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Heat Treater Boosts Information Efficiency
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Situation: Carolina Commercial Heat Treating Inc. (CCHT) offers customers a wide range of heat-treating capabilities with its six facilities throughout the southeastern U.S. With 500-800 jobs in a facility at any given time, CCHT needed to efficiently quote jobs, track job status and provide good customer service by instantly accessing various job-related information. CCHT used custom-written software (designed and maintained in house), but changing its software to add more tasks wasn't easy, according to John Sennett, information Systems Manager. "We didn't have the needed flexibility, which made it very difficult to address customer requests, " said Sennett. |
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Objectives:
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| Solution: CCHT resolved its problems using a business/shop floor software system designed for commercial heat treaters from Cornerstone Systems Inc. (CSI), Crystal Lake, Ill. CSI's Visual Shop handles CCHT needs, said Sennett. It is user friendly and has the ability to share information and reports throughout various departments, yet has security options to effectively manage data distribution and access. It runs in a Microsoft SQL database environment, which provides CCHT the flexibility on the back end of the application for data analysis. The company uses Visual Shop to handle job quoting, an option not available with its own software design. Quotations link to order entry, process masters and invoicing. When a quote is produced within the system, it automatically is attached to that exact part ID, and the appropriate price structure is automatically used for invoicing. This not only speeds up the invoicing process, but also eliminates costly invoicing errors. Production functions
include order expediting, part process-form generation, bar coding and
tracking, ship-date estimates and report generation. Order expediting
via the computer provides the capability to quickly access customer order
information when requested instead of having to look up the A free-flow text format on job tickets/work orders (form flexibility) offers the capability to show step by step how a process is to be completed (regardless of the number of steps), which greatly assists operators on the floor. "We now can be very specific about how eachprocess step is done," said Sennett. "We also have the ability to attach digital pictures to job tickets to further identify a part or specific areas on a part that may need special attention during the processing cycle. It also assists us in showing our floor operators how loads are to be built or proper racking techniques, which eliminate reworks," he added. A bar code and tracking system (at the Reidsville, N.C. facility) allows operators in the plant to track a job throughout the entire process. This feature was a top priority when CCHT evaluated heat-treating software and has greatly improved customer service. It also fits very well with CSI's Visual Net, which allows customers to access their order-related data via the CCHT web site. With proper access, a customer can access information such as order status, shipping information, account status, etc. Another benefit is that new software release updates and specific program changes can be downloaded via the Internet, which gives CCHT the flexibility to administer such items on its own timetable. The software system offers the ability to generate numerous reports (many of which previously had to be done manually), such as those required for QS9000 and detailed sales information by cost center and equipment. These have helped in fine tuning the mixture of all the related components of a particular furnace line and how that relates to and affects the bottom line. IH For more information: CSI (tel: 800-275-4274; Internet: www.ask4csi.com); CCHT (tel: 704-527-2876; Internet: www. ccht. com). |