Using TechMate - For MSC Metalworking Experts

TechMate™ is MSC’s latest industry-changing innovation. TechMate™ is a secure communication tool and 3D CAD Viewer built specifically for the manufacturing community which allows for the highest level of collaboration and speed for decision-making.

Watch Jamie Goettler, Senior Director of Metalworking Sales and Innovation at MSC, describe TechMate™ here:

Through TechMate™, customers and Metalworking Associates gain the following benefits:

1. 2D/3D CAD viewer and PDF mark-up capabilities with unlimited seat licenses at no cost.
2. Manufacturability assessments based on custom machining profiles.
3. Internal chat functionality.
4. Ease of communication between manufacturers with tooling and metalworking needs and their MSC Metalworking Associate.
5. Collaboration on an ITAR registered platform with extraordinary cybersecurity protocols.

Download the Overview of the MSC and Paperless Parts Partnership: Paperless Parts and MSC Partnership

MSC’s vision for providing TechMate™ to existing and future customers is to expand the Metalworking Associate team’s impact across the industry and help more manufacturers receive tooling and metalworking assistance when they need it.

Logging into Paperless Parts to access TechMate™

Visit the login page at https://app.paperlessparts.com/login.

If you do not have an existing MSC log in with Paperless Parts, email Glen Korff at korffg@mscdirect.com to get added.

Who uses TechMate™?

TechMate™ users are any employee at a machine shop who has signed up for a Paperless Viewer account. They can begin a chat with MSC at any time in their manufacturing process, and often have questions while completing a quote, prior to running a job, or during a long-running job, they want to optimize. 

You may get a message from a customer you work with regularly, or a shop you have never heard of. Assignments are based on territories and account history. If you have a question about why you received a chat from a specific company, reach out to Glen Korff at korffg@mscdirect.com.

How to chat with customers and shops through TechMate™

When you receive a message from a shop via TechMate™, you will receive a notification email that looks like this:

By clicking the blue “View Message” button, it will bring you into the chat in the Paperless Viewer, where you can view the part file and any supporting files that the customer has uploaded to the technical data package. You’ll see any faces or features they annotated or marked up. 

When you click this folder icon, you will be able to see all supporting files the customer has uploaded that are relevant to the part they are sharing with you.

You may notice that a customer has not loaded any supporting files for this part, and that’s okay! Once you’ve read through the data package and their message, it’s time to reply.

Click into the bottom right text box to respond to the TechMate™ chat. You do not need to tag the person who chatted you because your response will route directly back to the person who sent it. Once you’ve typed your initial response, hit the gray arrow to the right. It’s that simple!

A user can send you a print or a 3D model. Note that some users, particularly first-time users, may not add the level of detail that you need in the first message in order to fully understand their questions or needs. You can use TechMate™ to ask for more information so that you can give them the most informed answer possible. A good example is: “Hey X, thanks for your message. Can you use the annotations feature to show me which deep holes you are referring to?” Or, “Hi X, great to hear from you. Do you have a video for the current end mill you are referencing? If so, that would be helpful. You can upload it to the supporting files section of the Viewer so I can see.”

You can also add annotations to the part file yourself or markup a print by clicking the blue “Add Annotation” button.

When you respond to a TechMate™ user, they will receive a similar notification to yours in their email. Or, if they are logged into Paperless Parts while you respond, they will see a red notification bubble in the upper right-hand corner of their screen. You will also see the red dot when you are logged into Paperless and a customer chats with you. You can click on that red dot to see all of your notifications and click on the chat notification to bring you back into TechMate™.

MSC’s goal is for all Metalworking Associates to respond to TechMate™ chats within four hours during regular business hours (M-F 8 AM - 5 PM). If a message is sent outside of those hours, do your best to respond the following business day by 11 AM. 

To learn more about the functionality and vision of TechMate™, watch the TechMate Webinar co-hosted by Paperless Parts CEO and Co-founder Jason Ray and MSC’s Jamie Goettler.