Creating a New Future in Manufacturing with the Power of Deltek

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An interview with Ron Doody, Director of Business Operations, Creare

True to the Latin meaning of their name, “to create,” Creare is a research and development engineering firm committed to the innovation it takes to solve problems and bring ideas from the drawing board to real-life use for their clients. Started in 1961, Hanover, New Hampshire-based Creare has grown to more than 150 employees and spawned multiple new companies that have produced dynamic solutions in the energy, aerospace, cryogenics, materials processing, biomedical and software industries. To support their expansion efforts into the manufacturing space, Creare implemented Costpoint Manufacturing.

Q: What is one of the biggest projects that Creare is currently working on?

Ron Doody: The biggest project we have going on right now is our CSM project, which stands for Compact Swaging Machine. This project was a main reason why we starting looking at manufacturing software solutions. It was something we had developed over several  years and eventually the government said, “We need this product.”

This CSM project involves attaching terminals to the end of arrest cables used on an aircraft carrier flight deck. The airplane has a large hook on the back. The hook catches what's called a purchase cable, that's the arresting cable and that helps slow and eventually stop the plane. That cable attaches to the deck of the aircraft carrier via the terminal on the end of that cable. Over time, these wear down and need to be replaced.

Previously, the terminals were attached by a molten zinc process. The process would take three to five sailors 12 hours to replace one terminal. Creare built a compact machine that attaches the terminal to the arresting cable, now taking one sailor less than an hour to finish. We’ve received very positive feedback from the sailors who perform this job. Across the board, everybody said thank you for this particular technology because it really improved their ability to do their job, and the environment they work in.

Q: How did you decide that Deltek was the right solution for your manufacturing needs?

Ron Doody: As part of the software selection process, we had identified two objectives that Creare wanted to achieve with a manufacturing solution. One was to move to an ERP solution to centralize our data, and the other was to effectively manage low-level manufacturing projects. The combination of these two objectives led us to look at Deltek very closely.

This was a big decision for our company, so we looked at multiple solutions, but, because of our familiarity with Deltek products, and our need for an ERP and manufacturing system, we decided Deltek was the right choice for us.

Q: Can you tell us more about your Deltek Costpoint Manufacturing implementation? How did Creare and Deltek work together to make it successful?

Ron Doody: Change is hard, and every organization that goes through it understands that. For us, as a small business, everybody has their full-time job. We assembled a team of people working their full-time jobs and added a company-wide ERP implementation to their workload. We had partners, including the Deltek consulting group, to help and guide us through the process as we did a large portion of the work. The hardest thing was being a small business, having employees with full-time jobs and motivating them to add this important task to their already full plate.

Gaining Efficiencies and Resource Savings with Deltek

 

 

Q: You have been a champion of Costpoint Manufacturing from the beginning. How did you keep motivation high as you navigated the implementation process?

Ron Doody: I think it's pretty typical when you have a team of people that you have some people who are behind you without a lot of effort on your part, and you have some people who tend to put up walls right away. I was a Deltek champion because I knew this product was going to work for us long-term and so my focus was getting all the employees on board and motivated to meet our objective. That was a big part of why the implementation went well, in my opinion, because we focused on motivating the team and getting everyone bought into the process.

Q: Why is having Costpoint Manufacturing important for working in government contracting and how has it better equipped your future manufacturing work?

Ron Doody: I would have to say the focus on government compliance, because when we picked up the CSM project, we knew the government was going to audit our systems and make sure that we could handle the work. Since Costpoint Manufacturing meets the government’s requirements, we knew Creare could demonstrate that we had the right system in place to produce this unit for the government and have good configuration control behind it.

Q: Why should government contractors of every size, including those in the manufacturing space, consider an investment in Deltek?

Ron Doody: Deltek solutions are project-based and designed with government compliance in mind, no matter the size of your company. Mike Corkery, Deltek’s CEO, has said many times that their focus is on customer service and in trying to foster more communication with customers.

I think that's what they're getting right and I really appreciate having access to Deltek’s people, experience and resources.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Creare LLC is an engineering research and development firm located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded in 1961, Creare provides industrial and government clients in the medical, aerospace/defense, energy, process, and manufacturing industries with services ranging from applied research to prototype design, fabrication and testing. Customers value Creare's ability to solve their toughest engineering challenges to help them innovate new products, gain a competitive advantage and shorten time-to-market.