|
Foy's EPICS Events |
|
Extrusion
Production Information and Control Systems |
In this issue
Enhanced Shipping Module Introduced
Moving Metal from One Item to Another
Test Certification feature under development
Other Enhancements in EPICS 2000.14 Update
Another
successful EPICS User Conference has concluded, and plans are already underway
for the 2004 conference. This year’s
session was held at the brand-new Hotel Valencia on the Riverwalk in
Participants heard how to get the most from EPICS, both in
conference presentations and in discussions with other users. New features were covered in detail, and
several sessions concentrated on “Secrets of the EPICS Masters.” Attendees provided their plant’s requirements
on a number of planned EPICS enhancements, including a paint module, 
expanded
die tables, and a
Photos from the conference, as well as PowerPoint slides from the various sessions, are available on our web site at www.foyinc.com/Conference
Several sites for next year’s conference were proposed. Leading the list of choices were
On of the Conference highlights was the introduction and
demonstration of the new EPICS Enhanced Shipping Module. This module is an optional EPICS add-on that
provides several new features:
- Supports wireless barcode scanners used to scan
packing tickets as they are loaded onto trucks
- Groups and tracks multiple orders for multiple
customers by truckload
- Prints Bills of Lading, which may contain multiple
sales orders
The heart of the Enhanced Shipping Module is the screen
below that allows you to assign orders to shipping picklists. You may use this
screen to scan for active sales orders using a variety of parameters. Using
this screen, you can quickly locate and group all orders destined for a
specific region into truckloads. In this example, we have scanned for all open
orders to be delivered to the state of
We are now free to add additional orders to existing
picklists, use the “Maintain Picklist” tab to create additional picklists, or
change our scanning parameters to find other orders to add to our picklists.
This grouping of orders onto picklists may be performed immediately after
orders are posted, immediately before shipment, or any time in between. Once
orders are assigned to shipping picklists, you can easily generate on-screen or
paper reports that show you the production status of all orders that are to be
shipped together.
The “Maintain Picklist” tab allows you to create new
truckloads and shows the status of existing truckloads. The screen below
displays picklist 1002, which has been assigned 4 sales orders for 2 different
customers. This picklist is still in Active (“A”) status, meaning it has not
yet shipped. We have not yet assigned a Bill of Lading. The Bill of Lading
number may be assigned either when the picklist is created or as the truckload
is shipped.
We have expanded the view of sales order item 50136-1 to see
the detail of all tickets available for shipment. The “Scanned” checkbox
indicates that 2 of the 3 available tickets have been read by handheld scanners
used by the person loading the truck. This information is updated in real-time
by software running on the scanners.
Once all tickets assigned to a picklist have been scanned, the
“Ship this Picklist” button allows for one-click posting of shipping for all
sales orders on the truck. You can immediately use the “Print Manifests” screen
to print/email the shipping manifests for these orders.
Note that the Enhanced Shipping Module does not include scanner hardware, nor code to drive any specific scanner. Your company will need to purchase scanners that fit your needs, and then you or your supplier will need to program the scanner to connect and communicate with EPICS. The Enhanced Shipping Module includes a separate program library file (.DLL) that can be used to link to the EPICS database from your wireless scanners.
The EPICS Enhanced Shipping Module is priced at $1500. Please contact Foy Inc for additional
information.
A much requested feature has been added to EPICS in version 2000.14.0. A new “Overage” button on the Print New Packing Tickets screen allows you to quickly apply production overages from one sales order item to another.
Previously, the only way to do this was to place the material into stock inventory then pull it out of inventory into the new item. While this procedure works very well, it requires the use of 3 EPICS screens.
The new “Overage” button allows you to perform this operation
in a single step. The screen shot below illustrates how we can move the
45 extra pieces that were extruded for sales order item 50229-1 directly to
sales order item 39260-1.
You can quickly find items that can receive the overage by right-clicking on the Die Number and selecting “Show All Items” to display all active sales order items that use the same die number. Thanks to another new feature in 2000.14, you can also right-click on the Part Number to “Show All Items” that use the same customer part.
As with the “Fill from Stock” screen, EPICS compares the item receiving the metal with the item that created the overage and ensures that the correct Die, Alloy, Finish, and Length are being applied to the recipient item. The user will need to specify the last department that handled the extra metal (in this case, “TEMPER,”) as well as the department where the overage pieces should be delivered (“PACK”).
After an overage has been applied, the production history for the item that created the overage will show that the specified number of pieces have been moved to “STOCK.” The item that receives the overage will show a production posting for the “PULLED” department. The “Changes” screen for each item will show you the item numbers involved in the overage transaction.
After the overage is applied, you should post any additional
production and/or print packing tickets for the recipient item using the normal
production screens.
Over the years, we have added written some custom features
to allow certain customers to print Test Certification forms, at the same time
that the Manifest is printed. At last
week’s User Conference, we solicited input regarding what
Before we release this new feature, we want to make sure
that the document that EPICS prints will satisfy your needs. If you currently use a Test Cert document,
please fax or email us a copy so we can verify that this new feature will
handle your requirements. This document
is being developed in the next few weeks, so please respond as soon as possible.
The EPICS 2000.14 update is scheduled for release on
- Right-clicking on a Customer Part Number now includes the option to “Show All Items”, which will display a list of all active SOItems for that Part Number.
- A configuration setting has been added to specify the Alloy Type to use as the default value during order entry
- When receiving from an outside processor, you can now post scrap and specify a scrap code.
- Right-clicking on a Routing now displays a list of the departments in that Routing.
- Two new fields have been added to the Ticket table to track material prior to and after being placed in Stock.
- A new field has been added to the Ticket table for TruckID. When using the EPICS Pick List feature in Shipping, this field will be used to hold the truck identification instead of the BLNum field.
- A configuration setting has been added to allow specifying the printer to be used when printing the screen.
- A CreditRef field has been added to the invoicing screen, as a place to store a Credit Reference number when issuing credits.
- Numerous small enhancements have been made to the Advanced Order Entry screen.
Service
Center Metals, located in
SCM will be receiving EPICS training during May, and will be shipping their first metal later this summer.
You can visit them at www.servicecentermetals.com.
epics customers
EPICS
is used at over sixty extrusion plants
in seven countries
by over 1300 licensed users.