Custom Production Grinding

The Company: About Custom Production Grinding

When recessions hit or when slow times beat down profits and business advancements, it’s easy to look back and think you should’ve prepared better. Many companies like Custom Production Grinding in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin who’ve been in business since 1983 and have seen their fair share of economic downturns. And being the CFO, Greg Schoepke knows first-hand how crucial it is to have the right processes in place to counteract the tough financial times that ebb and flow through the manufacturing industry.

Custom Production Grinding is a service manufacturer that specializes in grinding parts to the correct size and shape, correcting imperfections, and refining the finished piece. ​“We deal with complicated parts so we’re not always the lowest price,” says Greg. ​“But customers sometimes come to us because we can deliver when other shops fail.”

The Situation: Specialized Diversification

Because their business is more of a specialized shop, their diversification comes with the clients and industries they serve. ​“We have over 300 customers in a large set of industries,” commented Greg. For the last 25 years, they’ve focused on branching out to as many customers and industries as they can possibly serve so as not to have all their eggs in one basket.

The Solution: E2 Shop System ERP

While customer diversification helps when there’s an economic downturn, it’s not enough to completely insulate any business from financial troubles. ​“When the last recession hit, we saw business vanish quickly,” said Greg. ​“I knew we had to mind cash flow closer than we ever had before and that’s when I realized how valuable E2 was for our company.” Because their customers and vendors were also experiencing their own financial troubles, Greg reached out to each of them and developed a weekly (and sometimes daily) touch base to discuss a payables and receivables schedule that could benefit everyone.

“At that time, I started every morning looking at the executive overview to quickly analyze our cash flow,” said Greg. ​“E2 was calculating everything from how quickly customers were paying to what the net terms were, all while inputting our payroll costs so I could see exactly where our cash needed to go at any given time. The simple green and red code analysis let me see what the week and month were going to be like in regards to cash flow and allowed me to work with customers and vendors to adjust payments.”

This analysis helped Custom Production Grinding keep loyal customers and vendors throughout the recession because they never had to short anyone or hold back payments for one customer over another.

“We were all working together to keep each other alive in a bad economy,” said Greg. ​“It was a long, tough battle but E2 allowed us to be the cheerleader for our company as well as others out there when things looked bleak.” 

The Results: E2 Shop System Implementation Benefits

Greg commented that he is seeing more and more machine shops using E2 and feels many of his customers are implementing the software due to his company’s success. ​“I’ve been using E2 for so many years that our customers come and ask us what E2 might be able to do for them.” Greg also boasts about the support team and how timely they are with their responses when they do have questions or issues. ​“I have no desire to switch even though I get other companies asking us to purchase from them. For what

E2 has been able to do for my company, there’s no reason to change. We are fully prepared for the next economic change because we can adapt quickly and fully cooperate with our customers and vendors because of the valuable information we get only by having E2.”