Casthouse Module

The EPICS Casthouse Module seamlessly adds extensions to existing EPICS screens to support Casthouse production and log/billet sales. Casthouse operations in EPICS are divided into three distinct stages. The first stage is the charging of the furnace and associated alloying operations. Once the furnace load is ready to be cast, the second stage consists of the actual casting followed by any subsequent operations like homogenization, cropping, etc. Finally, the third stage, disposition, prepares the logs or billets for shipment to a customer, storage in stock inventory, or transfer to extrusion log inventory. Each stage requires some preliminary setup before you can begin creating log or billet orders.

Corrective Action Module

Even in the best extrusion plant, problems occur with shipped metal that must be resolved. The EPICS Corrective Action module helps you establish a positive response to these problems.

The module includes numerous features to use in a program of resolving customer complaints and eliminating future complaints:

• Generate and print a Return Material Authorization (RMA)
• Generate and print a Scrap Authorization document
• Easy entry of a replacement order for returned or scrapped material
• Method of highlighting a replacement workorder (bold heading, special fonts, etc.)
• Link to an EPICS Credit document, providing documentation for the credit
• One-click recall of Corrective Action history for any die, part, or customer

The EPICS Corrective Action Module was developed at the request of EPICS users.  Numerous extrusion personnel provided input during design sessions held at EPICS User Conferences.

Die Correction Module

We are excited to finally offer the Die Correction Module for purchase! The team at Foy Inc is very grateful for the many customers who offered thoughts and feedback regarding the functionality of this new module. Your feedback has been instrumental in creating a new tool that is both standard to the industry and customizable to your specific needs.

The Die Correction Module allows you to do the following:

• Create Die Corrections as needed with ‘Defect Codes’ and ‘Next Tasks’ for follow-up.
• Post completed correction task history, visible in the Die Correction Module and on the Die Copy screen.
• Make detailed notations if needed regarding holes affected and corrective actions needed and taken.
• Schedule in-house corrections for specific tasks and assign those tasks to employees for follow-up.
• Schedule and ship die copy corrections to outside suppliers for correction and receive them back again.
• Automatically update the status of the Die Copy based on the progress of the Die Correction.
• Customize your own die locations, correction tasks, defect codes, outside die correctors, corrector employees, and more!

Drawing Viewer

EPICS includes an optional Die Drawing Viewer — FastLook Plus®, from Kamel Software Inc. Simply by right-clicking on a Die number or Part number, the drawing can be seen on-screen.

This feature works from most EPICS screens, including:

• Die Inquiry
• Die Copy Inquiry
• Sales Order Item
• Inquiry
• Work Orders
• Press Data Collection
• Other Department
• Data Collection
• Packing Tickets
• Invoicing

You can give selected users redlining (markup) capability. This will allow them to add notes that will appear with the drawing. These notes are not saved in the AutoCad drawing, but are kept in a separate file and displayed on a drawing when viewed from EPICS.

Your engineers can also take advantage of FastLook’s extensive redline capability. To do this, they can run FastLook outside of EPICS, where they can add sketches, hatches, color files, symbols, and much more.

The EPICS Drawing Viewer works with AutoCAD® DWG files. It will also work with CGM, DXF, BAK, HPGL, SLD, RLC, TIFF, GIF, TGA, PCX, DIB, RLE, BMP, and WMF files. So if you simply want to create scanned images of your drawings, the EPICS Drawing Viewer will display them.

Let’s say you are inquiring on a particular die, and have the Die screen displayed. If you want to see the die drawing, you right-click on the die number.

EPICS then searches your network for the proper die drawing. It could be an AutoCad file, or it could be a scanned image of a manual drawing. In either case, EPICS will locate and display the drawing. Initially, the drawing appears in the Full-Page (“Zoom Extents”) mode, displaying the entire drawing.

Once the drawing is displayed, the user can zoom in on any part of it. If he has permission, he can also add notes, notes with leaders, or “sticky notes” that will be displayed with the drawing. And he can print the drawing with the click of a button.

Drawings for Fabrication and drawings for Packing can also be displayed in the same manner. And the displays do not have to be drawings – they can be digital photos. This is especially useful to display packing information.

Enhanced Shipping Module

EPICS Connect
Order Status – Bringing EPICS to Customers

Extrusion customers often want to be able to quickly and easily check the status of their orders in progress. This can result in customer service staff spending time responding to the same basic questions over and over again. EPICS Connect gives extruders a way to make real time order status information available to their customers through an online portal.

Extruders can choose which information to make available through EPICS Connect. EPICS Connect uses several database views that can be customized as needed to change what information about orders and items is accessible to users.

EPICS Connect accounts can be created based on a salesperson code, customer group, or specific customer in order to ensure a given login can see all of the information they should be able to view and none of the information they shouldn’t.

It is also possible to add reports to EPICS Connect. Reports can be configured to run for either a single customer or for all customers a user can view data for. It is also possible to choose which users are allowed to run a given report and which aren’t. Web users with permission to use a report can request to have it automatically generated and either request to have it emailed to them or presented as a download directly from the EPICS Connect website.

Outside Processors – Closing the Loop

EPICS Connect also allows extruders to gain more detailed information from their outside processors. EPICS Connect can be used with some outside processors while still handling other outside processors normally, allowing extruders to use the system only with outside processors that are willing to use the system.

Outside Processor accounts in EPICS Connect can see material that has been shipped to them and mark it as received and then post an update when the material has been shipped back. They can also use EPICS Connect to add production notes, report if any pieces are scrapped, and easily split tickets if they arrive or need to be shipped back in multiple batches.

