Mentor Technology Provides Work-Order Management

Mentor Engineering has supplied technology to Pason Systems, a provider of rental oilfield instrumentation systems for use on land-based drilling and service rigs. The system selected includes Mentor Ranger mobile computers in the vehicles and Mentor Streets Oil and Gas in the office, which integrates with Pason's existing service application. Streets Oil and Gas provides Pason with Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)/GPS, captures telematic data and includes event-management and reporting capabilities.

In conjunction with Mentor Streets Oil and Gas, Mentor Ranger mobile computers offer work-order management to increase efficiency. If one of Pason's customers has problems with their equipment, field technicians can initiate service calls directly from Ranger. The Mentor solution enables help-desk analysts to enter the information and immediately forward it to the field technician, eliminating the need to call the technician while he is driving.

Mentor has also established an interface to a satellite modem, which guarantees that Ranger units are always in contact with the office, improving safety and connectivity. In addition to simplifying the handoff of service call information, the custom-built mobile application running on Ranger features private road routing, well site and Legal Subdivision (LSD) coordinate lookup capability. In the vehicle, Pason's Field Technicians simply enter the well site or LSD coordinates and Ranger provides turn-by-turn directions to the location.

Laidler To Launch Updated Risk Management Software

Laidler Associates will launch the latest version of its Risk Management software system on Stand 10 at Health and Safety 2010 - South. The software gives up-to-the-minute guidance on risk assessments for the working environment, CE marking to the Machinery Directive and Puwer 98.

The Risk Management software system simplifies and speeds the process of assessment, as well as ensuring that no vital steps are missed. The latest version has been updated to cover the requirements of the new Machinery Directive, 2006/42/EC, compliance with which became mandatory on 29 December 2009. Other enhancements include an option for users to decide whether they work to ISO EN 13849-1 or EN954-1 for the safety of machinery and an on-disk copy of the Health and Safety Executive's new Puwer Approved Code of Practice.

The software covers Puwer 98 requirements and CE marking for machines. However, it can be readily expanded with extra modules to suit the needs of individual users. All modules guide the user through the steps necessary for compliance using a question-and-answer approach that ensures every step is properly completed.

The modules then generate detailed reports in a uniform format, thereby making it simple to fully document risk-assessment processes and, in the case of CE marking, to produce the technical files. If non-compliances are found, a 'to-do' list is created, listing items in order of risk. The system also allows the user to store reports electronically.

The new version of the company's Risk Management software system runs on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 on almost any PC. Laidler Associates has announced a series of free access training dates for 2010. Machinery safety workshops, covering the new Machinery Directive, will take place on 13 April in Newbury; 29 June in Solihull; 19 October in Scotland; and 16 November in Bolton.

Winlims Module Simplifies Consumables Management

Quality Systems International (QSI) has created a software application that simplifies consumables management. The Winlims stock-control module allows a stock record to be created for each consumable item used during an analysis procedure. The stock record includes the suppliers' details, a description of the consumable item, opening stock figures, re-order levels, re-order amounts, shelf life and the cost per item or amount.

With each receipt of stock, the supplier's batch details are recorded, including the cost per item, date it was receipted and the quantity for each specific shipment. Clive Collier, QSI's managing director, said: 'With the Winlims stock-control solution, the user can define the analysis method, select the consumables used with this method and detail the amount of each consumable used to perform the analysis.

'So when processing samples, any assigned methods that use consumables will trigger the reduction of each consumable's stock level by the amount defined by the method. 'When reorder levels are hit, the users are prompted to order new supplies, which will prevent them from running out of stock,' he finished. The new stock-control solution also enables traceability of the used consumables to be associated with the analysis samples being processed.

The system will not allow any consumables outside of their shelf life to be assigned to a method. The quality loop is effectively completed by being able to show, for each sample tested, that the methods have been performed correctly and the consumables used were in specification and within their shelf life. The Winlims rental scheme makes Lims technology available to all companies for a low cost and risk free.

Lock-Maker Benefits From Compete IT's Management

Compete IT has modernised Fullex Locks' infrastructure and integrated a production-control system throughout the organisation on the recommendation of production systems manager Paul Head. Head said: 'During the selection process the people from Compete IT demonstrated their manufacturing software several times to me, the departmental heads and to all the people on the shop floor that it would affect. 'As we had hundreds of finished parts and thousands upon thousands of component parts and multi-level assemblies/bill of materials with often 80 to 200 component parts in, the perceived success of such a project was initially doubted by many of the people involved,' he added.

There were four main problems with this project: all data (part numbers, bill of materials, customer and supplier information) was in the old Pegasus system; there was too much data to be able to manually input it into a new system; a lot of the data within the current system was obsolete or required amendments; and the stock count needed to be entered into the system from day one. Compete IT's manufacturing software allowed Fullex Locks to import from an MS Excel spreadsheet the following data: customer information, supplier information, part numbers, assemblies / bill of materials, stock take quantities and values.

This was achieved by exporting information from Pegasus to MS Excel and then, where necessary, the data was 'cleaned up'. Using the standard import facilities within Factory-Master, the data was then pulled through, removing the need to re-key data, saving time, money and hassle. 'I have been involved in similar projects of this nature many times before and had expected it to take six to 12 months to be fully utilising the system without any glitches. 'To my delight and surprise we were fully live and up and running on the whole system within only two months,' Head concluded.