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Metals Industry
Challenges Addressed
The ROSS suite of solutions from Ross
Systems and our specialized consulting services are designed to
address the unique challenges you face in the metals industries.
These include:
Recall Protection/Risk Mitigation
As companies seek to increase their control and in turn, minimize
the risks, they discover that many varied activities, both within
an outside the organization, must be considered. Operations up and
down the supply chain must all be addressed.
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ROSS helps you monitor,
track and control your critical resources including
activities and materials. Capabilities in the areas
of end-to-end traceability of characteristics (i.e.
heat traceability) provide flexibility to follow complete
histories and audit trails, forward and backward, across
the supply chain. Specification management and change
management also provide the control and predictability
to detect and address variability early in your process.
When potential issues are identified, you can quickly
determine the underlying cause, make the necessary corrections
and provide supporting documentation.
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Formulation and process control
Recipe formulation and process control are primary concerns in metals
manufacturing operations. Consistency and quality in end-products
depend on the effective handling of variables in the ingredients.
For most metals manufacturers, this variability creates significant
challenges for process specifications. These dynamics trigger delays
and incremental costs, consequently impacting customer satisfaction
especially if quality is not maintained within strict tolerances.
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ROSS provides the ability
to dynamically adjust recipes based on material characteristics
allows you to produce product with consistent quality
and maximize material utilization. Integrated quality
tests and results validation minimize material and labor
waste.
ROSS is designed with quality
control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) as in integral
part of the process. QC and QA are critical path steps,
so quality can be planned and managed like any other
process. This enables you to exact control over all
materials and products (co/by/end) throughout the process
and be more diligent in date code tracking, dating and
lot tracing among other capabilities.
From your planning activities to
your execution and documentation of results, ROSS
automates many critical functions. All standard processes
are documented and all operations and results are tracked
and logged to support your detailed reporting requirements.
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Increased costs and reduced margins
Growing revenue pressures compel metals companies to streamline
production and distribution operations. Wringing costs out of these
processes must be balanced with maintaining margins to support operations.
With visibility across all areas of the organization from finance
to manufacturing, companies can begin to fully understand and address
how certain practices impact margins and bottom-line profitability.
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ROSS provides the company-wide
visibility through integrated information and capabilities
to speed the flow of goods, eliminate waste and gain
the efficiency necessary to meet product demand while
keeping costs at a minimum. As an example, support for
actual costing exposes all material and operation costs,
including indirect costs or value resulting from co-products
and by-products so you can better understand how margins
are affected and to what degree.
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Satisfying Customer Needs and Demands
New production capabilities have stimulated customer services requirements
across the metals industry. With a shorter production cycle, leaner
staff and lower prices, mini-mills and downstream processors have
set new standards in service that traditional mills are striving
to match. Retaining existing customers and winning new ones is becoming
increasingly more complex. Mills of all types and sizes must find
ways to accommodate customer specifications, monitor production
status and deliver the right product at the right time the first
time.
Learning customer needs, understanding their
preferences, and anticipating what they might need next are the
only ways to strengthen relationships and build the customer base.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy that
leverages people, process and software in an organized way to help
companies manage the complete customer lifecycle from selection
to retention. With a carefully planned CRM strategy, management,
sales, marketing, customer service, and even partners and clients
should be able to share information such as customer purchases or
needs and matches for product or service offerings.
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ROSS empowers you manage
interactions throughout the customer lifecycle. With
a common tool and centralized information repository
across applications that touch your customers (i.e.
sales, marketing, support) with your operational systems
(financial, inventory, supply chain), you can focus
on taking care of your customers. Link your selling
chain to your supply chain. Build the loyalty of existing
customers. Make it easer to attract new ones.
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Increasing Competition Up and Downstream
The traditional united front of the metals manufacturer where rolling
schedules were harmoniously matched to mills based on availability
and customer demand has splintered due to a number of factors. Industry
drivers to use alternative materials such as aluminum and plastics
for lighter cars have cannibalized traditional markets. New market
entrants such as mini-mills with compressed production cycles and
agile downstream processors can offer customers specialized products
and services, lower costs and quicker delivery. The level set for
specialized customer service is tough for the larger mills to achieve.
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ROSS enables metals companies
to optimize product service and value, deliver high-quality
products on time, meet customers and regulatory requirements,
increase operational efficiencies throughout the enterprise,
and embrace and leverage opportunities for business
change. All of these areas are critical for to compete
effectively and continually grow your business as market
demands evolve.
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