steelXML and an integrated electronic interchange approach

can help bring your business—and the structural steel industry as a whole—in line
with present-day standards for ordering and procurement.

Ordering UP
Integration
BY SHARON-MARIE GILLOOLEY

“WHAT YEAR IS IT? This is not a trick question.” This will ensure that all documents are quicker and easier to
This question was posed by Luke Faulkner, AISC’s direc- compose and compare. When integrated with a management
tor of technology integration, at the 2015 NASCC: The Steel information system (MIS) and working with a supplier who
Conference session “AISC BIMSteel Initiatives” this past uses the same system, it will deliver the added ability to:
spring. (You can view that and other sessions from the show at ➤ Create and manage customer material lists
www.aisc.org/2015nascconline.) ➤ Nest or optimize material
His point was that in this day and age when we order every- ➤ Automatically consider and consume inventory
thing online—plane tickets, books, clothing, everything—it seems ➤ Spontaneously replenish inventory through purchase
ridiculous that steel is still ordered the old-fashioned way, via fax. orders
steelXML is hoping to change that. The comprehensive ➤ Provide accurate and automatic cutting lists for steel-
XML schema—which has been developed by a working group work fabricator clients
consisting of fabricators, steel mills, steel service centers and
software developers, with oversight by AISC—accommodates Benefits
all transactions in the procurement process. Fabricators, mills There are five key benefits of adopting steelXML:
and steel suppliers can use this industry specific schema as a 1. Speed. The process:
platform to develop an electronic data interchange (EDI) for ➤ Replenishes inventory automatically, saving time
all their procurement transactions. ➤ Creates automatic bill of material lists through intelligent
EDI is any methodology that enables the computer-to-com- 3D CAD interfaces, saving labor hours and enabling em-
puter exchange of business documents. EDI documents flow ployees to be more productive while reducing overhead
straight from one computer’s application (e.g., a steel fabrication ➤ Shortens lead times on product delivery and increases
management information system) through to the appropriate ap- profitability
plication on the receiver’s computer (e.g., the order management ➤ Reduces delivery cycle times, meaning reduced lead
system) and processing begins immediately. All EDI documents times and lowered inventory carrying costs
must use a standard “language” format so that the computer will ➤ Removes repetition and duplication and the risk of hu-
be able to read and understand the documents. man error
That language is steelXML. It boasts the advantage of hav-
ing been developed in a world of shared software development,
determining the best way to streamline and standardize every Sharon-Marie Gillooley
aspect and transaction involved in the steel procurement pro- (s.gillooley@acecadsoftware.com)
cess. Using steelXML means that any two steel industry orga- is a chartered marketer for AceCad
nizations (such as suppliers and fabricators) can communicate if Software (www.strumis.com).
they’ve both adopted it.
steelXML will provide a common standard platform for the
electronic exchange of:
➤ Inquiries
➤ Request for quotations
➤ Purchase orders
➤ Schedules
➤ Material test reports
➤ Customer sales order quotations
 Modern STEEL CONSTRUCTION
 2. Accuracy. It provides 100% accuracy by removing the need addition to saving labor costs by eliminating the need to search
for data to be transferred via transcription or data entry, thus for errors and answer many queries, which historically could
eliminating the possibility of user errors. As electronic data have taken half a day to resolve,” reported Neil Mann, techni-
is derived from a prior validated MIS database, it accurately cal services manager for Tata Steel. “We are saving four hours
manages inventory and cost analysis. a day processing, which removes a day off deliveries. Any issues
3. Visibility. Clarity is provided to all: Mills, suppliers and fab- are resolved on the day, as the order processing department has
ricators are able to track status and measure performance the time to sort them out that day rather than the issue running
throughout the entire order process. over to the next day and then delaying the order.”
4. Cost reduction. It has the potential to reduce or avoid cer- “Historically, only one user could input into our system at
tain costs by: any one time, whereas Integrated EDI allows for multiple us-
➤ Reducing the overhead required to detect or reprocess ers at a time,” said Darren Hartley, Tata’s head of operations in
erroneous documents Teesside, UK. “The whole order process has been reduced to
➤ Reducing costs to expedite goods that are late or lost hours instead of days, which is essential considering that our fa-
➤ Reducing material waste and thus increasing sustainability cility has a total output exceeding metric 170,000 tons per year.”
➤ Reducing inventory and therefore carrying costs through Benefits have also been realized on the fabrication side. Bill-
shortened order processing and delivery cycles coupled ington Structures, one of the UK’s leading structural fabricators,
with faster, more accurate order processing successfully uses Integrated EDI with its MIS to receive and
5. Competitive Advantage. Adopting steelXML will result in dispatch metric 1,150 tons per week.
better record-keeping, fewer data errors, reduced informa- “By linking our inventory with procurement and production,
tion processing time, standardized interpretation of data and we’ve been able to optimize our project planning and shop floor
reduced unproductive time. Financially, it reduces billing routing,” said Mark Bingham, Billington’s production control-
cycles, as orders are delivered quicker, resulting in increased ler. The integrated setup has strengthened and enhanced our
cash flow. And using steelXML in conjunction with a steel materials logistics process, enabling superior administration of
fabrication management information system offers the ad- our production cycle and resulting in better time management
ditional advantages of: and cost savings for our business.”
➤ Nesting and optimization, which provide maximum
material efficiency Avoiding Inertia
➤ Providing accurate information about business processes that Changing the way you do business is never a task to be un-
can be used to identify efficiency improvement priorities dertaken lightly, especially when current processes and proce-
dures seems to work well. The good news is that steelXML and
Findings from Across the Pond integrated EDI can be implemented in phases, allowing your
In the UK, we’ve received reports from our customers in- business to target specific areas for immediate improvement,
corporating integrated EDI that satisfaction of their customers while migrating gradually to full implementation. The first
has improved due to faster response times with accurate infor- portions of the schema (inquiries and requests for quotations)
mation; if a product is unavailable, it is immediately flagged and are now available for free; other schemas are available as a pre-
the fabricator can source from elsewhere, all within the day. release for organizations that are willing to provide feedback.
Using integrated EDI in trials, Tata Steel, with steelmaking in Several participating companies have already implemented part
the UK and Netherlands and manufacturing plants across Europe, of the schema, and AISC is looking for steel suppliers to test
managed to process orders at an average of metric 100 tons per hour. and review it. Visit www.aisc.org/steelxml and let us know if
“We’ve been able to remove the manual stages of checking you’re interested in helping to bring steel procurement into
against stock manually and keying the order back in again, in 2015 and beyond.  ■

AUGUST 2015