When Growth Exposes Operational Gaps 

Company Overview

Genesis Metalworks is an ISO- and CWB-certified welding and metal fabrication company, providing custom fabrication, CNC laser services.

Industry: Metal fabrication manufacturer
Products: Custom metal fabrications, architectural and structural elements
Manufacturing Process: End-to-end manufacturing
Markets Served: Industrial and commercial
Website: Genesis Metalworks

Genesis Metalworks built its reputation on craftsmanship, reliability, and integrity. For more than 35 years, the family-owned manufacturer has delivered quality fabrication to commercial, industrial, and residential clients. 

But as order volume accelerated, existing tools were no longer doing the job effectively. Manual tracking, disconnected workflows, and reactive coordination started causing real problems across fabrication, welding, and finishing. 

“At Genesis, we live by a simple principle: say what we do and do what we say. Integrity, honesty, and being straightforward is how we build trust with our customers and with each other”. – Malachi Lodder, Senior Project Manager, Genesis Metalworks 

That commitment to honesty and accountability exposed a tough lesson: hard work was not going to be enough. They needed structure to scale. 

The Breaking Point 

Genesis was facing an existential crisis. Their “system” was a patchwork made up of Excel, generic project management software, and the heroic efforts of their team. As order volume increased, so too did the chaos and frustration. 

Parts were getting lost in their relatively small facility. The leadership team was spending hours searching for parts and materials that should have been easy to find. Inventory was not systematically tracked. No one had reliable visibility into what jobs were in progress, whether they were on schedule, or what to tell customers. 

The only way to get answers was to walk the floor. 

That meant interrupting operators, stopping jobs midstream to start another, chasing updates instead of executing work. What felt like hustle was actually inefficiency. 

Here’s what that looked like day to day: 

• No reliable real-time job visibility 

• Inventory locations based on memory rather than system control 

• Frequent job interruptions to respond to urgent customer calls 

• Manual tracking between fabrication, welding, and finishing 

• Limited production data for scheduling and forecasting 

As growth accelerated, the cost of operating this way increased. 

“We were missing deadlines, losing parts, double-entering data and sometimes not knowing exactly where parts were. We always found a way to make it right for the customer but it was getting harder to rely on heroics alone.” — Kees Van Houwelingen, CFO, Genesis Metalworks 

The company could recover from mistakes. What they could not do was grow and scale. 

“Our vision for growth was becoming a reality. We knew finding and implementing the right solution would take time, and we needed to get ahead of that before things truly got out of hand.” 

Leadership understood that further growth without standardization would compromise predictability, coordination, and financial visibility. The time for incremental fixes had passed. The risk was existential to the business. It looked like hustle and grit, but it was really stagnation masked as busyness. 

Why Genesis Trusted OnRamp 

Genesis was not looking to replace a failed ERP; they were looking for structure, visibility, and a partner who understood how a fab shop actually runs. 

Leadership evaluated several options and found that many solutions claimed manufacturing capabilities. 

“We looked at several options, but we knew we were in a niche market. Not every software system is built for manufacturing, and even fewer are built for fabrication.” – Malachi Lodder. Genesis needed more than software. They needed a solution that reflected the reality of fabrication, where jobs move across departments, materials shift constantly, and financial visibility must match production activity. The difference did not come down to features and functions but rather trust and confidence. 

Seeing OnRamp operating successfully in a major automotive environment reinforced that confidence. 

“When we saw a major automotive manufacturer using OnRamp and how successful they were with it, it made the decision easier and gave us confidence we were making the right choice.” — Kees Van Houwelingen  

That proof mattered. It showed that OnRamp was not theoretical. It was battle-tested in real manufacturing environments.  

But technology alone did not drive the decision. 

Trust did. 

Genesis leadership saw that OnRamp combined manufacturing expertise with a disciplined implementation process. The team did not promise a fast rollout. They asked hard questions about data, workflows, and accountability. 

“Flexibility in the software was huge for us. We needed something that could grow with the business and handle financials, inventory, and scheduling all in one place.” – Malachi Lodder 

Financial integration was especially important and table stakes for Kees, the CFO. Genesis wanted visibility that connected operations to dollars in real time. 

“Being able to see our financials a week ahead instead of months down the line made a big difference in how confident we felt moving forward.” 

“The way MJ walked us through the financial side, especially the weekly visibility, made everything click for us.” — Kees Van Houwelingen 

OnRamp was not selected because it looked impressive in a demo. It was selected because it reflected how manufacturing actually works and because the team behind it demonstrated the expertise to guide Genesis through change. 

“At first, it didn’t look flashy. But once we got into it, we could tell it was built for manufacturing. The depth and flexibility stood out.” – Malachi Lodder 

For Genesis, the decision came down to this: they were not just choosing a solution, they were choosing the team that would help them rebuild how workflows through the shop. They were choosing a partner. 

