Proper management and control of building materials have always plagued the construction industry. Manufacturing is typically challenging because of the constant pressure of maintaining a production uptime 24x7 and if the status of the materials is not known at any step of the process (assembled, shipped, installed), construction delays can set in. Increasing consumer expectation makes it even more crucial for manufacturers to identify a digital production tracking platform to channelize all possible resources and streamline tedious processes for increased business productivity. One of the bigger challenges of digital tracking of production of any fabrication process revolves around software challenges that companies face in accurately translating the bill of materials from design to production when they do not have BIM / 3D models to work with. With Lite tracking on cmExe, fabricators can now track, collaborate and report the production status even without a 3D model.
What in your production can you track on cmExe?
- First, the Project Manager creates a job order and submits fabrication packages to get the approval needed to start the production of the job.
- An Estimator can then generate the bill of materials for a project including standard parts, hardware, and accessories thereby providing accurate quantity take-offs, and use that downstream to track production.
- The Fabricator or Saw Operator then accesses the documents for fabrication, performs the fabrication, and updates the status to the project manager using QR codes.
- Finally, the Project Manager can now share the live status of production with the client and get paid faster for the completed work.
How can you track the fabrication process without a 3D model?
As a user, you need to just enter the names of the item you want to track in the form of a table, select a workflow from your company catalog and add users who will be working on each task. The item that you want to track can be a part, an assembly, or even a job order.
Tracking an assembly without a model:
Once you have created the Bill of Materials (BOM) for the scope of work, the next step is to define the processes and user roles involved to track progress till the installation on-site or final sign-off. For example, a curtain wall assembly is created as described in the previous section. The processes (and roles) involved in the product lifecycle such as design (Design Manager), fabrication (Fabricator), assembly (Fabricator), quality assurance (Quality Manager), storage (Warehouse Manager), shipping (Shipping Manager/Driver), and installation (Site foreman/ Installer) can be defined using the workflow builder and linked to the BOM item you created.
If you have a standard process that you want to follow across your company, you can do so with the help of company-level assembly tags. For a project, all you need to do is tag the BOM item with the relevant type, e.g. curtain wall. The final step will be to add the members who will be working on this assembly to the role, so they have the required user permissions and can start using QR codes to update statuses as required in the workflow.
All the information is available at one location and can be easily found by just scanning a QR code. The system also records with timestamps all the actions performed on that assembly e.g. user who updated the status, issues flagged, checklists filled, etc.
With the ability to view, update and report production, even without a 3D model, more manufacturers can now use cmExe.io for data-driven decision making, contextual process insights, customized user access, and full traceability for all fabrication project delivery processes. Additionally, with easy sharing capabilities through the enhanced viewer, you can transform your client's experience by providing a clear view of the project's progress in real-time.
If you are a fabricator or an installer and want to know more about cmExe.io, schedule a meeting with one of our product experts right away to see how we can help connect your factory to the site in a single web-based hub.
