Computer Software for Steel Professionals
Structural Material Manager Main System
This is the "core" of the package, the foundation of the system onto which other modules can be added. It provides material entry, weights, surface areas, bolt counts, lineal totals, unsorted reports, sorted reports and all system utilities. The main system includes lifetime technical support for itself and any options that are added to it.
MATERIAL ENTRY AND EDITING:
The system accepts entry of all W, S, M, HP, WT, ST, MT, C and MC beams and channels. Other types supported are Plates, Checkered Plates, Bars, Bar Grating, Angles, Tubes (round and square), Rods, Rebar, Pipe and Bolts. A special "Miscellaneous" category is provided for types not directly supported (guy wire, small hangers, etc.).
Only a Quantity, Material Type, Description and Length must be entered for each item. Piece Mark, Mill Mark, Grade, Camber, Remarks, Price, Shop Hours and Field Hours fields may also be entered if needed, or simply omitted if not. The Edit mode allows any of these fields to be easily modified without retyping the entire item, and the Delete mode removes the item from the list.
All material sizes are designated in Imperial measure (3/8" Plate, W 10 X 54 Beam, etc.), but item lengths and plate widths can be specified in either Imperial feet and inches or Metric millimeters. A plate can thus be easily entered in Imperial measure as 1/2" x 35" x 5'-6 13/16 or in metric as 1/2" x 890 mm x 1697 mm.
Entry time is reduced by the user's ability to program the function keys. Supposing a list frequently contains the remark NO PAINT, you could assign this to a key from F1 to F12, which then instantly produces NO PAINT when it is hit. To further reduce entry time, the fractions 1/16 through 15/16 are instantly generated from the function keys.
UNSORTED REPORT:
The Unsorted Report provides a convenient means for checking material entries by listing items in the exact order they were entered. Both single weight and line total weight are provided for each item printed. A summary at the end of the Unsorted Report supplies the total weight and surface area for each material type and the entire job.
Below is a thumbnail image of an Unsorted Report representing a simple 5-line Structural Material Manager job; click to enlarge it to full size:
SORTED REPORT:
This list segregates all items by material type and lists them from large to small. Identical items are combined and their quantities tallied. All similar items are printed together with a group weight and length.
The following thumbnail image is of a Sorted Report; click to enlarge it to full size:
