New marks
Marks that are in the new list and were not in the old one. They are added to the project.
SFMS · Steel Fabrication Management System
Follow every steel assembly from the drawing office to the site.
SFMS, the Steel Fabrication Management System, is software for the office of a steel fabrication workshop or steel structure factory. It keeps one true record of every assembly in every project: what has been made, what is waiting, what has been inspected and what has been delivered.
It covers the whole job in one place: importing the assembly and part lists from Tekla, production tracking stage by stage, QC inspection requests, painting and site delivery notes, and reports.
It was built together with a working steel fabrication workshop, around the way such a workshop really runs. This page explains, step by step and in plain words, what it does and what it would mean for your business.
What SFMS is
One record of the work, instead of many sheets
SFMS stands for Steel Fabrication Management System. In plain words, it is a program that keeps the record of your work in one place, instead of in spreadsheets, notebooks and people’s memories.
In a steel project, the unit of work is the assembly. Your drawings call it a “mark”: a beam, a column, a brace, anything made from several parts and given its own mark number. SFMS follows each mark through every stage it passes, from the drawing office until it is delivered to site.
Tekla is the drawing software that many steel detailers use. It can produce a list of every assembly and every part in a project. SFMS starts from that list, so nobody has to type it in again.
Because the whole workshop writes into the same record, the office can answer “where is this job?” by looking at a screen, and the manager can see the month’s figures without asking anyone to build a report.
A project, start to finish
A day in the workshop with SFMS
Every project is divided into phases. A phase is a section of the project that is made and delivered together, for example one floor of a building. Each phase follows a workflow, which is simply a list of stages. The standard one has seven.
- Preparation
- Fit-up
- Welding
- Visual inspection
- Client inspection
- Painting
- Shipping
The seven standard stages. Every mark moves along this line, and SFMS records how far each one has got.
The easiest way to understand SFMS is to follow one project through it. The numbers below are an example, not a real customer.
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The project is set up in phases
The office creates the project in SFMS and sets up its phases, giving each one its workflow, normally the standard seven stages.
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The drawings arrive
The drawing office finishes a set of drawings in Tekla and exports the list. In SFMS, someone in the office loads that file into the phase it belongs to. The system now holds every mark and every part, with quantities, weights and lengths. Nobody has typed them in, and from now on every mark has a place on the line of stages.
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The work begins
Take a beam, mark B12, of which the project needs ten. By the end of Monday, the preparation team has finished four. That is recorded in SFMS against the Preparation stage: four of ten. The weight done is worked out by the system from the weight of one beam, so nobody has to calculate it.
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The record knows who did the work
Alongside the quantity, SFMS keeps who did the work, which fabricators and which welders, under which supervisor, and how many hours it took. A month later you can see how many hours a job really needed, and who carried which part of it.
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The inspector checks it
When welding is finished, the stages that need inspection raise an inspection request. The inspector goes through it line by line and approves, rejects or partly approves each one. Say eight of the ten beams are accepted and two are not: the two go back to be put right, and the request prints as a form for signature.
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The drawings change
Halfway through, the drawing office sends a new revision. You load the new list. SFMS compares it with the old one and shows you exactly which marks are new, which have changed and which have been removed. Before anything is applied, it asks what should happen to the work already done on them.
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The marks go to the painter
After client inspection, the marks that are going out for painting are listed on a delivery note to the painter. SFMS will not let you list more than were made.
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The steel is shipped
Painted marks are grouped into bundles and sent to site on a delivery note. Again, the system refuses to send more than was made, or more than was ordered.
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The manager sees the whole picture
Whenever it is needed, for a day, a week or a month, the reports show progress, what is waiting between stages, hours and workload. Each one comes as a PDF or an Excel file, headed with your workshop’s name and logo.
Drawings and revisions
Start from the drawing list, and stay in step when it changes
Every project begins with the list exported from Tekla: the assemblies and the parts that make them up, with their quantities, weights and lengths. SFMS reads that list and sets up the project from it.
