Northwest Aerospace News February | March 2019 Issue No. 7 | Page 63

PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
P
ro CNC recognized that there was a bigger opportunity for the system they
developed, one that could in turn benefit other companies and be a business
opportunity for them. The product was sold to a few select companies, before
being officially launched as an independent business at PNAA’s Annual Aero-
space Conference in 2016.
The response to ProShop has been well beyond the founders’ expectations.
They now support over 70 customers globally and are recognized as the num-
ber-one system on Capterra (a software review site) following glowing custom-
er reviews. Paul Van Metre, one of the founders of both Pro CNC and ProShop,
attributes the success to the “system being very specifically focused on aero-
space … a system that was designed for aerospace manufacturing by aerospace
manufacturers.” Additionally, as the team had created ProShop straight out of
college, they had no preconceived notion of what the system should look like.
Today their customers range from Pacific Northwest manufacturing compa-
nies — including Three Sigma Manufacturing Inc., IDL Precision Machining
and Irongate Machine Inc. — to international companies such as Trulife Engi-
neered Solutions and Google. The impact on productivity has been significant
for many, with Sealth Aero Marine sharing that they saved 25 percent on their
overhead costs immediately and finished the first year of implementation with
a conservative 300 percent ROI. They subsequently doubled in revenue with
only 15 percent more staff. Trulife was thrilled that they “have virtually elimi-
nated tribal knowledge, maximizing effectiveness and allowing us to focus on
the most profitable work.”
Parting thoughts
With the day-to-day pressures of manufacturing operations, it can be easy to
focus on proactively fixing today’s issues rather than looking at the bigger
strategic picture. By taking the time to evaluate operations and systems, huge
opportunities are available to manufacturing companies. The journey doesn’t
need to be taken alone — products and potential partners already exist. Don’t
be fooled by company size and age — some of the smaller and newer compa-
nies have hidden magic, just waiting to be discovered!
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