Poll - Job Shops and Vantage Quotation Module

Yahoo Archive
1
We started out using Vantage Quoting for a few years, but since we are a
machining house, we needed a tool that we could input cutters/speeds/feeds/
and material type into and get a run time out of. Vantage is not that tool.
Initially we made those calculations manually and input them into the
Vantage quotes, but we needed more accurate quotes.

We came to a fork in the road.... We chose to use the Estimating software.
The only thing we use Vantage for is to provide the quote #. This allows us
to track the quote number from Vantage to the new system and that is all.

We only capture about 10%-15% of our quotes. On those, we hand input the
information (routing and standard times) from our quoting system straight
into Vantage Part Master.

Just an FYI, at times we have quoted 2,000 or more parts in a month.


Tim Mendoza
GIDDENS INDUSTRIES
tdm@...


On Jun 7 2006, Todd Caughey wrote:
> We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting.
> So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce discrete (or
> mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal
> assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if you use
> Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually produce per
> month?
>Thank you very much,
>Todd Caughey
>Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.

<< File: ATT00031.htm >>
2
We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting. Instead we use an in-house MS-Access based quoting system. The sales engineers like it because everything is on one screen and are very resistant to change. But the inefficiencies elsewhere make this a net losing proposition. I have been asked to investigate integrating this external system with Vantage and develop some means of importing the MoM and BoM info. One of their claims is that Vantage won't allow them to enter quotes rapidly enough and that other metal stampers don't use it either. They have a goal of 150 per month per person, or about 7 per day - never mind that 95% of the process is spent looking at the drawing & specs and 5% in actual entry after they figure out how to make the part.

So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce discrete (or mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if you use Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually produce per month?

I'm not sure if this is a general enough issue to be of value to the rest of the list so if you would like to respond off-list that's fine with me. caugheyt@...

Thank you very much,
Todd Caughey
Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
3
We have been using Vantage quoting for job shop applications since 1989.
All the estimators complained at first , but later became impressed with
the ability to track not only progress against their quote in detail,
but also the ability to duplicate the quote as a start to a similar
project which could then be modified for different products. I can
assure you it will work. we close around 100 jobs a week 99% custom, and
our estimators like the flexibility.

Ron LaHolt
Controller
Rivers Metal Products

________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 7:54 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Poll - Job Shops and Vantage Quotation Module



We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting. Instead
we use an in-house MS-Access based quoting system. The sales engineers
like it because everything is on one screen and are very resistant to
change. But the inefficiencies elsewhere make this a net losing
proposition. I have been asked to investigate integrating this external
system with Vantage and develop some means of importing the MoM and BoM
info. One of their claims is that Vantage won't allow them to enter
quotes rapidly enough and that other metal stampers don't use it either.
They have a goal of 150 per month per person, or about 7 per day - never
mind that 95% of the process is spent looking at the drawing & specs and
5% in actual entry after they figure out how to make the part.

So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce discrete (or
mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal
assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if you use
Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually produce per
month?

I'm not sure if this is a general enough issue to be of value to the
rest of the list so if you would like to respond off-list that's fine
with me. caugheyt@... <mailto:caugheyt%40harveyvogel.com>

Thank you very much,
Todd Caughey
Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
Todd,



Being a perforating house we are very similar to stampers. I can
sympathize; estimates were a hard sell at first for us as well. We
average 250 estimates per estimator per month so we have a larger volume
than you actually state. Our quotes are 98% single level BOM, 5-6
operations, so they are rather simple in nature. We have an Excel model
that we use for new work and enter data as appropriate. The "model"
calculates run time standards and develops part numbers (smart part
numbers) and descriptions as well. It also calculates material usage and
material part numbers. The descriptive info is cut and pasted into
Vantage using macros, the operations and standards are hand keyed. We
just set up dual monitors for the estimators and this has really helped
there efficiencies. Only about 40% of our work is repeat so we do use
the copy qoute line items or quotes for repeat quotes or use them as
templates as well.



Hope this helps.