The harder moment comes later, when the drawings are revised and work has already started. In many workshops this is where mistakes creep in: a changed beam is made to the old drawing, or a beam that was cancelled is still painted. SFMS is built to prevent this. When a new revision arrives, it compares the new list with the old one and sorts the differences into three kinds.
Changed marks
Marks that are still there but are different, so the people making them need to know.
Removed marks
Marks that were in the old list and are gone from the new one.
Nothing is changed behind your back. SFMS shows you the differences, asks what should happen to the work already recorded on the affected marks, and applies the revision only after you have decided.
What this means for you
You do not retype drawing lists, and a revision cannot slip into the workshop unnoticed.
You see what changed before the floor does.
Tracking the work
Always know how far every job has got
Once the project is loaded, progress is recorded stage by stage, by quantity. If the project needs ten of a beam and four have been welded, the Welding stage says four of ten. The weights follow automatically, so you also know how many tons that is, without anyone doing sums.
Because progress is kept for each stage separately, you can see where work is piling up. If forty pieces are finished at Fit-up but only twelve have reached Welding, the difference is waiting somewhere, and you can see where.
For every piece of work, SFMS also remembers:
- who did the work, the fabricators and the welders;
- which supervisor they worked under;
- how many hours it took.
What this means for you
When a customer rings, the answer is on the screen. At the end of the month you can see
how many hours each stage really used, and you stop guessing.
Quality inspection
Inspection is part of the record, not a separate piece of paper
Some stages need an inspector’s approval before the work may go on. When work reaches such a stage, SFMS raises an inspection request. The request lists the marks and quantities to be looked at.
The inspector goes through the request one line at a time and, for each line, can approve it, reject it, or partly approve it, for example eight accepted out of ten. Approved work moves on. Rejected work goes back, and the system shows it again at the earlier stage so that it is not forgotten.
Each request can be printed as a form with places for signatures, so the paper that your client or your quality system expects is produced from the same record, not written separately.
What this means for you
Nothing passes an inspection stage without a recorded answer, and rejected work cannot
quietly go forward.
Dispatch
Delivery notes that cannot promise more than you have
When steel leaves your workshop, SFMS prepares the paperwork for each journey:
- Delivery notes to the painter, listing what is sent out for painting.
- Bundles, which group marks so that they travel together.
- Delivery notes to site, listing what is delivered to the client.
The system has two firm rules. It refuses to send more than was made, and it refuses to send more than was ordered. If someone tries to put twelve beams on a note when ten were finished, SFMS will not allow it.
What this means for you
The delivery note agrees with the workshop’s record, so there are fewer arguments about
what was sent and what was missing.
Reports
29 reports, each as PDF and Excel
Everything recorded in SFMS can be turned into a report whenever you want one. There are 29 reports, and each of them can be saved as a PDF to print or as an Excel file to work with further. Among them:
- progress by project and by phase, for any period you choose;
- balances at every stage: how much is done, how much is left;
- what is waiting between two stages;
- completions, and delivery summaries;
- hours by stage and hours by worker;
- the workload of each manufacturer, meaning each person or team that makes the pieces;
- and more besides.
Every report is headed with your workshop’s own name and logo, and carries its form number, so it looks like part of your own paperwork and not like output from a program.
What this means for you
The month-end report that used to take days of copying is available when you ask for it,
and it is built from the same record that the floor works from.
People and permissions
Each person sees and does only what their job needs
Every user has an account of their own. A “role” is a name for a set of permissions, such as what a person may look at and what they may change. Each account is given a role, and the role decides what that person can see and do. The inspector’s screen is therefore not the same as the manager’s.
The system also keeps a record of changes. Every change is recorded with who made it and when, so if a figure looks wrong, you can find out how it came to be that way.
What this means for you
You decide who may do what, and you can always find out who did it.
Two ways to run SFMS
SFMS runs in your workshop or in the cloud, and you choose
SFMS can run in one of two places. In both cases your staff open it in a web browser, the way they would open any website, and see the same screens. There is nothing to install on each desk.
