Metals Industry Solutions
The metals industry involves the creation of bulk and end products through the processing of steel, aluminum, zinc and other raw materials. Although metals processing has a long history of large cumbersome blast furnaces, specialization and economics have driven innovation in many companies.
Specialty metals makes up a large segment of this industry, driving the need for sophisticated planning and scheduling systems. Metals plants often operate on a 24/7 schedule and require a calculated process for maintenance management. Finished goods are hauled in a variety of methods, including trucks, rail and ships. Tracking shipments and deliveries are a critical component of the business.
Customer Focus Areas
- Production management
- Integrated maintenance management
- Business reporting
- Facility management
- Transportation and logistics
Use Case Example
A large, Southwestern USA steel mill needed to synchronize its new maintenance management software with its Enterprise Resource Planning System. All purchase orders and invoicing, as well as inventory functions, goods receiving, work orders and warehouse transfers would be carried out in the maintenance system, which must be mirrored exactly in the ERP system’s general ledger and other related financial functions.
The Ceiba Solutions team, using its CDi middleware for mapping different applications into a single business process, delivered on all of these requirements, and did so while both the ERP and maintenance software were being upgraded.
The resulting solution:
- Uses Web Services to transfer data in both directions
- Automates all transfers between the two systems
- Transforms all data to match the format required by the receiving system
- Detects the arrival of any new documents or transactions, automatically triggering business rules to handle them
- Detects exceptions and posts notifications of any problems
- Maintains a complete audit trail of all transfers between the two systems
The project required the collaboration of key members of the steel mill operations and IT organization, people from both software vendors, all working in support of the CDi middleware experts from Ceiba Solutions.