Accurate warehouse management and automated procurement boost the reliability of Steel-Kamet Oy’s operations

Steel-Kamet Oy transferred a large part of the components required for production and maintenance to the Konecranes Agilon warehouse automation system. Each component can now be found easily, and nothing will run out, which saves time and improves the reliability of operations and deliveries.

Steel-Kamet designs and manufactures concrete mixing plants, precast solutions, heating systems, and related lifecycle services for worksites in the energy, mining, and construction industries worldwide. Its product range covers solutions from small to large-scale production and from precast solutions to high-mobility concrete mixing plants.

The production, assembly, warehouse and maintenance operations of the largest operator in the sector in the Nordic countries are located in 3,500 m2 facilities in Kalajoki. The company has operated for more than 40 years and employs 40 people.

The reasons for updating warehouse management are well-known by many companies.

Many companies know the reasons for updating warehouse management. The number of items was high, and their management took place through manual entries in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Balances could not keep up, and item management was complex.

“The registering of costs manually through the ERP system was time-consuming. Balances could not keep up, and item management was difficult. The shortage of components during assembly resulted in unnecessary stoppages in our manufacturing operations, taking several days in the worst case,” says product manager Teemu Kurikkala. Another cause of frequent problems was the difficulty separating components intended for projects from those designed for maintenance.

There was also a need for storage space.

Storage space was also needed. In addition, the company wanted to shift the activities of its procurement organization to operational development by automating order processes.

The external warehouse is also under the management

Steel-Kamet started using its 10-meter-long and 5.6-meter-tall Konecranes Agilon warehouse management system in 2015. The system has one access point and 800 items required in production and maintenance. Agilon is integrated into the company’s ERP system.

When the balance limit set for each item is approaching, an automatic order is created, and warehouse employees or the supplier’s representatives take care of the refills required.

Employees log in to the system by using their PIN code or fingerprint. They pick up the items required based on the name or product code, first defining a job number for the pick-up. There are ready-made pick-up lists for standard products. When the balance limit set for each item is approaching, an automatic order is created, and warehouse employees or the supplier’s representatives take care of the refills required. Warehouse employees or the supplier’s representatives take care of the refills required.  The company controls items in its external warehouse using the Agilon Mobile app.

Hours saved in purchasing and warehousing

Kurikkala mentions the guaranteed availability of components as the Agilon system’s most significant advantage, as it improves the reliability of end-product deliveries. Customers receive the concrete systems they ordered as agreed and on time.

The efficiency of spare parts sales improved now that balance data are always available.

Warehouse management also took significant leaps forward, as most items are behind a single system and easily available there. The efficiency of spare parts sales improved now that balance data are always available. Salespeople can directly tell customers whether the parts they need are in stock.

Hours are saved in purchasing and warehousing every week.

“Automated orders reduced purchasers’ workloads and the number of manual work stages. Hours are saved in purchasing and warehousing every week. Similarly, several days a year are saved in inventorying now that small items are no longer counted manually. Up-to-date balance management has eliminated the need to look for parts unnecessarily and buy them from outside our company,” Kurikkala says.

Stock accounting and project cost monitoring are now more accurate.

In addition, stock accounting and project cost monitoring are now more accurate, as every time an item is picked up or returned, the change in balance is directly allocated to appropriate job numbers in Agilon.

Agilon warehouse automation key benefits in Steel-Kamet´s Production and Service warehouse

• Ensuring the availability of components
• Improving delivery reliability
• Enhancing the efficiency of spare parts sales
• Decreasing buyer's workload and manual work
• More precise post-calculation of projects when item pick-ups and returns are transferred directly to work numbers in Agilon
• Improved inventory management: the inventory became easier and faster
• Stock accounting and project cost monitoring are now more accurate

For more information, please contact:

Jarkko Hemmi, Agilon Sales Manager, Northern Finland

Telephone: +358 40 775 6035, or email: [email protected]