8/13/2004 - Scale Software at Citation Corporation

Citation Corporation is a manufacturer of cast, forged and machined components for the capital and durable goods industries. (citationcorp.net)

Birmingham-Toledo has enjoyed a long relationship with the manufacturing plants of Citation Corporation.  It is a mutually beneficial relationship, as are most business partnerships which stand the test of time.  The people of Citation are extremely professional and a pleasure with which to work.  As stated on the citationcorp.net website,

"Citation's business foundation is built on relationships. We employ robust management systems that ensure the business runs smoothly while we focus on the people who make us successful - our customers, suppliers, employees, and communities."

Citation is a leader in the role of communication to aid the manufacturing process.  Again, from the corporate website:

"We have procedures and equipment in place to facilitate effective communication. To give timely answers and help when needed, Citation has the knowledge and resources to assess each component, make decisions and take action. Finding the best solution begins with Citation."

The terminology used here: effective communication, timely answers, knowledge, resources, component access, decision, action, solution; symbolize not only Citation and Birmingham-Toledo, but also their relationship. It also symbolizes a recent project between the two companies.

Recently, one of the Citation plants had a problem with a Black Box spooler through which they logged data from four melt deck weighing stations equipped with old Toledo weight indicators.  Citation personel wanted to replace the old indicators, as well as the failing spooler.  The Birmingham-Toledo representative suggested that rather than replacing the spooler, Citation do away with it and replace it with Mettler-Toledo's MTConnections software.  Not only would it provide a more useful platform, but it actually cost less than the spooler!  Citation immediately ran with the idea and asked Birmingham-Toledo to configure a package to suit their application.  BTI's main programmer, Bill Winsett, used the MTConnections platform and the Citation plant set-up to create a software solution that has Citation smiling. 

"Accountability" is the buzzword for both Alan Walters in the Citation quality control department and Nate Rice, who, as a lab technician, is involved with many of the Citation applications and projects.  Mr. Rice stated, "I love the software.  I can look at accurate totals, not hand-written ones."  He was in charge of the installation and implementation of the project, and works with the data tables daily.  "I can do a query for any of the furnaces.  I can look at individual weights.  I can total for a single furnace, or for the entire shift."  The information possibilities are endless as Citation seeks to improve its processes.  "This helps the melting manager to know EXACTLY what his throughput is, so that he knows when he may need to shut a furnace down" (for preventative maintenance).  BTI has provided this Citation plant with one of the things sought out by today's manufacturers, a predictive maintenance tool. 

The installation and implementation went very smoothly.  Mr. Rice and BTI's Bill Winsett and Wayne Edgeworth handled the entire project.  "Bill was extemely helpful," said Mr. Rice.  "He walked me through from the very beginning."  He added, "Bill and Wayne were great.  Bill has been doing work here for a long, long time, so he was very knowledgeable about our plant.  I kidded him that I thought he must have been here when they poured the concrete for this place." 

The software package is very "smart", but is also very easy to use.  "It's very user-friendly," stated Mr. Rice. "There have been absolutely no problems."  He likes it so much, in fact, that he wants to see it implemented throughout the plant.  "I would like to add all of my scales to this system."  There is no added hardware cost for this, either, as the software can accept up to 32 scales of almost any make or model. 

Mr. Rice is a man with many ideas.  "This computer wasn't Access-ready, but I would like to have all of this in Access at some point so that I can have all of my queries and reports set up automatically."  The software is ready for Mr. Rice's ideas.  It was created for import into Access or Excel.

Citation Corporation is smiling about this project.  This causes Birmingham-Toledo to smile.  Without your success, we cannot have success.  We want our partners to always say, "There have been absolutely no problems."  

Software in practice: 

Furnace numbers in the left column, date, time & weight following

The old Toledo weight indicators were replaced with the Mettler-Toledo Lynx indicator and its programmable data string.

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