Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 40

Shop Talk Interior
Adjusting to a bigger shop
by Vince Innocenzi
I
" The most
challenging
hurdles to
overcome though
could not be
solved with a trip
to Home Depot. "
n 2019, I moved Chicago Marine Canvas
into a new 2,500-square-foot space,
and by the summer of 2021, customer
Space was no longer a
constraint in the new 7,500-squarefoot
building, but the larger shop
presented other challenges. Now
spread out across three fl oors,
with the primary sewing area
located on the third fl oor, employee
communication challenges
were immediately evident.
projects were piling up on top of one another.
An additional sewing table had been
made under a low storage loft, we were
constantly moving projects in the middle
of production to complete everyday tasks,
and too many avoidable mistakes were
happening. It was time to start searching
for a larger space!
After seven years in business, we had become
a full-service shop of seven employees
helping boaters with their canvas and
upholstery needs as well as other projects
such as shade sails, industrial covers and
even Boeing 777 jumbo jet engine and
landing gear covers.
Eventually, I found an old 7,500-squarefoot
warehouse space that needed an extreme
makeover, and the renovation began.
The most challenging hurdles to overcome
though could not be solved with a trip to
Home Depot.
Customer and project organization
As project volume, employee headcount
and the scope of the business
increased, I knew the current paper
fi ling system would no longer work.
I'd implemented an inexpensive
customer relationship management
(CRM) system, and its limitations
meant workfl ow was still not fl uid.
I moved to Salesforce and have since
gone all in and embedded it into our
day-to-day activities. My employees
have all been trained to enter new
customer information into the CRM
tool. Boats, customer names and
projects are all linked together to assist
in project status, current production
stage and billing. Employees are also
able to update project status when their
production stage has been completed.
Custom reporting can be generated
by various metrics including project
type, materials used, production stage
and boat specifi cs such as make, model
40 Marine Fabricator | July/August 2022

Marine Fabricator July/August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Marine Fabricator July/August 2022

Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Cover1
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Cover2
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 1
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 2
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 3
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 4
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 5
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 6
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 7
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 8
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 9
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 10
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 11
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 12
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 13
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 14
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 15
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 16
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 17
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 18
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 19
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 20
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 21
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 22
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 23
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 24
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 25
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 26
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 27
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 28
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 29
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 30
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 31
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 32
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 33
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 34
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 35
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 36
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 37
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 38
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 39
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 40
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 41
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 42
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 43
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 44
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 45
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 46
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 47
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - 48
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Cover3
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Cover4
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 1
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 2
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 3
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 4
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 5
Marine Fabricator July/August 2022 - Expo Brochure 6
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-tips-and-trends-supplement-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0121MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0920MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0720MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0520MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0320MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0919MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0719MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0519MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0319MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1118MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0918MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0718MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0518MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0318MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0118MF
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com