Systems solutions: Your company is its systems. Integrate your current systems or generate new ones to remove roadblocks, not work around them.
Details: Aecon Industrial
Employees: 800
Sector: Fabrication, Construction and Infrastructure
Key Business Activity: Specializes in process piping for oil and gas industry
Contact: 53-251 Range Rd 232
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 4V2
780-449-5111
www.aecon.com
The company motto for Aecon Industrial is “Building things that matter.” At the Sherwood Park-based welding arm of the Canadian construction and infrastructure development giant, how they build things also matters. The business has received a big boost thanks to an IT solution. Aecon’s custom software ICoMS (Industrial Construction Management System) is a Microsoft-platform database that has dramatically changed the way the company does things. “We have to prioritize, to figure out what gets built first,” says Jim Gilbank, Aecon’s welding process specialist. “Without a database, we’d be totally lost.”
A finished weld is known as a module. A walk through the shop reveals pipes - the materials used to make a module - of all diameters and thicknesses imaginable.
Aecon might have multiple modules of various sizes to build at a given time, complicating the process significantly. “When that material is received, all that information goes through a warehouse software system and the inventory is logged in the database,” says Gilbank, adding that a co-ordinator oversees things.
The system also tells Aecon staff what they’re able to build on a given day. For example, if they require a number of spools to complete a module, but one flange is missing from inventory, the database tells them that it’s not a good project to start because it will sit unfinished until the flange arrives.
In-house database manager Vlad Vicentijevic is tasked with tweaking the database to improve its efficiency. “It’s really cool technology,” says Vicentijevic. “This system pretty much takes care of all of the processes that happen in this plant.” Vicentijevic developed a forecasting tool that goes into the database.
The tool checks whether or not they have the material for specific spools in the sequence and reveals if they are able to build a client’s order immediately with materials on hand.
“Before, it was a guessing game,” says Vicentijevic. “People would start to build things and then see that they were lacking parts. Now, one push of a button tells what’s buildable at that moment.”
Investing in a Database
ICoMS has been an instrumental tool in improving production at Aecon. The software means there’s much better control over all of the processes at the shop. Gilbank believes that a database like the one Aecon uses can take a good system and make it better for any type of operation.
Additional data can improve processes, as can the ability to immediately produce detailed operational reports that may previously have only been available on a weekly or monthly basis after intensive compilation.
ICoMS has improved efficiency, too. Gilbank estimates that ICoMs has reduced the company’s planning time by three times. “Definitely don’t think that things are running smooth enough,” advises Gilbank. “To me, that’s a telltale sign of complacency. You’d be surprised how much benefit a database can provide.”
There are different routes managers can take when investing in database software. For instance, they might consider hiring a consulting firm specializing in data processing. Another way is to get educated. “It might be worth your while to check out a community college to learn more on how to apply new software yourself,” says Gilbank.
