Computer Software for Steel Professionals
Structural Material Manager Upgrades
Structural Material Manager is constantly being updated via two different types of upgrades: maintenance releases and feature-adding upgrades.
Maintenance releases - or "patches" as they are typically called - are included with your purchase as part of our free technical support policy; they are provided at no charge on our Website. Patches are constantly being released during the active lifetime of a major version. Eventually, as a version becomes obsolete, new patches are no longer offered for it, but the final maintenance release remains available on our Website. For instance, Version 13.1 was discontinued many years ago, but registered Version 13.1 customers who never upgraded to newer major versions can still download the final 13.1 maintenance release - the Version 13.1z patch - at no charge.
Feature-adding upgrades are released less frequently than patches. As these upgrades become available, registered customers are notified that a new version is available. As a registered customer, you may elect to receive the upgrade by submitting payment in the amount specified in the upgrade notice. Your investment is thus protected by having access to inexpensive upgrades as new program versions are released.
Of course the current upgrade inherits the improvements of all previous ones. For instance, if someone with a Version 15.x-series system invests in the Version 18.0 upgrade, they'll also benefit from Master Shipper exports that Version 17.1 added, multi-CPU-core nesting introduced in Version 16.1, shear-cut Plate-Nesting that debuted under Version 16.0, etc.
Click the appropriate link below to learn about the changes that were implemented in a particular upgrade version.
Version 19.2 Upgrade - The concept of midpoint shipping (a.k.a. interim ship-points) is accommodated by a new Delete Shipping Ticket function that removes previously-shipped items from a job's Production-Control history thus making them available for shipment to the job site. Version 19.2 was recompiled under the next generation of its programming language not just for great performance but also the ultimate compatibility with Microsoft's latest Windows 10 and 11 updates.
Version 19.1 Upgrade - Searching for text at the Material Entry Screen is now enhanced by an Exact Match option to prevent extraneous matches due to lines that merely contain the search string rather than representing the precise text for which you are searching. When you edit an item of a certain piece mark, and further items of that same mark appear throughout the material list, the new system pops up a dialog asking whether you'd like those changes automatically applied to all other items of that same piece mark. A new piece mark scheme has been introduced under which any item with a piece mark starting with a number is considered a main member, and any item with a piece mark starting with a letter is a detail item; under this new scheme, 1A is a main member whereas A1 is a detail item. Many new Display Styles have been added to the Version 19.1 upgrade so that you now have over 220 from which to choose. More square/rectangular TSS and HSS items (specifically, stainless ones) have been added to the Version 19.1 size library.
Version 19.0 Upgrade - Mass replacement of fields is now available so there is no need to repeatedly make the same edits. All items within the multiple selection receive the field edit. This new feature is augmented by a function that selects all items of a specified material type so that all W Shapes, for instance, might be given the same grade, price, etc. Another new feature selects all items matching a specified search string, and this provides an easy way to make the same change to all occurrences of a certain piece mark (perhaps changing the length, remarks, etc. for each item with that mark).
Version 18.3 Upgrade - A Find Text feature enhances the Material Entry Screen so that it is easy to search for each occurrence of a certain piece mark, material size, grade, etc. whether in the entire list or just within the selected items. Also, the Build Shipping Ticket dialog has a new feature to alpha-numerically sort the major marks that have been added to the ticket.
Version 18.2 Upgrade - The system can now run in the cloud due to a new, proprietary file-locking system that ensures that team members can safely collaborate without risk of corrupting each other’s cloud-based work. Also, a new setting provides finer control of how cambered items are nested by allowing you to determine whether items of different cambers can be nested from the same stock length.
Version 18.1 Upgrade - The External Data Interface's Import function is now aware of revisions. It compares newly-imported lines against existing ones so you can decide whether they should replace those existing items instead of being added to the material list.
