The Client
Established in 1882, Goldens' Foundry and Machine Company is a value-added manufacturer for cast, machined, and assembled gray and ductile iron components for the capital and durable goods industries.
Goldens' production department includes a wide variety of manufacturing processes. Some of the parts they make include precision machined casting for construction equipment, heavy duty trucks, farm machinery, pumps, compressors, valves, oil/gas equipment, industrial power drives, gears, railroad rolling stock, highway construction, medical equipment, electric motors, and generators- all of which require a lot of manufacturing data.
Dedicated to manufacturing and with over 300 years of foundry and machining experience, their teams' collective knowledge and experience provided the talent to help carry them through the years - now in their fifth generation as a family owned and operated foundry and machining manufacturer. It is no surprise, with Goldens' century-long commitment to successful manufacturing, that they are still using Costimator since implementing it in 1986.
The Problem
Over 28 years ago, Goldens' faced a common estimating problem among manufacturers who rely on accurate estimates and timely quotations. Upfront, they found their manual estimating and quoting method to be challenging in helping them minimize manual errors. This issue led to the likelihood of over and under estimating which further contributed to wasted resources, lost bids, and increased costs. They needed a fast, but accurate, estimating method that would help them consistently deliver quotes before their submission deadlines.
This foundry and machining manufacturer was also searching for an estimating method that was easy to learn and use, but would as well help them retain estimating data, manufacturing details and decisions made along the way by their experienced estimators and manufacturing team - they wanted a solution that offered long-term success.
How Costimator Helped
In 1986, Goldens' Foundry and Machine Company chose Costimator®. At that time, it immediately helped them estimate twice as fast as previously. However, increasing their estimating speed was not the only successful effect that now benefits their bottom line.
Beyond the many estimating features, the included manufacturing data, and the standardized quoting approach Costimator offers, it specifically reduces estimating time by helping our team find and retrieve previous estimates and quotes, more quickly," says Phillip Powell, estimator for Goldens' Foundry. "The software has an advanced search feature which helps us be extremely selective in what we are searching for." He also noted that through the years the cost estimating software remained easy to learn and use. "With Costimator, its easy and effective," reveals Powell. "We use it for parametric estimating where just filling in a few parameters gets us a manufacturing time. Also, it's very effective when estimating and quoting parts that don't have computer generated models.
For the past 28 years, Costimator has helped Goldens' Foundry and Machine Company remain competitive. The software has increased their estimating speed by at least 50% while removing guesswork through a consistently accurate approach. Whereas, the software is database driven and stores estimates, quotes and manufacturing information, it has helped their estimating team prepare for the days their seasoned estimators would retire – offering long-term success!
Estimating Software
