Merrill Iron and Steel Automates FabTrol Transactions With Radley's Data Collection

Problem

Simple mistakes were consistently causing costly shipping errors

Merrill Iron and Steel, Inc., located in Schofield, Wisconsin, opened in 1962 and is a national leader in design/build applications of plate and structural steel fabrication.

Several times a year, Merrill Iron and Steel would experience unanticipated project expenses resulting from shipping errors. These errors, common to all steel fabricators, would arise when incorrect assemblies, or incorrect assembly quantities, were shipped to subcontractors or to the job site. While the reason for an error was often simply a matter of an illegible, hand-written shipmark or a shipmark number being transposed when manually entered by a data entry clerk, the time, labor, and associated costs incurred by the mistake could be tremendous.

Common reasons identified as causes for shipping errors:

• Illegible, hand-written shipmarks
• Loader transposed shipmark when documenting shipment
• Data entry mistakes due to hand- written load lists
• Data entry mistakes due to missed line item details

Solution

Implementing an automated data capture solution using barcodes

Putting a solution in place to avoid common shipping errors became paramount to Mike Terrian, the Production Control Manager at Merrill Iron and Steel. He states, "We could not carry on the way we had been. We had to do something. A process needed to be put into place to avoid the kinds of common shipping errors that were costing us a considerable amount of money every year."

Merrill Iron and Steel has been using FabTrol software for estimating and production control since 2002. When approached by FabTrol Systems with the opportunity to participate in a pilot program to implement newly integrated automated data capture (ADC) functionality, Mr. Terrian was quick to jump on-board. His immediate goal was to eliminate the common reasons that had been creating costly shipping errors. Using barcodes to track production progress and manage shipping operations promised to be the solution.

Professional implementation staff from both FabTrol Systems and their vendor partner Radley Corporation were onsite at Merrill during the initial implementation. They helped to setup the software, required network connections, and scanning devices. Mr. Terrian reports, "The implementation process went really well. It was almost painless. There were no major issues and any minor ones that came up were handled quickly."

Benefits

Many benefits have been quickly realized and continue to develop

After only three months since the implementation, Mr. Terrian says the company is already experiencing many of the benefits he anticipated and expects to see more. He believes that improved accuracy in Merrilli?Ls shipping operations will be the greatest long-term benefit. He adds, "Avoiding the backcharges that can be associated with shipping errors could more than pay for the investment Merrill has made in the ADC solution."

"Implementing the use of barcodes is a must for any shop that wishes to improve their data collection efforts," says Terrian. "We are seeing an immediate 10% time savings in the entry of production tracking data and anticipate these savings to increase. Plus, we are saving about 25% per day in shipping personnel labor." Mr. Terrian expects to see an overall increase in shop throughput as a direct result of implementing the ADC solution and goes on to say, "We will be able to recognize production bottlenecks, improve our decision making, and improve our hours per ton by work area."

"We have more and more customers requesting that barcodes be used on projects. Many are requiring the use of barcodes even at the bid stage. It is a standard requirement for some of our larger industrial customers," Terrian states. "I am looking forward to seeing just what additional benefits will surface over time."

FabTrol MRP and Radley Corporation

Improve your shop operations by using automated data capture.

FabTrol MRP, the market-leading fabrication management software, has provided nearly 1,000 steel fabrication companies with better ways to manage their key operations. Here are a few ways the new ADC barcode technology in FabTrol MRP can help you:

• Reduce labor costs through automated data entry
• Significantly improve accuracy in production and shipping
• Fully integrate and improve production tracking and shipping operations
• Quickly see work in process in real-time
• Increase your customer base and customer satisfaction
• Make better decisions, doing so quickly and accurately
• Improve bottom line profitability

For more information about FabTrol MRP software click here, or call at (616) 554-9060.