Ferrous metallurgy has a vital function in the Russian economy, serving key industries, including mechanical engineering, construction, the military-industrial complex and the fuel and energy complex. The present time is characterized by the development of rolled metal production and sales due to growing demand. The use of modern technologies and standards, as well as new equipment, contribute to the production of a wide range of products.

However, despite the modernity and efficiency of production processes, the management of warehouse operations remains a bottleneck. The lack of automation of rolled metal warehouses leads to low efficiency of warehouse procedures and sales problems, which limits the overall potential for growth and development of the industry. Implementation of modern warehouse management systems, such as TopLog WMS based on 1C, developed by the Russian company " Toplog" can be an effective solution to these problems.

Specifics of WMS in a rolled metal warehouse

Using the example of a case study on implementation of WMS for one of the largest Russian pipe manufacturers, we will tell you how TopLog WMS helped to establish transparent warehouse accounting and significantly increase the efficiency of the warehouse, taking into account its characteristic features. The customer specializes in the production and wholesale and retail trade of rolled metal, has production lines and warehouses for finished products. The extensive range includes 1,500 items of sheet and long products, over 500 different types of steel pipes, as well as construction fittings, including channels, wire and wire rod. The total area of ​​warehouse premises is more than 50,000 square meters. m.

When developing the technical design, the following specific conditions and factors affecting the operation of the warehouse were taken into account:

• storage of products over a huge area (including in the open air), belonging to hundreds of product groups, differing in size and weight, requiring different storage conditions;
• the speed of operations carried out in the warehouse directly depends on the load of high-lift cranes;
• features of laying rolled metal. The need to store long metal products on racks and stands, and sheet and large-sized goods in specialized compartments;
• additional services, such as anti-corrosion zinc coating and cutting.

Solution : control and accounting in TopLog WMS

The project was implemented in 6 months. The warehouse management system has been successfully automated (including address accounting, the use of radio terminals and barcodes), the production process (with production planning, control of metal processing stages, weight accounting and product rejection), cost calculation (taking into account purchase prices and automatic calculation of product costs taking into account waste and defects) and personnel management (with control of access to the enterprise territory, taking into account the output of personnel and recording the reasons for downtime of work centers). Marking of goods and materials was carried out with labels resistant to aggressive operating conditions (frost, rain, rust).

A flexible system of internal settings made it possible to keep records of:

• raw materials and production plan;

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• finished products of own production and products for resale;
• waste using bar-coded reusable containers;
• loading and unloading operations;
• through batch accounting for the correct calculation of costs, etc.

The program implements the function of collecting and completing orders from different types of metal, as well as reforming large batches into smaller ones with the subsequent formation of shipments for customers. Each type of inventory material can be taken into account in different units of measurement simultaneously: weight in kilograms or tons, length in linear meters, number of copies per package, etc.

Implementation result

Implementation WMS systems made it possible to control the operation of transport, optimize traffic routes inside the warehouse, minimize loading and unloading time.

Total accounting of operations performed by each employee made it possible to minimize personnel errors, eliminate misgrading and shortages, reduce the time for processing each order and conducting inventories.

For correct operation TopLog WMS requires stable internet. Previously, this presented a particular problem for warehouses with large open areas. However, this issue can be solved by using specialized wireless equipment and installing powerful Wi-Fi access points that can provide wide coverage and reliable connections.

The result of the implementation was a radical increase in productivity, service level and accuracy of warehouse operations