A current client opened a new facility and it was decided that the
new
facility would not have any administration personnel and wished to
administer all functions from a central office. A shop floor system was
needed which would allow receipt of material, post production against
scheduled orders, create process and finished goods tags and allow
shipments to be created along with all shipping and invoice paperwork.
The task required also included quality assurance testing to be entered by
the same workers without the need to have knowledge of metallurgical
requirements.
To ease the learning curve, the program of choice was programmed in a dot
net environment allowing the use of many of the newer functions available
which allowed the system to easily interact with the main Praetor systems
at the central office and provide a short learning curve for the workers.
Programs reside at the new site and an MS SQL database access is updated
directly using a VPN between the central office and the new facility.
Programming began and was completed within a two week period. The shop
floor tracking and reporting system along with inventory control
functioned as expected. Due to the fact that the shop floor system was
totally integrated with the main Praetor systems, it was unnecessary to
require additional support personnel at the new location.
Purchase orders for material are created and issued from the main office
and, as delivery is made at the new facility, the system allows direct
matching to the purchase orders in the main system. The inventory is
automatically updated on receipt and normal accounts payable invoices are
matched to the receipts in the central office and processed.
Scheduling is performed on orders from the central office and placed on
the equipment in the new facility. The shop floor program allows easy
entry of production of the orders. The shop schedule is available as a
view directly from the shop floor along with the ability to produce a
machine line up if required.
Once production has been reported and the last operation has been
performed, testing is accomplished directly from a testing work station on
the floor. The Praetor product specification is automatically referenced
and customized tests are made available to the shop floor as needed, along
with standardized wire mill testing. If a coil of material passes all of
the testing it is transferred to finished goods, a finished goods tag is
printed, and the product is made available for shipment. All testing
results are available to the shop floor as well as to the main office.
Production activity may be reviewed by the central office in real time
which allows open communications with the remote shop floor to receive
clarification of results. All changes made by the central office or the
shop floor are immediately available to all locations.
Shipment is handled directly by the shop floor program and a bill of
lading is produced and materials are added directly to the bill. Multiple
orders may be added to one bill of lading and all appropriate
certifications and shipping lists are produced. The inventory is relieved
and an electronic invoice is created which is reviewed and issued from the
central office.
The implementation of the Praetor Manufacturing System provided the
foundation for the newly developed shop floor eliminating the need to hire
additional office personnel to handle a fully functional facility. Since
the implementation of Praetor, the cost of maintaining information was
reduced by over twenty five percent and the Company benefited from an
increase in order processing effectiveness.
A PDF copy of this document is availible here.
|