Aggregates batching system software
UNITED Engineeringand Software Pty Ltd has introduced its U-Batch batching system software capable of controlling up to three cement silos, six admixture dispensers, and two water pumps, allowing automatic feeding and discharging of material.
Eight aggregate materials can be controlled on overhead-bin plants.
On front-end loader plants, the material/bin names and their targets are displayed on the alphanumeric remote display allowing the easy batching of aggregates. The software can operate in single or twin-sided plants.
A dynamic batch queue allows batches to be queued and batched uninterrupted one after another.
A hand-held remote control allows batches to be controlled remotely (eg. respond to errors, start the next batch in the queue, commence the discharge sequence, pause the plant) even from the loader.
Customisable plant settings including material tolerances and inflights, jog times, conveyor run off times, and hopper zero bands.
Orders created and stored indefinitely
Orders can be created and stored indefinitely to be recalled when required. Displayed in a daily run-sheet format, the onscreen display presents a given days batches in easy to read tabular format with progressive load size and dollar amounts figures.
Selected orders can be transferred between multiple sites through an automated dial-up process.
No rigid in-built cost calculations - timely pricing information derived from an editable price database (list prices and special customer pricing), a flexible cartage cost calculation that incorporates load fees, costs per kilometre and minimum load sizes and additional surcharge costs.
Ability to include extra non-batch related items on a batching docket (eg. building materials, additional admixtures, dyes, waiting costs and other surcharges).
Automatic material target calculation based on a stored mix design that is displayed onscreen prior to the commencement of a batch. The calculated targets are editable allowing for customised mixes.
Real-time display of material feeding
Target and actual amounts are displayed and refreshed onscreen. Deviations from a mix design's allowable tolerances are display in an alarms window.
Cement silo and admixture tank capacities and their current levels are displayed and updated in real time. Customisable low level indicators warn when material is about to run out.
Intuitive interface straightforwardly conveys plant status through onscreen lamps. Gate, conveyor, vibrator and limit switch states are immediately determinable allowing uncomplicated troubleshooting of plant issues.
Similarly displayed flashing plant alarms (eg. no flow of material, out of tolerance errors, out of zero band) can be acted upon by double clicking them. This allows certain faults to be bypassed and the batch to be completed.
A semi-automatic state allows compensatory feeding of material to address material shortfalls.
Preset monthly credit limits for customers
A customer's current level and limit is displayed when an order is being created. Customers may even be flagged as being on hold.
Customers can be imported directly from MYOBTM or QuickbooksTM.
Material databases incorporate selling prices and material costs allowing the generation of a gross margin report indicating profit margins on individual batches. Mix costs are automatically calculated when constructing the mix design.
Mixes are seamlessly created by double clicking from a list of available materials and appending them to the mix design. Allowable material tolerances are applied to individual mixes (not system wide).
A special prices database allows negotiated prices to be set for mixes against individual customers.
Stored discharge profiles allow customisable sequencing of the discharge of materials.
Ten different reports
Ten different reports allowing summary and detailed renderings of customer, product, truck and pricing breakdowns.
Date-based functionality allows reports to be generated for a day, month or yearly period. Additional filtering on customer, mix, truck number and/or order number allows for the easy retrieval and drilling in of specific transactions.
Reprint facility enabling batch reports and batch dockets to be reprinted at any time.
Detailed batch reports summarising material usage and variations from the design.
Exporting interface allowing automatic invoice generation in MYOBTM or QuickbooksTM or importing of data into Excel.
Transaction editor allowing previously generated batch dockets to be modified and/or corrected.
Stock control module
The stock control module allows detailed tracking of material purchases and usages. Date range functionality facilitates a comprehensive tracing of material levels over time.
Allows distinct stock levels to be maintained for cement materials, even when the same material is being used in two different silos. Detailed cement usage report shows material usage for each silo.
Stock adjustment features allowing stock levels to be manually adjusted.
Purchases register allowing material purchases to be entered and recorded. Record your purchase details (date, supplier name, supplier invoice number and purchased amount) and have the software will automatically adjust stock levels for you.
Filters allow a summarised list of purchases for any given supplier (as well as a summarised list of usage for any given customer, if required) to be generated. Know where your material is coming from and where it is going to by analysing purchase and usage frequency and amounts.
Expenses register
Track any number of vehicle related expenses (eg. fuel, service, tyres, insurance) over a given period. The interface allows expense details (date, supplier details, invoice number, quantity and amount) to be entered and stored. Period-based reports can then be printed comparing the expenses incurred by each vehicle against the cartage revenue raised for accurate profit or loss analysis.
Invoice/quote module
Invoice / quote module - allows detailed quotations to be prepared for customers. The custom-designed quote form can be printed and faxed directly to a customer. The dual purpose module also allows tax invoices to be generated. Quotations can become invoices at the touch of a button and an interface to the reporting module allows a tax invoice to be generated off a cash sale transactions.
Truck scheduler
Track the progress of vehicles graphically. Enter an estimated delivery time as part of the order and vehicles will be appended to the truck schedule graph as they are leaving the plant. The interface allows times to be adjusted as it becomes necessary. Know exactly where your trucks are at any given point during the day.
The U-Batch software will interface to any number of custom-built batching system consoles and panels.
28-Apr-2006