Version 18.0 Upgrade - The Length-Nesting Module can now export its nested results to .CSV files that can be easily imported into Excel. High-yield steel grades have been added so that Version 18.0 can accept HY80, HY100 and HY130 material. Version 18.0 triples the number of user-selectable display styles that control how Structural Material Manager's Graphical User Interface (GUI) elements appear. As an aid when bills of material are hand-entered rather than imported, the Material Entry Screen now features a button that automatically populates the Piece Mark field with an incremented copy of the last-used mark. Version 18.0 executable code has been produced in an upgraded programming language compiler that yields great math performance improvements as well as providing support for Windows 11 and the latest Windows 10 updates.
Version 17.2 Upgrade - The Estimating Module has received two new fields under Version 17.2: Equipment Hours and Crane Hours. The Length-Nesting Module has been upgraded to allow a larger Safety Buffer clearance (now a maximum of 15 15/16") so as to accommodate material-handling equipment that has a very large "dead zone" at one end of a stock length.
Version 17.1 Upgrade - A new screen font is both larger and more readable. More explicit clarification is provided that Buy Lists should be used as-is rather than being nested. Export of Master Shippers (such as when producing Q-A/Q-C Travelers in Excel) is improved by a new option for repeatedly exporting multiple quantities.
Version 17.0 Upgrade - The Production-Control Module's Master Shipper can be printed not only as a report or a set of adhesive labels, but it now can also be exported to an ASCII-delimited file. This allows the Master Shipper to be imported by Excel for custom processing of the material list's major marks (the shipping marks). Producing Q-A/Q-C Travelers in Excel is one of the main purposes of this new feature.
Version 16.1 Upgrade - Impressive performance improvements make the Version 16.1 Length-Nesting and Plate-Nesting Modules much faster without harming accuracy. To further enhance performance, the nesting algorithms have also been redesigned to simultaneously utilize multiple cores provided by modern CPUs; it's like having multiple computers nesting at the same time!
Version 16.0 Upgrade - A free-form plate-cutting pattern has always been provided by the system's Plate-Nesting Module. Version 16.0's Plate-Nesting Module introduces a new shear-cut pattern that has no reentrant cuts. User-specified thickness ranges make it easy to control whether a free-form or shear-compatible pattern is generated for a particular plate thickness.
Version 15.4 Upgrade - A TS-to-HSS conversion function makes it debut in the Version 15.4 Structural Material Manager system. You can now seamlessly switch back and forth between these two designations of square and rectangular tubes.
Version 15.3 Upgrade - The fourth installment in the 15.x-series of Structural Material Manager releases, Version 15.3 allows the application’s display to appear in radically different ways depending on each user’s preference. It also implements a new architecture that greatly improves speed and reliability when the application is run across a network.
Version 15.2 Upgrade - This upgrade adds a Mid-Ordinate Rise (Camber / M.O.) field for plates, expands the Mill Mark field, and adds numerous heavy-duty Bar Grating sizes.
Version 15.1 Upgrade - Ticket-specific header information is now stored so that when Shipping Tickets are later pulled up from the job's Production-Control history, the exact headers used for Ship Via, Shipment Tracking Number, etc. appear. Also, numerous new pipe-size HSS items have been added, collated reports can be stapled properly, and the External Data Interface elegantly handles KISS files that have missing and/or incorrect material type codes.
Version 15.0 Upgrade - Version 15.0 introduces PDF report generation without the need for any outside software such as Adobe Acrobat. Just "print" your reports to PDF using the built-in PDF generator, and you can easily e-mail them to colleagues.
Version 14.2 Upgrade - A major architectural change allows the system to now handle almost 10 million jobs. Not only has system capacity increased to such extraordinary levels, but managing folders and jobs is now easier than ever. Version 14.2 also introduces Windows 10 support.
Version 14.1 Upgrade - A free upgrade to all customers who already own a Version 14.0 system, Version 14.1 serves as a roll-up of all Version 14.0 steel size additions and bug fixes.