Implementation With Discipline 

Changing how a shop runs is never simple. Genesis approached the decision with clarity and long-term intent. OnRamp matched that mindset by prioritizing stability and data integrity over speed. Discipline came first. 

“There were always doubts in the back of our minds about how the implementation would go, how long it would take, and how the admin side would handle it. But at some point, you have to set your doubts aside and face the music. This was an investment in the future of our company.” — Malachi Lodder 

Adoption required engagement from every level of the organization. 

“Implementation was a learning curve. There was a lot to take in, but once I started using the system myself, it made more sense. Hands-on experience makes a much more successful user.” 

“Being able to click through the system myself made it much easier to retain.” — Malachi Lodder 

A defining moment came during data validation. 

“We pushed our go-live date three times not because of OnRamp, but because our data wasn’t right. We couldn’t blame anyone but ourselves.” — Malachi Lodder 

OnRamp refused to compromise on data integrity. Many vendors push clients live to protect timelines. OnRamp prioritizes long-term success.  

“In hindsight, as we look back, OnRamp was right to hold us back. We shouldn’t have gone live. We would have failed.” — Malachi Lodder 

Managing Change on the Shop Floor 

Every ERP project runs into resistance. Genesis was no different. 

Moving off spreadsheets and tribal knowledge meant changing habits. Planners had to trust the schedule. Inventory had to be transacted in real time. Managers had to rely on system data instead of hallway updates. 

That shift was not technical. It was behavioral. Morgan was not onsite to configure forms and workflow. She was onsite to change habits. 

“Having Morgan onsite made a huge difference. She became part of our team helping us adjust to the system, keeping us on track, we couldn’t have done it without her.” — Malachi Lodder 

She worked with the Genesis team step by step in a structured way to help ease the pain and speed the pace of such a huge change: 

• Awareness: Morgan explained what was coming and why the old way was breaking down and costing time and money. 

• Desire: she spoke to teams and individuals about what each stood to gain from the new way of doing things. 

• Knowledge: She provided in-person, hands-on training tied to real jobs, real parts, real workflows, using real production data. 

• Ability: Her onsite support during and following go-live ensured issues were addressed immediately. 

• Reinforcement: Morgan remains tightly coupled to the Genesis team for ongoing support to make sure old habits do not return and the value of their new solution is maximized. 

Without that structure, the system would have become another tool people worked around. With it, the new processes stuck. And being onsite mattered. When questions came up, they were answered in the moment. When frustration surfaced, it was addressed directly. When someone tried to revert to “offline solutions,” it was corrected. 

That structure turned resistance into ownership. It shortened the gap between go live and measurable improvement. 

The contrast with previous vendors was unmistakable. 

“Compared to other customer service experiences, OnRamp is a step above.” — Kees Van Houwelingen 

Implementation was not treated as a software rollout. It was treated like a complete transformation of the entire business and every job function within it. It forced every Genesis team member to be part of the solution in cleaning up how work gets done and shipped. 

From Reactive Firefighting to Controlled Execution 

Since go-live, Genesis has replaced ad-hoc conversations and spreadsheets with clear rules everyone follows. 

“A lot has changed since go-live. Parts are better tracked in the shop, documentation is more professional, and nothing leaves the facility without a label.” — Kees Van Houwelingen  

The system now enforces discipline at the floor level. That discipline exists because the team chose to adopt new behaviors, not because software forced them to. 

“What happens on the floor doesn’t get reflected in the software if it’s not entered. If you don’t have it documented, you can’t ship it and get paid for it.” — Kees Van Houwelingen 

Real-time job visibility across fabrication, welding, and finishing replaced manual status updates. Inventory tracking is standardized and semi-automated. Capacity planning is structured. Financial forecasting is now proactive rather than reactive. 

The transformation positioned Genesis to scale into a new facility and pursue expansion with confidence. This was not incremental improvement. It was structural capability.  

“Doubling the company, expanding into new countries and new markets, we couldn’t have done that without OnRamp.” – Malachi Lodder 

Leadership remains focused on disciplined growth. 

“We want to do things properly, find efficiencies, and keep improving. OnRamp helps us do that” — Kees Van Houwelingen 

The Competitive Reality 

Manufacturers trying to scale on blood, sweat, tears, and a patchwork of generic or outdated tools eventually hit a wall. Visibility requires walking the shop floor and interrupting operators. Workarounds multiply and go undocumented. Confidence declines, both internally and with customers. 

OnRamp was built specifically for manufacturers dealing with real shop floor problems, aligning financial visibility, production workflows, inventory control, and scheduling into one fully integrated solution. 

Genesis Metalworks did not just buy new software. They partnered with OnRamp to drastically change and improve how work gets done. 

“Everything comes back to making manufacturing better.” — Malachi Lodder 

Serious manufacturers do not need another tool. They need a team that knows manufacturing inside and out and a proven implementation process that drives change on the floor. 

OnRamp brings it all: deep plant experience, a structured rollout, and clear accountability. That is how shops move from chaos and frustration to control and sustainable growth.