Rockies Steel —
Steel Tubing Manufacturers
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| Contact: |
Stonewall
Jackson, President |
| Applications: |
Customized
Manufacturing System with Production Planning and Production
Control
Sales Order Processing & Sales Analysis
Purchasing
Inventory Control (from Raw Materials to Finished Goods)
A/R, A/P, G/L, Payroll |
| Requirements: |
Rockies
Steel manufactures steel tubing, both circular and rectangular,
of various steel types and gauges and sizes. They purchase large
coils and slit them to width (via a contractor on-site who rents
both the space and the slitting equipment from Rockies Steel),
and then put the slit coils through one of two roll formers
to produce continuous steel tubing which is then cut to length
and assembled in bundles for shipping.
The key to the organization's success is maximal use of the
equipment and the ability to respond quickly to requests for
product despite significant setup times and downtimes that are
difficult to reduce. 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 processing of customer orders,
the purchasing and control of raw materials inventory, production
control, job costing, A/R, A/P, G/L, and Payroll. |
| Solution: |
A very
comprehensive system has been developed for Rockies Steel. It
integrates production forecasting, the production line, all
accounting functions and management reporting. Separate inventory
records are maintained for master coils, slit coils, and bundles
of tubes. Master coils are created as part of the purchasing
process, slit coils are created as a result of the processing
of slit orders, and bundles of tubes result from the processing
of rolling orders. Scheduling has been improved a great deal;
realistic targets are being set and met with the help of the
discipline that the system encourages. All of the accounting
functions have been automated through the accounts receivable,
accounts payable, and general ledger subsystems; payroll is
still to be implemented.
Recent developments have focussed on the production line itself.
Real-time data entry will be performed by the plant staff. They
will monitor the rolling process and enter downtime information.
The cutoff specifications (e.g. 250 at 40', 300 at 24', etc.)
will come directly from the computer, and the computer will
monitor the cutoff, collecting information re: the number of
good pieces and the number of rejects, etc. This gives a much
more detailed account of the plant's operation. |
| Result: |
It is
anticipated that the computer system will become a vital cog
in the organization. The Production Backlog is more closely
controlled, and Production Scheduling is much improved. All
accounting functions 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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Last
Updated: Tuesday, August 7, 2007
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