Outside Processor accounts are also able to view information about orders that have the relevant outside processor in the routing in order to better prepare for upcoming material. Like with the Order Status features, all of the information shown to outside processors can be customized by the extruder to ensure that outside processors are able to see exactly the information that is relevant to them.

EPICS Link
Linking EPICS to Production Machines and other Applications

Many extruders have supervisory computer systems on their extrusion presses, paint lines, anodizing lines, packing lines, etc.  Using the optional EPICS Link API, it is possible for these supervisory systems to extract job information from EPICS, process the job, and post production data back to EPICS.   Using EPICS Link at a production station allows you to use the supervisory system terminal instead of an EPICS terminal at that station.

Supervisory systems obtain information from the EPICS database by issuing SQL calls, asking for data regarding items scheduled for processing on the subject machine.  Foy personnel will work with your engineers or equipment supplier to assist them in developing the SQL statements necessary for their application.

The supervisory system is then responsible for collecting production data regarding quantity processed, start and stop times, scrap, downtime, etc.

When the production run is completed, the supervisory system sends the data to EPICS Link using a SQL statement.  EPICS Link checks the data for accuracy and completeness and updates the appropriate tables ( 12-16 tables for most production departments.)

Please note that the supervisory system is responsible for extracting data from EPICS, presenting the appropriate data to the machine operator, collecting the necessary data, and returning the data to EPICS.  EPICS Link is responsible for distributing the data to the appropriate EPICS database tables.

The EPICS Link API provides the only approved method of posting production data collected from systems outside of EPICS. Using EPICS Link helps assure that the integrity of your database is maintained.

The EPICS Link API also includes functions that can be used to build custom applications to capture data from automated packing lines, to capture billet receipts, and to import production orders into EPICS from other ERP/MRP systems.

EPICS Bridge
Build Interfaces Between EPICS and Other Enterprise Systems

The EPICS Bridge API allows you and your vendors to build interfaces between EPICS and other enterprise software such as ERP, MRP, or accounting systems. It includes functions to import and post new EPICS sales orders, edit existing sales orders, and insert or edit customers, dies, die copies, customer parts, billet receipts, billet chemistry, and tensile tests. For data export, EPICS Bridge also provides functions to transfer invoices from EPICS to A/R and to pull data (e.g. sales, production, etc.) from any predefined database view.

All EPICS Bridge functions implement the same data integrity checks as the EPICS Interface and are the only fully supported way to insert or edit EPICS master table data.

EPICS Bridge is available as a 32-bit or 64-bit .NET library and as a REST API.

Finishing Module

The Finishing Module provides two key enhancements: an interface designed to handle the special requirements of finishing departments, and an inventory system for paint and anodize consumables.

When posting production in a Paint or Anodize department, you can enter a Load Number and Load Bar number, a Racking crew and an Unracking crew, and indicate when racking is complete. For Paint, you will see fields for air and paint pressure, speed and cycle time, reciprocator and flow, and total surface area. For Anodize, you will see Finish Thickness, Amps, and total surface area. In addition to posting quantity of finished metal, paint and anodize consumables can be entered automatically reducing inventory of consumables.

The inventory features include current inventory of all paint and anodize consumables used in production. Components can be mixed, added, reduced, with a detailed history of each transaction allowing you to produce custom colors, record solvent reductions, inventory transfers, etc. The inventory features also include creating and receiving purchase orders for consumables.

Pricing Module

Sales order pricing may be typed into EPICS during Order Entry. Using the EPICS Pricing Module, however, prices may be built automatically based upon pricing rules that you have establish for customers, customer parts, and base metal price.

The Pricing Module is designed to be very flexible allowing you to price extrusions in a variety of ways. You can set a plant-wide base price and then for each customer, you can set a variance from that price; for example, 2 cents below the plant-wide base price. Then on a customer-by-customer basis, you can specify alloy, die type, finish, packing, and die cavity code adders or deducts. In this way, EPICS can build a price for any customer’s business. You can also set specific prices on a part number basis for each customer. If you do set part prices, then those prices override the generalized pricing structure for that customer.

Prices are automatically entered during order entry. If a part number has been entered, EPICS will locate that part and determine if there is a special price for that part. If so, it will insert those prices onto the Order Entry screen. If there is not a special price for that part, then EPICS will build a price using the generalized pricing information for that customer.

For each customer, you can set up a base price representing a variance from the plant-wide price. If a customer has no variance from the plant-wide price, then it is not necessary to set this special part for that customer. But if a customer receives, for example, a 2 cent discount from your base price, then you would set up a base price for that customer of -0.02.

You can also set price adjustments for alloys, die type codes, finishes, packing codes, die cavities, and part spec codes. The Pricing Module properly handles quantity discounts and adders.

In summary, for each customer you can establish prices for the following categories:

•  BASE
•  ALLOY
•  DIETYPE
•  FINTYPE
•  FINCODE
•  PACKCODE
•  CAVITY
•  SPEC CODE

Quality Checks Module

The Quality Check Module allows you to collect quality-related data at any stage of production. The data collected can consist of detailed measurements specific to a customer part or to individual dies, or they can be simple measurements collected for every lot or rack that passes through a department or machine. The familiar Screen Layout Designer tool is used to create as many different quality check layouts as you need. As you attach these layouts to your parts, dies, machines, and departments, you can make them optional, or you can make them required for every applicable lot or rack. For example, in the extrusion department you might want to capture dimensional readings for every lot; while in the aging department, you might want to capture Webster readings for every rack in the oven. The configuration of every test in every department is completely under your control.

Once collected, quality check data for each sales order item can be quickly viewed by right-clicking on the item number. You can also view all quality checks collected for a die or part by right-clicking on the die or part number. Reports can be used to analyze quality checks over time based on any number of parameters.