Blue Jays Steel Processing
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Manufacturers of Pre-Painted Steel
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| Contact: |
Joe Carter |
| Applications: |
Customized
Manufacturing System |
| Requirement: |
Blue Jays
Steel is a processor of steel, and has heavy equipment that
galvanizes, paints, laminates and/or slits large coils. The
key to the organization's success is maximal use of that equipment.
There is a very fine line between profit and loss: only a small
fraction of idle time can be tolerated. It is therefore crucial
to have accurate projections of sales by product type for each
customer. It is also important to be able to process similar
jobs together. Therefore sales forecasting and production scheduling
are the crucial applications.
Other requirements include the control of raw materials inventory,
the preparation of estimates, the processing of customer orders,
purchasing, inventory, shipping, job costing, A/R, A/P, G/L,
and Payroll. |
| Solution: |
An extremely
comprehensive system has been developed which integrates production
forecasting, the production line, all accounting functions and
management reporting. Initially a sophisticated estimate and
quotation subsystem was implemented. Later developments included
purchasing, inventory control (raw materials and finished goods),
customer order processing, production scheduling, and sales
forecasting. All of the accounting functions have been automated
through the accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger
and payroll subsystems.
Recent developments have focussed on the production line itself.
Real-time data entry is being performed by the plant staff.
This gives a much more detailed account of the plant's operation.
Even the weigh scales at the end of each line automatically
feed to the system.
Initially the system was installed on two Data General minicomputers,
a S/140 Eclipse and a CS200 Eclipse. Five years later, the hardware
was upgraded to a single Data General MV10000. Currently, over
50 screens, 5 printers and two weigh scales are supported.
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| Result: |
The computer
system has become a vital cog in the organization. Estimates
are prepared more quickly and far more accurately. The Production
Backlog is more closely controlled, and Production Scheduling
is much improved. All accounting functions, especially payroll,
are being processed more accurately than before, and in a fraction
of the time. Management is extremely pleased with the results.
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