Solving common pre-preg traceability issues at low cost

While the nature of the composite industry means that you will  already be using advanced manufacturing techniques, a significant number of ERP systems today simply cannot handle the unique traceability requirements surrounding composite materials such as pre-pregs. For example, many of our customers report that their SAP ERP system is configured to book in batches of material, therefore having no concept of an individual roll, and subsequently no way to track location, consumption, and most importantly, material life. As a result, they develop standalone systems to provide traceability, running in parallel with ERP and requiring a great deal of duplication of effort.

The Predicaments of Traditional Tracking Systems

The aerospace, automotive, and defence industries have long wrestled with the complexities of tracking composite materials. Whether it's the difficulty of efficiently logging material life and consumption or trying to deliver full traceability through manual logs or fragmented digital solutions, the consequences are far-reaching. Excessive material wastage, inability to meet the exacting standards of quality assurance, and the significant time and resources used in tracking efforts highlight the challenges. Furthermore, the limitations of ERP systems mentioned above in handling the intricate details of composite materials further complicate the situation.

CrossTrack MTL was designed specifically to overcome these challenges at a low price point, while providing a full upgrade path to fully integrated Just In Time nesting and scheduling. Engineered for composite manufacturers, it provides a comprehensive suite of features tailored to mitigate wastage, enhance traceability, and optimise the handling of composite materials across their lifecycle.

Comprehensive Material Tracking

One of the hallmark features of CrossTrack MTL, as experienced by Systima Technologies — a USA-based company specialising in innovative solutions for the defense and aerospace sectors — is its unparalleled capacity for reducing material waste and ensuring instant traceability. The software's ability to instantly indicate when any type of raw material, including rolls, tapes, sheets, or kits are nearing expiration transforms inventory management into a precise and efficient process, directly impacting cost savings and operational efficiency.

Error Reduction and Enhanced Traceability

The Systima Technologies case study highlights the significant impact that CrossTrack MTL had when they implemented it. The software's capability to offer instant traceability and dramatically reduce the margin for errors has been a game changer. Every material transaction is logged and immediately viewable on-screen, with traceability effectively becoming a byproduct of the system's efficiency. Previously, the company would have to scrap a roll every 1-2 months due to being unable to accurately track expiry and consumption. Since going live they have been able to quickly identify the most suitable roll, in terms of both expiry and available length. This not only ensures that they use all materials within their expiry date, but also can identify shorter rolls that might be used for more efficient nesting.

Simplification Through Technology

At its core, CrossTrack MTL simplifies the complex. It empowers organisations to leap from manual, often paper-based and error-prone processes to a streamlined, digital-first approach. The utilisation of low-cost mobile devices for material and kit transfers between locations, coupled with the software's usage of the free MS SQL Server Express database, makes it both an accessible and powerful tool for factories of any scale.

Integration with ERP is also simple, regardless of the ERP system in place. The most simple integration is to set CrossTrack to automatically process CSV files sent from ERP. Set it to monitor a folder to instantly import and process CSV files generated from another system to add stock. CrossTrack also supports web services, allowing for bi-directional communication with any system that also supports web services.

Defect Management

Another issue in the composite world is material defects. It is common for rolls to potentially have multiple defects. Material vendors often only supply stickers loosely marking where the defect is located (and only in X, potentially rendering the entire width of the roll unusable), with the associated manually typed document. Where material vendors can deliver this information electronically, CrossTrack allows defects to be automatically imported, with rolls easily identifiable in the grid and any defects highlighted.

Track both raw materials and kits

CrossTrack MTL allows you to create 'assemblies', which are templates of kits that you intend to create. This allows you to then create kits and allocate the appropriate amounts of material to each. The key difference between CrossTrack MTL and it's big brother, CrossTrack CMS, is that MTL is a standalone product that does not integrate with JETCAM nesting. It can track separate materials within a kit, whereas CrossTrack CMS will track each individual ply. Both systems give you a one-click traceability report that provides the life history of every single material allocated to a kit.

Ease of Implementation: Live within hours

CrossTrack MTL can be installed and trained in a morning, with a full video training course also available in the JETCAM University to provide backup support when required. This means that legacy systems can be consigned to history extremely quickly, with the system delivering an instant return on investment.

A 90-Day Exploration without Compromise

It's easy to 'kick the can down the road' when it comes to investment. However, with CrossTrack's low cost of acquisition it is false economy to do so. Furthermore, JETCAM is so confident that CrossTrack MTL will deliver an immediate return on investment that we offer a 90-day free trial*. This gives you ample time to not only train staff and run it in parallel with existing processes, but also review what is involved with tighter ERP integration. In terms of the time savings and material savings alone, the software will have paid for itself before the trial has ended!

Simply put, CrossTrack MTL reaches the parts of the shop floor that ERP cannot reach.

*Nominal installation fee applies.