Professional Business Management and State-of-the-Art Production Scheduling and Control from HANIC Software


German Software Producer HANIC is now actively marketing its range of software products for the glass industry in the UK and is well on track to supply overall solutions to well known British glass companies: clients already include CET and Regency Glass. 'I personally think that the main reason for this success is the high level of integration, the completeness of the system, the ease of use as well as the modern looks of the system', says Horst K Mertes, Export Director for HANIC Software.

Hanic has also recently concluded an agreement with the Thermoseal Group, the fastest growing UK manufacturer and supplier of machinery and consumabes to the insulating glass industry, which will give Hanic more penetration into the UK market.

HANIC is not new to the glass industry, having been supplying solutions all over Europe for nearly 20 years. The company is big enough to supply, but small enough to care about customer's requirements and special wishes. The reaction times on solving specific requirements therefore are very short and quick.

The solution in detail:

OPTIPLUS main menu

OPTIPLUS is a complete integrated solution running under MS Windows with the powerful database ORACLE. It includes all the components necessary to run a modern glass processing business including sales order processing, purchasing, stock control, capacity planning, despatch planning, statistical reporting, etc. The ease of use as well as the extremely high level of integration are the most important characteristics of the system. Already at the start of order entry all master data are automatically adopted from specific tables and customer specific arrangements such as contract data, prices, payment terms, etc. are retrieved.

Important and production relevant data such as graphical shapes can be specified with integrated graphical tools. This includes catalogue shapes, odd shapes, digitised shapes and all relevant processes such as complex stepped units (IG) and/or other processes such as polished edges, cut-outs, slant corners, round corners, drill holes, fan holes, speaking holes, etc.

A unlimited number of different processes can be assigned to each individual order item and no further intervention for production is necessary.

Graphical entry of a complex stepped shaped IGU

The system comes along with the most complex pricing methods so that all specific pricing can be done fully automatic. Automatic detection of items to be purchased and online link and automatic creation of purchase orders, stock control, capacity planning as well as costing are standard functions within the solution.
Despatch and route planning
Specific routes with frequency, driver and lorry are stored in tables and can be assigned to the customerís main or delivery address. These standards can be changed individually during the point of sales order processing. Detailed route plans can be generated by several criteria showing all despatch specific information including customer, delivery address, orders, quantities, weight, stops on the route etc. Interface are available to standard route planning tools such as AutoRoute™ or Map&Guide™.


Automatic communication:

OPTIPLUS offers various ways of communication for certain types of events. EDI import/export of orders is available in the most common formats. Order confirmations, delivery notes, etc.. can be automatically faxed through the system or even sent via email to the customers. Purchase orders are generated automatically and are transferred to the suppliers either in electronic format and/or faxed. The layout of the different forms are freely definable and executed with powerful standard form generation tools.


Capacity planning and scheduling / Bar-coding:

This instrument forms are a very important part of the overall system and are a must for a modern glass processing company. All production machinery/resources are created within the system with their specific limitations and capacities. A limitation could be the furnace bed size and items which cannot be produced in-house therefore are flagged automatically for purchasing from a preferred supplier. OPTICAP (capacity planning) uses modern scheduling methods and plans orders backwards in order to achieve minimum buffers within the factory. Capacity planning can be done either by production units, m2, 1m, pieces or in actual production times whereas each machine has certain time slots and capacities and orders are planned within these slots. Whether open or closed capacities are used depends on the configuration of the installed system. All processes necessary to produce a specific product are automatically calculated by the system depending on the complexity of the bill of material and bill of works.

OPTICAP capacity planning monitor

On a graphical capacity monitor the production manager can constantly and interactively check capacities on selected machinery.
An integrated bar-coding system called BAR2000 completes the system and constantly updates completed production steps and releases capacities accordingly.
Bar-coding is also used for order tracking, despatch planning and for providing details about transport racks and loading lists. These can be faxed beforehand to the end customer to inform about delivery details and sequences of items.

OPTIFER -Production Scheduling and Control:

OPTIFER represents a complete Windows based production control tool for batching orders for production via specific criteria. Production relevant data such as sorting groups, exceptions, racking groups, limitations, sequences and rack specific assignments can be defined individually by the customer. This represents the so-called production strategy. An unlimited number of strategies can be created by the user and adopted for every specific batch or business situation. This is a very important difference from similar software packages on the market whereby OPTIFER allows the user to create what he needs and does not require the intervention of a programmer.

Individual production groups can be defined by the user

Limitations table for certain production groups

Batches created in such a way can be processed further and optimised by integrated optimisation methods. HANIC supplies different modes of optimisation (sequenced-just-in-time, pair, duplex (mirroring) duplex XP (enhanced mirroring) and expected sorting results can be specified for each individual production group within a batch. As an example, stepped units would be in a specific group of a batch and it would make sense to force items to be in full sequence for assembly so that no further sorting and intervention is necessary.

This strategy would not be required for other production groups within a batch such as normal IG units or toughened. OPTIFER with all its components is so flexible and can be adjusted to any type of business or situation. The system supports all current CNC cutting lines as well as spacer benders or processing equipment available on today's market.

Batching in OPTIFER - Easy to use and fully flexible via intelligent filter systems

Graphical Aids:

The HANIC overall solution supports monitoring systems for different applications to ensure a fully paperless online production. Production documentation can be printed offline or online as needed and is based on a flexible form generator. Standard or customer specific labels with logo, etc. are a standard part of OPTIFER and there is no limit in terms of different label layouts. Moreover the system offers graphical monitors and supports the following tasks: IGU Line-IN monitor, Line-OUT (Packing) Monitor, TOUGHINING-in and out monitor, Breakout monitor for cutting lines and graphical monitor systems for the different processing lines.

Mobile Communication with the MONA system from HANIC:

Sales representatives nowadays have to be able to access data from their main business systems. The MONA system is dedicated to keeping your company ahead of your competitors with the highest level of information.

MONA is a Mobile Information Assistant and is dedicated to constantly keeping your sales representatives up to date with sales information while travelling. MONA is used in conjunction with the OPTIPLUS Business Management System and a synchronisation link allows constant up to date information about sales, prices, quotes, addresses, etc..

Statistical and pricing condition information keeps your sales representative right on track. Beside other information the following details are available while negotiating with a customer: product sales information, prices, m2, quotations, etc. within a selected time frame. The actual values and details about the previous year are also accessible by a simple pen stroke.

MONA quotation information

To complete the functionality of the MONA system the solution offers a calendar for appointments including a powerful reminder system for upcoming appointments, duties, birthdays of customers, etc.

MONA statistical information

To avoid misuse of such data the system offers full password protection.

The above description represents only a part of the entire range of HANIC software products. It is a powerful and flexible solution which can drive your business to a new era of technology, including the new challenges for document L.

For more information on the HANIC products please contact Horst at:
HANIC SOFTWARE
Horst K Mertes
Auf der Reihe 2
45884 Gelsenkirchen/Germany
HYPERLINK hkm@hanic.de
Tel. +49 209 9476-110
Fax.+49 209 9476-199