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From print-outs on a bulletin board to fully automated lifecycle dashboard, Interloop® helps leading manufacturer go from data-dark to sights on the stars.
OUR CLIENT
Founded in 1951, this family-owned, operated venture designs and produces premier pyrometers with innovative wavelength selection that can accurately view through common industrial interferences including steam, flames, combustion gasses, water, plasma and oil.
Industry leaders for 70+ years, our client proudly serves manufacturers across the globe with thousands of successful installations spanning steel, incineration, glass, CVD/semiconductor, aluminum and petrochemical spaces.
THE CHALLENGE
Answering critical business questions meant accessing multiple systems, manually downloading reports, and manipulating data. This cumbersome process drained significant time, effort and resources for straightforward questions that required quick answers.
As their operations continued to scale internationally, this manufacturer knew it needed faster, automated reporting with reduced risk and margin for error.
ENGAGE - THE FIRST MISSION
From data-dark to shoot for the moon
Interloop's first task was to develop a resource for our client’s business development team to track their progress and goals. This resource supported sales leadership in conducting one-on-one review sessions, forecasting sales, increasing pipeline visibility, and managing customer/account health.
Data-curious and two steps ahead on prep-work, our client had already started consolidating data from different systems into one place - bringing data from their ERP, CRM and financial systems into Microsoft Access.
With a clear runway, Interloop leveraged our proprietary FastDash process to design and develop a comprehensive sales dashboard customized to suit. Once live, our client immediately enjoyed near real-time insight and instantly realized the potential for more.
Onward. They asked the Loopers to move from business development to providing insights on production and shipment including:
Optimizing technician and assembler load balancing post-order.
Predicting order delivery timelines and managing their distribution.
Assessing if the order backlog could meet goals.
Identifying the most and least productive technicians and assemblers.
Determining which items could be delivered early to expedite invoicing.
“I can’t believe how far we’ve come since starting this project.”
EXPAND - THE SECOND MISSION
Sights set on the stars with a Full Lifecycle Dashboard
Interloop's next mission involved integrating production and shipment metrics for what would become a Full Lifecycle Dashboard. This robust enhancement provided our client with a comprehensive view of their business from sales through to production and shipment.
Building on our solid foundation, we curated a fully automated Lifecycle Dashboard that spans sales, production, and shipment information - updated 8x per day, it provides near real-time insight into critical business functions.
Additionally, PDF versions select dashboard pages are sent out once a week via email to designated members of the company to communicate the company’s performance. What used to take hours to export, compile, and format data to create these summary reports to share amongst leadership, now takes less than 5 minutes.
“We went from a bulletin board with printed reports to a real time view displayed on a screen in the lab.”
SKY IS THE LIMIT
Growing Together, Celebrating Wins
For us, this story is really the ideal evolution of a collaborative, curious client who came to us open and eager to expand potential and achieve more with their data.
Starting from printed reports pinned to a bulletin board, our client now works from near-real time insights consistently communicated with automated distribution.
What began as a singular department’s sales dashboard has since evolved into a true Mission Control platform leveraged daily to confidently across executive leadership to run and scale their venture.
Today, Interloop is proud to continue supporting our client through iterations and enhancements to their Full Lifecycle Dashboard along with exploring options for migrating data into a more future-proof system that is cloud-based tomorrow.
Interloop is a Microsoft ISV Partner at the forefront of helping manufacturing businesses across the country achieve more with their data. Ready to achieve more with your data? Let’s loop you in. Book your intro call with our data experts today.