Coil Inventory Management System

Accel's Coil Inventory Management System (CIMS) helps manufacturing businesses track and locate physically large inventory items, such as steel coils, that are moved by overhead crane and stored in large open areas.

CIMS is a unique blend of computing, radio, laser, and barcode technologies that tracks and records all inventory moves made by overhead cranes, providing real-time inventory control and visual feedback to the crane operators, material handlers, and production schedulers.

From item check-in to product delivery, Accel's CIMS provides the means to maintain an accurate database of your raw and finished inventory items.

Customer Profile

Accel provides CIMS to clients that are dissatisfied with their manual inventory control system and are concerned about the hidden costs (time and money) associated with using their manual system. These clients are typically frustrated by:

• Operator entry errors and omissions
• Inventory can be "lost" when item movements are not recorded after initial inventory placement.
• Frantic searches are necessary to locate items to ensure continuous production schedule execution.
• Tedious and time-consuming manual check-ins
• Received items require manual verification against purchase order line items.
• Response to status requests from sales representatives and customers is poor.
• Just-in-time scheduling is impossible.
• Stale and inaccurate inventory lists
• Dynamic scheduling is a hit-and-miss activity.
• Up-to-date inventory valuation is difficult.
• Manual storage and retrieval processes
• Locating an item in a group storage area requires a slow, walk-through search.
• "Hot" items will always be stored beneath or behind those required for later production.

Data Collection and Management

Inventory locations are tracked automatically, and logs of all inventory transactions and diagnostic messages are kept at selectable levels of detail so that performance can be measured and optimized. All of the real-time operating and report-generating software except for serial I/O data collection is written in the Progress database language. The software can be interfaced to any other database software by direct connection or by flat file transfers.

A portable hand-held computer is also used to initialize, verify, or re-synchronize the inventory. This process can be done quite simply by office personnel.

Report Generation

Reports are created based on customer needs, but can include the following:

Work List Report - contains a series of coil movements required to keep the line charged and running smoothly

Inventory Report - contains a list of coils ID's and their current location in inventory.

Lost Coil Report - contains a list of coils that have not been assigned an inventory location, and also a list of inventory locations with unidentified coils.

System Requirements

Hardware

• Two PCs (Shipping and Receiving), networked, with hand-held barcode scanner.
• SUN Sparc Station - Inventory management computer containing local relational database for maintaining inventory. Also controls all real-time peripherals.
• Intermec radio and radio network controller.
• Intermec portable, radio-linked computer with attached barcode scanner.
• Laser electronic distance measuring devices.
• Radio-linked hook scale on the cranes.
  
  

Software

• Windows-95
• Sun Solaris
• Progress V7.0
• gcc C Compiler
• Intermec Interface Software
• Intermec IRL Compiler
  
  

Data/Information

• Coil Arrival Information
• Production Schedule data
• Coil Shipping Information
• Storage Facility Layout
• Operating Procedures

Capacity

Accel's system can handle multiple cranes on the same radio network and separate or combined receiving and shipping areas, each are being served by more than one inventory crane. EDMs and radio networks are available to handle inventory bays longer than 500 feet.

Accel is an application partner of the Progress relational database software, which runs on Windows and multi-tasking Unix boxes, and has extended the database software to provide a direct, efficient C-language interface to serial I/O devices.

Maintenance

All equipment is powered through uninterruptable power supplies and is configured for automatic restart upon power restoration. Remote login to the database server has been provided so that maintenance personnel can monitor and run on-line diagnostics on the system and remotely restart the software or reboot the server in case of failure. The database software is very robust, and has built-in failure recovery mechanisms. Diagnostics and system status screens are provided for both the inventory computer and for the crane operator's portable computers.Both printed and on-line documentation is used to load and configure all radio-linked equipment from a laptop PC.

MS-DOS, Windows, FoxPro, and Excel are products of Microsoft Corp.
Sun Solaris is a product of Sun Microsystems.
Progress is a product of Progress Inc.
IBM PC is a product of IBM Corp.