|
AECON IS MOVING WITH SHIP
Aecon is Canada's largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure
development company. Their Civil Group had a need for a reliable scale
house integration solution that could handle an expanding workload.
|
AECON’S NEEDS
"In our industry it's all about speed and accuracy",
says Vince Martinello of Aecon Construction and Materials Limited.
What Aecon required was a robust system that truly integrated the
Head Office in Brampton with their pit locations across Ontario.
A system capable of dispatching and monitoring trucks. One that
prints a weigh-scale ticket and collects load information for billing
purposes. Vince realized that their existing system wasn't up to
the challenge.
"The system we had before was a Windows based application,
not accurate and prone to error. It was a new system - what I would
call an 'immature' product"
|
Vince was responsible
for recommending a new system. He turned to his previous experience
with the Scale House Integration Program (SHIP) system from Slofstra
Software Inc. (SSI)
"SHIP has a history of outperforming what's out there. It's
not fancy; but, fast and accurate." Vince could also vouch
for SHIP's reliability. "I've seen the system handle 14 million
tonnes of material a year without any problems."
SSI's understanding of the aggregate industry meant a quick start-up.
"SHIP was designed specifically for the aggregate business.
It's a refined product that has been developed through years of aggregate
experience." |
SHIP’S BENEFITS
The benefits of Aecon's SHIP implementation were soon realized. The billing
process which had taken five days to complete was shortened to a remarkable
half a day! SHIP's comprehensive Sales Reporting feature with over 20
pre-defined reports gave Aecon's sales force timely market information.
Thanks to SHIP's simplified data entry that registers weight automatically
off the weigh-scale and a quicker ticket printing system, trucks were
moving through the scale house faster. Lisa Randhawa at Head Office puts
the SHIP program through it's paces. "I like the system. It's designed
to stop errors with built in warning messages and field of information
prompts that ensure correct and full data is entered into the system."
SSI SUPPORT
Lisa works closely with SSI staff for ongoing product support and for
new programming applications. "I rely on them thoroughly." Lisa
had worked with SSI on a method of storing invoices electronically, the
E-Binder electronic archiving program. This not only saved valuable physical
space required to store paper invoice copies but also allowed for quick
reprinting of invoices lost by customers.
SHIP MOVES THE AGGREGATE INDUSTRY
"The original design of the SHIP software responded to the unique
requirements of the aggregate industry", says Henry Slofstra, company
founder. Since then, SHIP has kept abreast of advances in communications,
operating systems and printing technology. For example, customer invoices
can be laser printed using a forms management system, meaning it is no
longer necessary to inventory costly pre-printed forms. The SSI team also
has extensive experience in integration to leading General Ledger software,
ranging in capability from Quickbooks to Fortune 500 software.
|
TESTIMONIALS
Steed and Evans Limited has recently installed the SHIP System at
three locations, our main aggregate and asphalt facility, and two
stand alone asphalt plants. We are very pleased with the performance
and reliability of the system, which was delivered on time and within
budget. We were very happy with the level of expertise SSI has in
our industry and their ability to customize the system to our particular
needs.
Malcolm Matheson, P.Eng.
Vice President, Materials
Steed and Evans Limited
CBM’s (Canada Building Materials) Aberfoyle location, one of
the largest aggregate operations in Canada, has been using the SHIP
software for almost a decade. SSI has been an important partner
in delivering customer-oriented, reliable
software within the framework of CBM's aggressive information technology
program. The SHIP software successfully integrates our seven aggregate
locations across Ontario.
Ben Fong
Director of Information Technology
St. Mary’s Cement Inc.
TCG Materials and TCG Asphalt and Construction
have used SHIP for many years at approximately
15 aggregate locations and three asphalt plants in
the London and Brantford area. We are also a very
satisfied user of SSI's Job Costing software which
integrates seamlessly with the SHIP system and
our Payroll and Accounts Payable systems.
Dan O’Hara
General Manager
TCG Asphalt & Construction Inc.
|
| Feature |
Benefit |
| Variety of pricing methods |
All tickets automatically priced. Real-time pricing
and credit checking. |
| Centralized product, pricing and customer information |
Efficient and consistent administration of multiple
locations. |
Tickets & pricing information
replicated automatically |
Dispatch personnel can focus on moving trucks
through the scale, not on running uploads to the office computer. |
| Linux computer provides true multi-processing |
Truck weigh-out, remote support, upload-download
procedures, and reports can run simultaneously on one computer. |
| Trucker Statements |
Greatly reduces amount of clerical checking and
correction compared to hired truckers invoicing their loads. |
| Sales Reporting in MS Access |
Over 20 pre-defined reports. Full selection capability.
All underlying query info can be downloaded to Excel. Easy to
add more reports. |
| Unattended weigh scale option (Involves
additional cost) |
Scale can be handled from a remote
site; truckers check-out using a bar code or radio frequency
tag. |
| Job Costing interface |
Saves re-entry of tickets, increasing job ledger
accuracy. |
| Scalehouse pre-assignment |
Dispatch screen shows all trucks running and their assignments.
Status of trucks in yard is shown, if check-in feature used.
|
| Cash sale tickets |
Fully priced and extended ticket provides tighter
cash control. |
| Miscellaneous charges |
Handles second product charge, waiting time &
flat-rate trucking. |
| Bar coded tickets |
In Ontario, as per MTO requirements for specific
jobs. |
| Real-time credit control |
Optional feature to manage customer A/R balances
in real-time. |
| Table driven scale interface |
Different scales can be handled without re-programming. |
| Drop shipments |
Can print on a generic ticket mastheaded with
the customer’s name. |
| Table-driven surcharge and levy calculations |
Programmer assistance usually not required to
provide various levy and surcharge calculations. |
|
|