Version 14.0 Upgrade - Don't limit the performance of your 64-bit Windows system by running outdated, 32-bit software! Version 14.0 introduces Structural Material Manager's 64-bit architecture.
Version 13.1 Upgrade - This upgrade is free to all Version 13.0 customers. It includes Windows 8.1 support and is the final 32-bit Structural Material Manager release.
Version 13.0 Upgrade - Windows 8 compatibility, KISS file import, enhanced material grades, multiple-monitor support, user-Defined foreground and background colors at the entry grid and printing of sequences on most reports.
Version 12.5 Upgrade - The HSS (Hollow Structural Sections) material type is now supported. A total of 495 HSS items have been implemented in the 12.5 upgrade's size library: 367 Square/Rectangular HSS items and 128 Round HSS items.
Version 12.4 Upgrade - Piece Marks can now be up to 19 characters long, and performance under Windows 7 has been increased.
Version 12.3 Upgrade - The "Edit Plate-Nesting Stocks" screen has been modernized to look and operate very much like the Material Entry Screen at which regular material items are entered.
Version 12.2 Upgrade - A Graphical User Interface has replaced the screens at which "Extended Estimating" values (paint coats, welding electrodes, etc.) are entered. Such values are now saved between sessions, and you have the option to define a set of default values.
Version 12.1 Upgrade - The screen at which items are priced is now implemented in a Graphical User Interface, and a button for stepping back to the previously-priced item has been added. The improvements benefit both modes of pricing items: automatically against a Master Price File and manually without the aid of such a file.
Version 12.0 Upgrade - Plates and Bars in a Structural Material Manager job can be made to follow a consistent Thickness x Width or Width x Thickness format via the new "Standardize Plate Descriptions" and "Standardize Bar Descriptions" functions.
Version 11.4 Upgrade - Gross material pricing instead of net pricing is achieved via a new "Build Buy List" dialog that exports stock items from a job's nested summary to a separate Structural Material Manager job.
Version 11.3 Upgrade - Easy switching between Plates and Bars is provided by a pair of new conversion dialogs.
Version 11.2 Upgrade - Windows 7 is now supported.
Version 11.1 Upgrade - The External Data Interface can now import ASCII-delimited files. The Length and Width fields can now be entered in a decimal format, and digital plan measure tools are now supported.
Version 11.0 Upgrade - The Graphical User Interface (GUI) concept has been brought to the External Data Interface. New steel sizes have been added, and system capacity has increased by over 500 jobs. Also, full-screen mode is now available for those still using the "classic" material entry screen.
Version 10.1 Upgrade - Click this link to see screen shots of the new Graphical User Interface (GUI) that has replaced the old material entry screen in Version 10.1.
Whereas the links above provide descriptions of some different upgrade versions, keep in mind that only the newest upgrade is ever actually available for purchase. That's not a problem since the latest upgrade always contains all features implemented by its predecessors. For example, suppose you own Structural Material Manager Version 15.4 and would like to upgrade to Version 17.2. Also suppose that you did not purchase the Version 16.0, 16.1, 17.0 and 17.1 upgrades that came between 15.4 and 17.2. There is no need to order the interim upgrades, as 17.2 contains all of their features. Of course your Version 17.2 upgrade price will be higher than for another customer who did indeed purchase interim upgrades as they were released, as there is no financial incentive to skip an upgrade version. Still, the fact remains that you do not need to purchase or install interim releases (Versions 16.0 through 17.1 in this example): just invest in the most recent upgrade, and its setup program will convert your old system to the latest one regardless of how many versions you skipped.
All upgrades are now supplied on Flash drives since we no longer ship CDs.
If you are an existing customer with an older Structural Material Manager version, please e-mail us at Sales@ejeindustries.com to obtain a price quote on the latest upgrade. You can then use the Online Upgrade Order Form to conveniently place the order for the latest Structural Material Manager upgrade.