Improving Business Performance in Mills and Primary Metals Industries

Tropos is developed by ERP vendor Solarsoft. Since 1982 we have been developing and implementing business computer systems for manufacturers and distributors of primary metals, metal products and products made in mills.

Our experience in the mills and metals industries enables us to lead our customers to a fast, successful implementation with rapid return on investment. Our technical services keep the ERP project on schedule, whether facilities management, web development, system integration, shop floor data collection (SFDC) or SCADA integration.

The Tropos system has specialised functionality for mills and metals manufacturers and distributors. Tropos is unusual as an ERP product because it has a number of functions specifically designed for process manufacturers; like attributes, which allow things like dimensions, grades, patterns etc to be defined without creating new product codes. Or bills of materials that allow outputs, whether co-products, by-products or waste products to be defined. Together with graphical scheduling capabilities and the ability to readily integrate with plant and equipment make Tropos unique in the ERP marketplace.

Features and Benefits

Key Benefits

• Simplify the supply chain
• Easily adapt to new manufacturing practices
• Achieve maximum capacity via efficient production scheduling
• React quickly to variable lead times and just-in-time orders
• Define dimensions and grades without creating new product codes
• Facilitate system integration with plant machinery and equipment
• Achieve greater visibility of stock and inventory levels
• React faster to pre-defined customer schedules

Tropos is designed for mills that operate in a process manufacturing or demand-pull environment, particularly with short manufacturing cycles and even shorter customer lead times. This process-based approach to supply chain management is far more appropriate for these industries than ERP systems which use traditional MRP logic as the core business planning model.

From the initial concept, Tropos was designed to achieve two key objectives:

• to integrate a company's supply chain and associated business processes;
• to increase the velocity of that supply chain, thereby improving asset utilisation, and decrease stockholdings, driving out excess costs and eliminating non-value-added activities.

Tropos meets the needs of mills with specific requirements including rapid product changes, attribute based short process cycle times and demand-driven manufacturing operations. With the ability to manage time down to the second, if required, and to support rate-based manufacturing such as in metres per second, Tropos accurately reflects the way mills operate.
Solarsoft’s  ERP customers in the mills and primary metals sectors speak for us. Our case studies include:

• manufacturers of castings and forgings and other foundry products
• textiles
• paper other dimension based products

all of which supply a broad range of distributors, wholesalers, printers and processors as well as the retail supply chain.

Detail

The process manufacturing solutions Solarsoft deliver can be divided into the following business functions:

• Sales Management
• Planning
• Operations
• Technical & Regulatory
• Finance & HR
• Tools & Technology

Sales Management

Sales order processing whether telesales, EDI or through a web-portal needs to be fast and effective with accurate pricing and backed up by customer relationship management (CRM) to provide a high level of service beyond simple product delivery.

Many industries are reliant on accurate Forecasting and Inventory Optimisation, feeding through to the Demand Management process if the right goods are to be delivered on time in full.

For international sales the correct Export Documentation is essential. Producing these yourselves can give significant savings compared to agents fees.

Sales Management Products:

• Tropos Sales Order Processing
• Tropos CRM
• Forecasting and Inventory Optimisation
• Tropos Demand Management
• Export Documentation

Planning

If the problem is long term strategic planning, or a medium term tactical plan, or a detailed schedule for today then Tropos has the tools to support decision making. With Rough Cut Planning and Scheduling to full Graphical Planning with balancing and optimisation between lines. Traditional MRP / MRPII still has its place but no longer should these processes dictate the pace of the business. The Tropos Process and Materials Planning Module raise the pace with on-line, dynamic materials control.

For the specialist niche of Whisky blending Solarsoft have developed the Whisky Workbench to optimise this process.

Planning Products:

• Tropos Scheduling
• Tropos Visual Planner
• Tropos Process and Materials Planning
• Tropos Bulk Whisky Workbench (for distillers and blenders)

Operations

Many systems fail to deliver where the battle is lost and won - in operation. The cycle of material movement and adding value from Purchasing and Goods Receiving through Production , with support from Warehousing and Inventory Control , feeding into the Distribution chain.

For fresh produce the supply chain can be extended back into the field with field based data capture, auditing and consolidation software for the agri-food industry. The high utilisation demanded from plant and equipment can only be ensured with effective Planned Plant Maintenance.

Operations Products:

• Tropos Purchasing
• Tropos Production Monitoring
• Tropos Warehousing and Inventory
• Tropos Sales and Distribution
• Tropos Plant Maintenance

Technical and Regulatory Products

A fully flexible system for developing BOMs, Formulations and Recipes, with multiple units of measure, by- and co-products together with an accurate model of the Production Processes, provides the backbone of the ERP model. When supported by practically unlimited Product Attributes, with flexible processing significance even difficult products can be accurately represented.

Quality Management should not be separate to the core business applications, so Tropos was designed with Quality at its heart. Without this it would not be possible to control the quality of the other processes in the business.

In environments where the materials are hazardous it is important to keep track of documentation such as MSDS and TREM and ensure that the necessary warnings and instructions are present. The Tropos Hazards Management Module provides these facilities.

The New Product Development process (NPD) has special requirements when supplying the major multiples, so a high level of integration has been developed.

When managing Customs & Excise duties in a bonded warehouse environment subject to HMC&E controls the Tropos Customs & Excise facilities provide the facilities to support compliance with the statutory notices.

Technical and Regulatory Products:

• Tropos Bill of Materials
• Tropos Process Definition
• Tropos Attributes
• Tropos Quality Assurance
• Tropos Hazards Management
• Tropos Customs and Excise

Finance and HR

Tropos has a full suite of Financial modules, and is fed from a Product Costing module to support accurate financial management of the business. If managing major projects in the business the Tropos Project Planning and Control module allows projects to be defined with work breakdown structures and the progress and costs controlled.

As well as managing the financial elements of a business the Human Resources are key to delivering profitability, managing time and attendance.

Finance and HR Products:

• Tropos Financials
• Tropos Costing
• Tropos Project Planning and Control
• Human Resource Management and Payroll

Tropos Tools and Technology

Tropos is built on a technical architecture that is scalable in size and sophistication. Tropos clients can be browser, PCs or mobile devices. Data integration tools are supplied with every systems and the Application Designer enables developers to extend and enhance Tropos without affecting core program integrity and support. Workflow is set-up and managed with the Tropos Active module, reducing errors and speeding activity through the business. EDI integration is enabled with standard tools. Printed Forms can be customised and the database design means data can be accessed for reporting and analysis with a wide range of standard reporting software.

Tropos Tools and Technology Products:

• Tropos Technical Architecture
• Tropos Web Client
• Tropos Role-Based Applications
• Tropos Application Designer
• Tropos Shopfloor Data Collection
• Tropos Reporting and Business Intelligence
• Tropos DataMart
• Tropos White Paper Printing
• Tropos Data Integration
• Tropos Intranet

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