Keith









________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 8:54 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Poll - Job Shops and Vantage Quotation Module



We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting. Instead
we use an in-house MS-Access based quoting system. The sales engineers
like it because everything is on one screen and are very resistant to
change. But the inefficiencies elsewhere make this a net losing
proposition. I have been asked to investigate integrating this external
system with Vantage and develop some means of importing the MoM and BoM
info. One of their claims is that Vantage won't allow them to enter
quotes rapidly enough and that other metal stampers don't use it either.
They have a goal of 150 per month per person, or about 7 per day - never
mind that 95% of the process is spent looking at the drawing & specs and
5% in actual entry after they figure out how to make the part.

So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce discrete (or
mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal
assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if you use
Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually produce per
month?

I'm not sure if this is a general enough issue to be of value to the
rest of the list so if you would like to respond off-list that's fine
with me. caugheyt@... <mailto:caugheyt%40harveyvogel.com>

Thank you very much,
Todd Caughey
Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
5
I use the estimating module as well, only part time though I like it for
the most part.


Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Ron LaHolt
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:04 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Poll - Job Shops and Vantage Quotation
Module



We have been using Vantage quoting for job shop applications
since 1989.
All the estimators complained at first , but later became
impressed with
the ability to track not only progress against their quote in
detail,
but also the ability to duplicate the quote as a start to a
similar
project which could then be modified for different products. I
can
assure you it will work. we close around 100 jobs a week 99%
custom, and
our estimators like the flexibility.

Ron LaHolt
Controller
Rivers Metal Products

________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ] On
Behalf
Of Todd Caughey
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 7:54 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Vantage] Poll - Job Shops and Vantage Quotation Module

We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting.
Instead
we use an in-house MS-Access based quoting system. The sales
engineers
like it because everything is on one screen and are very
resistant to
change. But the inefficiencies elsewhere make this a net losing
proposition. I have been asked to investigate integrating this
external
system with Vantage and develop some means of importing the MoM
and BoM
info. One of their claims is that Vantage won't allow them to
enter
quotes rapidly enough and that other metal stampers don't use it
either.
They have a goal of 150 per month per person, or about 7 per day
- never
mind that 95% of the process is spent looking at the drawing &
specs and
5% in actual entry after they figure out how to make the part.

So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce
discrete (or
mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal
assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if
you use
Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually
produce per
month?

I'm not sure if this is a general enough issue to be of value to
the
rest of the list so if you would like to respond off-list that's
fine
with me. caugheyt@...
<mailto:caugheyt%40harveyvogel.com> <mailto:caugheyt%40harveyvogel.com>


Thank you very much,
Todd Caughey
Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
6
We use Vantage for quoting (have for several years)--we're a job shop for
molding, machining and wire forming and light assembly.

I also did quite a bit of quoting in Vantage at my previous company that
was a metal stamper (Taber Bushnell).

Neither company tracked how many quotes we did per month or any other
metric like that so I can't compare--both places tracked how fast we get
them done regardless of how many we have to do. I would imagine our quote
volumes approached that at some points but our steady level would probably
be slightly less than that.

It basically comes down to: Entering quotes quickly just takes practice and
knowing the shortcuts. It helps to set up some templates or to pull from
similar stuff that's already out there.

Great things labor saving things about quoting in Vantage: 1. Ability to
pull from previous quotes 2. Ability to copy from within in a quote (line
to line) 3. Can pull details from similar released products in part master
4. Quick pull from the quote into the part master or job to set up a new
product without a secondary step to re-key in all the stuff 5. You can set
up quote templates in part master or use dummy quotes as templates--saves a
ton of time if you are quoting the same BOM structure all the time.

The other great thing about quoting in Vantage is you can choose how
detailed you want your quote to be: *very high level and very fast, but
then you might have to go back and update it before you create a job or BOM
from it *more detailed, taking a little longer, and the quote is then ready
to go once you get an order It just depends on where your business wants to
put the time (and what you expect your capture rate will be).

Hope this helps...

Amy O'Malley
Manufacturing Process Engineer
Synovis IS
Lino Lakes, Minnesota

On Jun 7 2006, Todd Caughey wrote:
> We are a metal stamping job shop and don't use Vantage quoting.
> So....my poll type question is for job shops that produce discrete (or
> mostly single level BoM) parts for other companies (not internal
> assembly) - Do you use Vantage quoting or something else? And if you use
> Vantage roughly how many quotes can your people individually produce per
> month?
>Thank you very much,
>Todd Caughey
>Harvey Vogel Mfg. Co.