In addition, Rieble said he believes that the Global Shop Solutions software will be abel to expand as his company's business grows.

“The Scheduling EDI Module has been fantastic,” said Rieble. “That populates right away, so we don't need somebody in the office full-time typing in delivery dates by hand, and when a date is changed, we can get it out through the entire system right away. We definitely have more grasp of what's coming out of our company in terms of on-time delivery. We just go into the system, download the data, and it works out great.”

The software helps companies to eliminate spreadsheets and manual processes, in the office and on the shop floor, while being able to be customized to include unique operations, Alexander said.

This allows people to work more efficiently and productively,” Alexander said. He said that one of his customers — an $18 million per year enterprise — saw a savings of $650,000 per year using his company's software.

“If we can increase a shop's on-time delivery from 70 percent to 95 percent, it can save $54,000 (a year),” Alexander said. Such savings become proportional with shop size, he added.

The savings can be achieved by making shops more efficient, and making the entire enterprise more productive, Alexander said, adding that such savings can be realized in the smallest shop to the largest shop.

The software allows users to create user-defined work flows; re-configure screen elements; add user-specific security and validation; integrate with third-party products via popular networking protocols; and create entirely new enterprise resource planning sub-systems that are integrated with the base package. In addition it allows companies to manage inventory and to reduce “safety stock,” because purchasing requirements are made known in real time, and requests-for-quotes are received electronically.

While he acknowledged that the software requires training and work to put into place, Alexander said it also allows a shop to grow without adding people, and that it consolidates multiple databases.