Copperweld
Manufacturer of structural steel tubing serving North American markets.
The Challenge
- Copperweld was forced into a position of borrowing convertible raw materials from various production runs to meet spikes in demand in another production line.
- Copperweld’s Materials Resource Planning (MRP) system did not support visualization of the stock outs or inventory fluctuations that resulted from these practices.
- Consequently, Copperweld suffered from inaccurate raw material inventory levels and periodic shortages of vital materials in production.
Copperweld turned to Ultra for business process improvement and enterprise evaluation/selection services to streamline business areas and functions.
The Solution
Working directly with Copperweld IT Executives and Production staff, Ultra Consultants designed a Raw Materials Pipeline Model.
Utilizing a custom application and Microsoft SQL Server, this model extracted raw materials inventory data, pipeline data, finished goods orders and forecasts from the operational systems.
Detailed conversion/precedence rules and exceptions to rules were acquired from the operational system and interviews with the master scheduler.
These rules allowed the Raw Materials Pipeline Model to simulate raw-material consumption into the future.
Furthermore, Ultra independent consultants designed a Decision Support System (DSS) and reporting writer, using Cognos, to allow fast, graphical use of the information generated from the Raw Materials Pipeline Model.

About LTV Copperweld
Copperweld is a manufacturer of structural steel tubing serving North American markets.
The Benefits Of Ultra Consultants
Ultra’s business improvement consulting and enterprise evaluation/selection services helped the company achieve the following:
- Stock-out reduced significantly by giving suppliers longer lead times
- Scrap was reduced by nearly 2%
- Raw materials inventory reduced by 40%
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