Riteweigh Supply Tailored Solution to Saint Gobain / Gypsum Industries
Customer Statement:
Felim O’Reilly, Operations Manager at Gypsum Industries says:
“The driver operated system that Riteweigh has supplied has greatly improved throughput and reduced operating costs whilst providing positive identification of all loads entering and exiting the plant. We can cross check that each load exiting the plant has been fulfilled and a complete audit trail is available Riteweigh’s system offers us 24/7 reliable and up to the minute critical product movement details”.
Business Background
Manufacturing in Ireland since 1936, Gypsum Industries is the market leader in plasterboard and plaster based products for the building industries. Part of the international Saint-Gobain group, Gypsum manufactures an extensive range of plasterboards and plasters in their production facility at Kingscourt, Co. Cavan. Gypsum chose Riteweigh to develop a bespoke semi-automated weighing system for their factory site in Kingscourt Co.Cavan.
Business Requirement
Gypsum Industries required a weighbridge system that would track all vehicles entering and exiting the factory and record each vehicles registration number. It was also a requirement to cross check expected deliveries with actual loads delivered using a customized weighbridge system solution. In addition Gypsum Industries wanted to reduce ongoing overheads of dedicated weighbridge personnel from the weighing process at the exit point of the factory. Customers arriving to the factory with pre-orders need to be sure that all goods ordered are supplied and loaded onto truck upon exit and for this reason a solution that could link entrance and exit weighbridge loads was sought.
Solution Provided
Riteweigh supplied hardware and software solutions to suit the specified requirement; these items consisted of a dedicated PC system at the incoming weighbridge station with a license plate recognition (LPR) system at both the entrance and exit points to the factory. In addition, two driver operated kiosks were installed at truck cab height at each of the two exit weighbridges, eliminating the need for a dedicated weighbridge operator. At the core of this system is a tailored version of the Payload weighbridge transaction software, designed and developed in-house.
Typical Mode of Operation: Trucks entering the factory have their vehicles license plate recorded using the LPR software. The driver then presents the weighbridge operator with an order number including details of collection. The weighbridge operator manually weighs the truck on the entrance weighbridge and inputs information regarding the customer, the destination and what they have ordered. The weighbridge system automatically estimates what the truck should weigh on exiting the facility as it has a registered weight for each product that is assigned on the customer order. The incoming weighbridge station is manned, while the exit weighbridge is automated.
Once the load has been weighed in, the truck proceeds to the loading bay and hands the load docket to staff in dispatch. Once loaded, the driver proceeds towards the unmanned weighbridge on exiting. The weighbridge system has pre-registered the expected weight of the truck, if the truck is within the weight tolerance then the system will print a docket detailing the weighing transactions and the barrier lifts allowing the driver to exit. If the driver has been overloaded or is missing stock that was on the order form, the barrier will not raise and the driver is unable to exit the facility until he contacts shift supervisor. This system allows Gypsum to get real time information regarding stock levels allowing accurate purchasing, stock control and maintenance.