Barcoded Inventory Tracking System
This system is designed for businesses in the steel processing industry
which need to track the original manufacturer's or supplier's heat lot
number from receipt to final production.
The intent is to assist with ISO compliance and provide a production processing
trail to related material test reports (MTR data), specifically heat
chemistry.
Tracking
Coil steel is received under a heat number for the supplier, with
optional associated chemistry.
Chemistry options can be defined as default for your company, with
individual overrides for specified suppliers.
Coils are received with a specific width and weight.
Coils can be slit into narrower widths in a batch.
Weight of the slit coils is calculated on the basis of width,
allowing for scrap.
The heat, supplier and chemistry information is transferred from the
original coil to all of the coils cut from it.
Coils can be formed into batches (bundles) of tube, flat or other
cut stock through the milling operation.
Based on the bundle count and size, and the odd lot from the first
production coil, an average piece weight can be calculated.
Alternatively, based on an average piece weight, the percentage of the
coil used can be calculated.
The heat, supplier and chemistry information is transferred from the
original coil to all of the bundles produced on the mill.
Electronic documents can be stored in the system, such as chemistry,i
material and mill test reports, inspections:
iessentially any document which can be scanned, faxed or put into a PDF,
GIF, JPG or TIF, and any html page accessible on the internet or company LAN.
Each document can be associated by heat or work order to a related collection
of serialised inventory, or to an individual serialised lot.
Documents can be back referenced through the production process such that an
enquiry on any serial number will pull up all component documents for the
entire build process to the ultimate level.
When bundles go for further processing such as swaging, cutting or
painting, they may be rebundled in smaller or larger lots.
The forming process, which also includes the assembly of batches of
varying quantities of different parts into a batch of finished goods,
provides for tracking the heat, supplier and chemistry information.
Tracking is based on the majority composition if items from different
heats are included in an assembly.
A shipping process is provided, with bill of lading printing, to
maintain continuity of inventory data by providing a means to remove
inventory from the system by way of order shipments.
An index of the document tree for all items on the shipment can be extracted
and both the index and the documents can be examined or printed.
A usage tracking log is employed to provide a full and complete reverse
trail for explicit internal tracking of both usage and production.
An enquiry, with print option, provides a full trace of the origins of
any serialised production, showing heat chemistry and a full explosion of the
components and their origins back to the initial receipt, and all stored
electronic documents related to all components at every level.
Bar Codes
Bar coded labels are printed at each stage of production, for attachment
to the coils and bundles.
Each label bears a unique serial number which can be used as input, either
manually keyed or read by a scanner, for the next stage of production.
Use of barcodes is intended to reduce errors, so scanning is recommended.
Tracking by unique serial number ensures that you can trace back any
chosen item through its stages of production (by work order and heat) to its
original source and chemistry.
Manual tag printing allows for recreation of damaged tags as well as the
addition of new coils or bundles which have not gone through the normally
expected processing.
Chemistry records will not exist for manually entered tags.
Manually entered coil tags can be updated with chemistry information on
the receiving screen.
Inventory
Since the width and weight of coils is altered as they are consumed, and
the bundle size is also reduced as pieces are used, it is possible to
determine the instantaneous theoretical inventory.
An inventory function allows access to current inventory by any combination
of supplier, type, heat, item and width for both screen enquiry and
printed report, with additional screen print option.
Inventory items can be classified by attributes such as gauge, material,
diameter, shape, colour, finish - basically anything you wish - and be
selected and sorted for reporting on the basis of any set or sequence of
attributes.
Manual tag printing permits the open ended entry of new data into
the system from a source other than coil receiving.
You can also report and enquire on production, showing daily, weekly
or other time interval production information, in detail or summary form.
Integration
This system is intended to be run in parallel with an ERP system
that does not provide heat tracking.
It is not aware of the ERP system numbering conventions for items or
suppliers, but it does have its own memory of the codes and corresponding
names or descriptions which are fed to it.
The first time a supplier or item code is entered, the name or item
description must also be supplied.
However, after that first time, the system will recall the name or description
every time the code is used again.
It will also automatically change the master data whenever a change is made
in the course of adding or updating records.
Future Developments
- The shipping process could eventually provide data export for interface to
an external ERP, inventory management or billing system.
- A physical inventory audit process could be added to facilitate the
periodic counting of all physical inventory by tag number.
This would include variance reporting, a method for variance disposal, and
a summary ERP feed.
We have been thinking of adding an interface for portable CE devices, and
since this would be an ideal application it will probably be what we try
first.
- Customisation for chemistry by supplier, to permit control of the
order and content of the chemistry data collection grid to match
individual supplier formats.
Support for this feature is present in the design and processing, but not
in the user interface.
- Allow the entry of links to scanned chemistry and other MTR documents, so
electronic copies of the original documents can be accessed through the system.
Also provide for similar entry of data by work order so that material test results
produced during the production process can be added to the original chemistry
data.
- Provide a B2B (business to business) access through which customers can
obtain material test reports relevant to the products they have purchased.
- Since this system is intended to be run in parallel with an ERP system
that does not provide sufficient tracking, it only becomes aware of the
numbering conventions for items, customers and suppliers as they get
used for the first time.
A feature may be added to facilitate the periodic import of ERP data so that
the system is aware of new suppliers, items, and work orders with their
component lists.
Past development
In case you want to know what we have done to improve the original
trackheat application to its present level, you can look on the
help pages of the demo system
where we post a dated summary of changes.
