Iscor Limited is a listed South African steel company, producing 5,7 million tons of steel per annum. The company has four major South African steel operations:

* Vanderbijlpark works.

* Saldahna steel.

* Newcastle works.

* Vereeniging works.

What did the Vereeniging drawing office need?

Following on the success of the Iscor Steel Datec PLM (product lifecycle management) implementation for the Newcastle works, Iscor decided to roll out document management functionality to their Vereeniging works drawing office.

The Iscor Vereeniging drawing office workflow existed only as a manual process, with printed drawings forming the base of the system. Engineering Informatics (EI) and AST were approached by Iscor to implement the roll out, which was aimed at enabling the Vereeniging drawing office to utilise the SAP PLM functionality offered in SAP release 4.6B.

While the project implementation was based on the Newcastle works design, there were changes made to the implementation to suit Vereeniging specific business processes. Vereeniging works super-users were also very involved in the project, and took up the responsibility for training end-users of the system within their works.

System overview

Different elements of SAP implemented at Vereeniging include:

* SAP Document Management, SAP Engineering Change Management, SAP Business Workflow, SAP Classification.

* CAD Integration: SAP, AutoCAD and Mechanical Desktop.

The project roll out was based on the Iscor Newcastle implementation. Consequently, the project time line was cut and took three months to implement. The Vereeniging works site went live on schedule (September 2001), and the project was completed within budget. Approximately 50 000 documents were taken on into the SAP system.

Roughly 150 users are able to view data and drawings via the SAP PLM system, with seven of these users having read and write access. The Vereeniging works also has users accessing SAP data in Pretoria and Dunswart. All users access the relevant data via the SAP PLM system.

System benefits

* The result of the implementation is an integrated SAP document management and engineering change management solution for Iscor Vereeniging.

* The solution has fundamentally altered the workflow of the Iscor Vereeniging drawing office, which has moved from a paper-based system to a digital system. This has enhanced control over data critical to the successful maintenance of the Vereeniging works.

* Security of the drawings has been significantly improved through the new SAP functionality.

* System upgrades are absorbed into Iscor's overall ERP budget, thereby lowering the cost of running a fully integrated SAP Document Management System.

Wesley Nel, Iscor Vereeniging drawing office manager, comments, "Prior to the SAP Document Management implementation our workflow was a manual process - literally dealing with paper print-outs. We have seen a fundamental change since the SAP Document Management implementation. The drawing office workflow and overall control of drawings has been greatly improved, along with the security of the data."

For more information: Engineering Informatics, 011 791 1028.