTuple."
Interviewer [Scott Church]: What really prompted you to start looking for an ERP solution? What was the deciding factor, "Hey, we need to do something here?"
I tested a couple of different systems and just similar software, but it's not the ERP system, but then I thought, "Is ISO going to let any value into my company other than just getting the ISO in and getting business from me?"
I realized that, so I just kept searching the Internet and see if there's any ERP system out there, or see if there's any good ISO system out there. And then I think I came across one of the reviews, in which each person said, "xTuple, we love xTuple." So that's why I currently use xTuple. I figured that ERP is really good.
Interviewer: You said, your background, you used QuickBooks®. Did you use any other kind of applications? Besides QuickBooks®, in terms of managing your inventory, manufacturing, any of that?
QuickBooks®, it does pretty much everything I need, only the thing that I cannot get right now from QuickBooks® is latest and greatest inventory number.
xTuple can do many different things, but also, if I can put that inventory number into my QuickBooks®, I can get the clear financials.
Interview: Yeah, and I know we've also talked about labor costs and that was pretty big for your decision, right? So that you could track some of the labor costs, is that correct?
When it comes to labor costs, I'm really hoping that with xTuple I can - we get the forecasting from our customers, forecasting for the next four months. If I can put the forecasting in the system, and run the MPS, that will help us to prevent overtime.
So if I have a bump, if I know that I have a bump coming in from the customer demand, then I can try to stock some of those components and prevent the work time when that bump occurs.
Interviewer: We just talked about MPS and that's something which prompted you to go with the Manufacturing Edition, is that correct? That's where you saw yourself?
Well, when I came across xTuple, and when I tried xTuple in the demo version for 30 days, I saw the MPS and I got excited about it. Hey is, you know, additional benefit that I would get while going with xTuple, so I didn't expect you guys to be up-to-date with MPS, but this MPS is icing on a cake."