Global sales, operations key to Metamation

A software company founded in Japan colonized India, then hopped the Pacific to establish its U.S. headquarters in Reno.

Australian operations just began and distribution in Europe is next.

Metamation Inc. casts a global net to sell a suite of computer-aided manufacturing software to machinists.

"In Japan, the software was a big success in the early '90s," says Anupam Chakraborty, the operations manager who is based at the firm's office on Meadow Wood Lane. "We thought then this would be ideal for the U.S. market."

U.S. operations began in 2001, and Reno was chosen for its strategic location.

The software, Chakraborty says, is based on the logic of the minds of machinists. Some still set controls for each job manually, but a majority of the old-school machinists are retiring.

"When they retired, it left a skill gap. This software bridges that skill gap," he says.

But customers wanted more. Shop managers wanted to see the entire production in simulation both time and motion before work began. A new release delivers that capability.

Adding to the difficulty of serving this market: Machine shops install a multitude of lathes, mills and models. Worldwide, 15 to 20 machine manufacturers each use 10 to 20 varieties of code, says Chakroborty.

"And every shop floor may have six machines from six manufacturers, each with different software. Our software can talk to all those," he says.

But Metamation's ongoing challenge is keeping up with a hailstorm of constantly upgraded code from all those manufacturers.

Chakroborty says another ongoing challenge is to focus on the big picture of product development despite a constant rain of customer demands: Add this feature, delete that one.

After a sale, Metamation's tech support crews install the software and spend as much as a month to get the machine shop up and running smoothly on the new platform. Software packages cost $2,000 to $25,000.

That personal touch is key to the company's success, says Chakroborty. "We know what they want in terms of troubleshooting and requests." That's important as the company typically releases an update every month and a new version every year.

All that programming is done by the 25 employees in India. Metamation employs 15 in this country, 10 of them the administrative and tech support people in Reno. The Japan office employs another 40.

Trade shows and the contacts they generate with other software companies are crucial to keeping up with an ever-changing landscape, says Chakroborty.

"The way to grow is to keep partnering, licensing, and innovating with other software manufacturers," he says. "The more software we integrate with, the wider the market base."

And Metamation expects growth as companies increasingly rely on manufacturing operations spread across the globe.

Those companies, Chakroborty says, are a potential market to use Metamation's software to efficiently dovetail operations in disparate locations for delivery to a final assembly plant.