A “server” is only a computer that other computers ask for information. In the first option it is a Windows PC in your own office. In the second it is a computer that we rent in a professional data centre.
Some things are the same whichever you choose:
- A backup every night. Nobody has to remember it.
- Updates that keep your data. When a new version is installed, everything you have entered stays, and if something goes wrong during the update, the system undoes it by itself and returns to how it was.
- Your own accounts. Each person has an account, and their role decides what they can see and do.
Choosing, and changing your mind. You choose when we write your proposal, and we are glad to talk it through first. The cloud option is paid as a subscription. You can start on one and move to the other later, and your data comes with you. We will arrange the move for you.
We do not say that one option is safer than the other. The local option depends on the PC in your office and its electricity. The cloud option depends on your internet connection and on our server.
What this means for you
On your own PC, your records are in your building and under your control, and a bad day
with the internet does not stop the workshop. In the cloud, there is no server for you to
look after, and people can use SFMS from site or from home, as long as they have a
connection.
Questions about SFMS
What owners and managers ask us
We already have our drawings in Tekla. Do we have to type everything again?
No. SFMS starts from the list that Tekla exports: the assemblies, the parts, and their quantities, weights and lengths. You load that file and the project is set up. If you use other drawing software, write to us and we will tell you plainly whether it fits.
What happens when the drawings are revised after work has started?
You load the new list. SFMS shows exactly which marks are new, which have changed and which have been removed. Before anything is applied, it asks what should happen to the work already done on those marks. You decide, and then the revision is applied.
Can the system stop us sending out more than we made?
Yes. When you prepare a delivery note, SFMS refuses to include more than was made, and more than was ordered.
Who can see what?
Every person has an account, and their role decides what they can see and do. Every change is recorded with who made it and when.
What if the internet goes down?
On your premises. SFMS keeps working. It runs on a computer in your own office and your staff reach it over the office network, so it does not depend on the internet.
In the cloud. SFMS needs the internet. People cannot open it from a place where the connection is down, until it returns, while people where the connection works can carry on. If our server is out of action, nobody can open it until we have put it right.
Can we use SFMS from site or from home?
In the cloud, yes. SFMS opens in a web browser at a secure web address, so your people can use it from the office, from site, from home or on a phone, wherever they have an internet connection. Each person signs in with their own account.
On your premises, not in the same way. SFMS then runs on the office network and is not put on the internet, so it is opened from the computers in your building. If you need people to reach it from site or from home, the cloud option is the one made for that.
Every workshop works a little differently. Will it fit ours?
The standard workflow has seven stages: Preparation, Fit-up, Welding, Visual inspection, Client inspection, Painting and Shipping. SFMS was built together with a working steel fabrication workshop. If your way of working differs, tell us what you do, and we will say honestly whether SFMS fits or what would have to change.
How will my people learn to use it?
A full user manual is built into SFMS and opens from inside the application. When we install the system, we also show your people how to use the parts that concern their own work.
Who owns the data, and can I take it out?
You do, with either option. Every report can be saved as an Excel file or a PDF whenever you like.
On your premises. The data is stored on your computer. The nightly backups are copies of your database (the organised store where SFMS keeps its information) that you hold yourself.
In the cloud. The data is stored on our server, but it is still yours. You can export any report to Excel or PDF at any time, and if you leave, you get a full copy of your data.
What does it cost, and how do we start?
The price depends on the size of the work, so we do not publish one. Write to us at support@trtactics.com. A first conversation and a proposal are free of obligation, and the proposal states the price before any work begins.
The price also depends on whether SFMS runs in your own workshop or in the cloud. The cloud option is paid as a subscription.
Learning the program
Help is built in
A full user manual is built into SFMS and opens from inside the application. A new member of staff can look up how to do a task without having to ask someone else.
Contact
Talk to us about SFMS
A first conversation is free of obligation. Tell us a little about your workshop and how you keep track of your work today, and we will explain what SFMS would and would not do for you.