AcornPipe Material Control
Drawing:
The drawings are the key to all Material
control as all reports and files are created from information
generated as drawings are created. It is a great advantage to put
one Spool per drawing as this will be the only way to track
individual spools. All tracking and records are generated by
drawing. For example it will not be possible to issue part of a
drawing for fabrication.
Reports/Files:
As drawings are saved, a record in the Status
file is created for each with Spool number, Ref. drawing, Revision,
Weight, Diameter-inches and more. Plus user defined fields for
tracking production status through the fabrication.
A list of any number of drawings can be made, and this list is used
to generate reports for Status, Material summaries, Cut sheets, a
Material Search, Labor summaries, and more.
As drawings are created, all material and labor in each drawing will
also add any new items into Reference files. These files are common
to all jobs in the Client folder and all have a field for entering
and storing the base unit price of every item. There are separate
files for Material, Welds, Automatic labor and Extra user defined
labor. Each file will allow the entry of a unit price. These prices
will be used for pricing unit price drawings. The welds and end prep
will be the prices for Group 0 materials and will be multiplied by a
factor for other material groups. The Automatic labor includes all
Cuts, Bevels of various kinds, Bends in a bent pipe system, Extruded
outlets and End protectors.
Inventory:
As drawings are completed they are used to
create an inventory file for the job, which contains an accurate
tally of every item in all drawings. The inventory file contains
fields for Estimated, Purchased, Received, Drawn, In Stock, In
Fabrication, Complete, Unit Price and Price factor. The Drawn field
will show the total for each item from all drawings in the job.
Estimated, Purchased and Received quantities are manual entries into
the file. Any amounts received will also go into the ‘In Stock’
column. As drawings are released for fabrication the material for
those drawings will be transferred to the ‘In Fabrication’ column
and then to the Completed column.
Material Receipt:
Material receiving reports can be generated
with the reports having an entry for Heat number, MTR number and PMI
number for each item. This will be used to create a receiving report
for the job, with Item code, Heat number, quantity received and
used, etc. for all items. This file will be referenced as heat
numbers are entered into drawings to verify the correct item is
used. It will also confirm numbers and amount used for all items in
the job. As heat numbers are verified, the PMI and MTR numbers will
be added to the drawing automatically. It will be preferable to
check the numbers before fabrication to catch errors before they are
made.
We are also looking at the possibility of generating Bar codes (or
RFID tags) from the file to tag items so they can be scanned as they
are picked for fabrication and can be checked faster.
Release to Fabrication:
If material has been entered as 'received'
into inventory it will also be added to the 'in stock' column.
The AcornPipe program user will make a list of drawings ready for
fabrication, by dragging the mouse across the list to select them by
control number, or they can be sorted by by spec, or by reference
drawing number, etc. , then selected.
When the program user chooses the 'Tools' menu in Fabrication
Material Control, there are several selections available. Among them
are menu items: Which Drawings to release for Fabrication, Issue for
Fabrication, Shortage Report, etc.
The selected drawings can be checked against the
stock available, and the list reduced to the drawings which can be
fabricated. The program will decide which spools are the best to
release based on the material available and the greatest number of
spools which can be fabricated. For example if there are 6 'olets in
stock, and one spool in the list requires 6, but there are 6 spools
which need just one each, the 6 spools will be left on the list.
Users can designate items in inventory which are not essential for
fabrication so they do not restrict the release. These could be
items such as End plates, Re-pads, Blind flanges, End protectors,
etc.
As drawings are released for Fabrication, the material for them will
be transferred from the 'In Stock' column, to the 'In Fabrication'
column of inventory. The release date will also automatically
be entered into the status file and the status of that spool will be
updated with the revision of the drawing issued. Drawings will
not be able to be released a second time, unless its material has
been returned to stock first. Menu items on the 'Tools' menu allow
for the 'Return form Fabrication'. Revised drawings which have
already been released or completed, must have the previous revision
material returned before they can be released again with the new
revision.
When saving changes to a drawing which has been released to fabrication, the user will be informed of the drawing status by an onscreen reminder. Then the user is given options such as returning it from fabrication, scrapping the previous drawing and saving it with another file/control number or making a new revision of the current drawing. Each revision will add separate records to the job item file so that the correct materials will always be returned from Fabrication to Stock as needed. As spools are designated as 'Complete', the date will again be entered in the Status file and material moved to the 'Complete 'column in inventory.
Material Purchase:
We are looking at the possibility of using the
material summaries to generate purchase orders. This would allow
materials purchased to be entered into the inventory file
automatically. The purchase order would also be used as a receiving
report to track items and heat numbers, etc. for each fitting or
pipe as it is received. This in turn will add to a single receiving
file with every item having a heat number, MTR number, PMI number as
needed, to verify final information added to each drawing.
Material Tracking:
The system will be able to keep track of all
material used on the job, and generate reports as needed. AcornPipe
program users will be able to generate a data file containing the
complete record of every item used on the job. This will enable the
search for any heat numbers and all drawings which contain items
with a specific number. This will reduced the chance of errors from
entering incorrect heat numbers into drawings, or the wrong quantity
of any number.
Production Tracking:
The status report can be customized to track
any spool as it travels from drawing release to final shipping. It
will enable users to track how many spools, the weights, and
diameter-inches of weld goes through each stage of production per
day, week, or any other time period.
Then, it is possible to post the status information to a company web
site where remote customers can access the information, to check on
the status of the job, or any spool in the job, without needing to
contact production staff directly. Inspection information could also
be posted on a web site for access by customers at any time.
Pricing Drawings:
The AcornPipe software's reference files are
created from all items and labor functions used on every job in a
specific client folder. Base unit prices can be entered into these
reference files for all items. As drawings are produced in any job,
the program will also create files containing each item and labor
function in that job. Item records will be in the Inventory
file.
These files will have the base prices transferred from the reference
files and will also have a price factor column. The price factor is
used for entering the discount factor for every labor and material
item in the job, and changes to prices for that job if necessary.
The files are used to automatically price completed drawings as
needed, with the selection at the drawing screen to print the
pricing sheet, a drawing format is displayed with unit price, price
factor and extended price calculated automatically. This pricing
sheet can then be printed. The entered prices will be adjusted with
factors applied for different material groups, Cuts and End prep. on
fittings, etc.
The AcornPipe program has the capability to adjust the factor of
some items on individual drawings to reflect revisions on those
drawings.
This will eliminate the tedious manual pricing of drawings.
Weld Tracking/Non Destructive
Testing:
Welder ID, inspection, weld procedures,
consumables, etc. can be entered into the drawings as they are
completed. All of this information will be added to this Job's weld
file so that at the completion of the job, there will be a single
data file of every weld completed. Each weld will display all
information needed for complete traceability. The weld file as well
as the Weld Report will display size, type of weld, specification,
welder ID, inspection, etc.
The weld file can also be used to track the inspection record of any
individual welder, or to trace which welder completed any weld which
may have a future problem.
Welder Productivity:
As jobs progress,
reports can be generated showing the productivity of each welder for
any time period desired. Problems can be flagged and corrected as
required.
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Control Info as above:
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section of the AcornPipe software as above.
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Material Control informaion
Material Control and Pricing on PDF available to view/download:
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