Hirsh Precision Products Saves 2,000 Hours Per Year with Paperless Parts

Background

Hirsh Precision Products (Hirsh) was founded in 1979 with just one employee, a single manual machine and a commitment to continuous improvement. For example, even from its early years, Hirsh sought machinery that would improve operational efficiency. When the company began producing hundreds of parts at scale three years into business, Hirsh invested in CNC machining to increase productivity. Hirsh saw CNC machining as a way to replicate efforts, produce high-quality parts and eliminate dependencies on any one machinist. This mindset would continue to open doors for the business for the next four decades.

Today, Hirsh has grown to seventy-five employees, including a continuous improvement manager who is dedicated to Hirsh’s efficiency and growth. The ISO 9001, 13485 company offers turning, milling, supply chain management, inventory management, assembly, and more to help its customers bring their products to life.

Challenge

In its quest for efficiency, Hirsh was constantly identifying areas for improvement. In the early days, quoting was a notoriously time-consuming operation for Hirsh because they relied on paper prints and manila folders. Steve Hirsh, founder and VP of Engineering, knew that their quoting process needed to be streamlined. However, at the time, there were few solutions on the market that specifically optimized the quoting process.

Eventually, Hirsh purchased quoting software that offered some improvements, but required a high level of detail and lots of training to operate. Hirsh was spending far too much time on the front end of every quote, even though they would only win a percentage of them. As a result, depending on the part, it took two to eight hours to complete an individual quote. This turnaround time would not satisfy buyer expectations and could ultimately lose potential jobs.

Knowing that today’s customers want fast responses to their quotes, Hirsh was determined to prioritize its turnaround time rather than over-engineering quotes down to the penny. They needed a way to reduce the time spent on each quote so they could respond to more RFQs, meet buyer expectations, and increase the chances of winning more business.

Solution

Hirsh had been using its legacy quoting software for years, but was looking for a more effective option, the company discovered Paperless Parts. Hirsh found that Paperless Quoting offered several more features than the legacy software. Paperless Quoting was also very user-friendly, so more employees could be trained on the system. Most importantly, Hirsh loved that Paperless Parts could leverage the company’s years of legacy manufacturing data and cycle times to deliver quotes much faster.

Hirsh implemented Paperless Parts in July, 2019, as its primary quoting software. Paperless Parts transformed Hirsh’s quoting process, making it faster and completely seamless for both end users and customers.

Results

Using Paperless Quoting, Hirsh:

• Organized and leveraged legacy data: Hirsh was able to consolidate its data and documentation within the Paperless Quoting platform. Rather than having to create a PDF or ZIP file to save quoting data on a local server, the Hirsh estimator can store everything directly in the Paperless Quoting platform. There was no more searching for data in multiple places. Estimators are now able to find quotes, similar parts or customer data with an easy-to-use search.
• Sped up quoting: Using Hirsh’s legacy data, Paperless Parts adapted to the company’s workflow and leveraged geometric features to power its pricing formulas and considerably speed up quoting. This new process saved time in calculating the cost of manufacturing. Additionally, Hirsh employees could use Paperless Parts pricing templates to revise and copy quotes in the platform very quickly and eliminate the high level of detail required to quote. As a result, Hirsh reduced the time it took to complete a quote by 3.75 hours on average. In 2020, Hirsh saved more than 2,000 hours by using Paperless Parts.
• Delivered a seamless user experience: The platform offers communication capabilities that allow employees and customers to interact, view parts, communicate DFM ideas, and take measurements off CAD models. Not only did Hirsh have to pay for fewer CAD licenses, but it also improved access to data for employees, removing all bottlenecks in the quoting process. Even unit conversions are made automatically within Paperless Quoting.
• Improved customer service: Hirsh customers have appreciated the convenience and personal touch brought by Paperless Parts’ digital quotes. Hirsh estimators can send digital quotes with custom notes, and track when the quotes have been viewed. This insight allows estimators and salespeople to follow up at the right time and document those conversations within the platform. Customers can also easily share quotes with their team and preview parts in 3D. If customers do decide to make a purchase, they can now make payments with a credit card directly on the digital quote.

Hirsh leveraged Paperless Parts in its commitment to continuous improvement. By optimizing the quoting process, Hirsh was able to save thousands of hours. With employees freed up to be more strategic, the team reinvested this time in business planning, the employee experience and customer service. This one investment is a testament to the way Hirsh runs its company – efficiency in one area truly can impact the entire business.

“Paperless Parts sped up our quoting process and leveraged all our historic data. A few extra minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but it makes a huge difference with our customers. Today’s buyers want to move quickly, so it was important that we prioritized turnaround time over a highly engineered quote.” – Steve Hirsh, Founder and VP, Engineering