Track materials in capital projects
The Material Handling System- Visibility for the whole logistics chain from procurement to site installation
- Shared materials data-base for all stakeholders
- No more manually updated excels
Items ordered
Packing lists created
Containers delivered
Shipments booked
Are you using Excels to manage material flows?
Too often delivery information is still stored in excels and sent via emails. Not only does this require a lot of manual updating of information but it is also difficult to share information to all relevant parties.Â
Is time wasted looking for lost materials?
If one specific material’s location is unknown hours can be wasted searching it, the project’s progress can be on pause and in worst cases expensive air freights need to be paid to redeliver the lost material.Â
Does your supply chain lack transparency?
If the entire supply chain from procurement to installation is not integrated in one system, the end-to-end visibility is limited. There is also no vertical transparency on from containers to packages to individual items.
Transform how you track materials in capital projects
The Material Handling System (MHS) has been developed to resolve the key issues in tracking materials in capital-heavy construction projects by acting as a common materials data-base
- Transparent material flows throughout the supply chain
- Connect all project stakeholders on the same platformÂ
- Track individual items with the master search tool
- Get rid of manually filling in excels and sending emails
MHS is a modern material tracking system designed specifically for capital projects in the pulp & paper, oil & gas and energy storage industries. The software gives stakeholders across the supply chain access and visibility into the project. The tool can be used by project managers, project engineers, procurement, material suppliers, forwarders, contractors, logistics managers and project warehouse managers.Â
The Material Handling System has been in use in international capital projects since 2003. The features of the software have been developed with the latest technologies based on collaboration with leading Finnish heavy industry companies.Â
Material tracking throughout the supply chain
Supported materials tracking processes
You can build the material tracking system for your project from the following components.
For a free analysis of your business needs you can book a consultation with one of our logistics experts.
Engineering and procurement
Publish and manage purchase orders and home-calls
Freight forwarding
Share delivery milestones with the entire project network
Warehouse and assembly
Tools for construction site warehouse management
Report material deliveries
Form packages, containers and delivery documentation
Unloading of cargo
Unload goods at construction sites using a mobile application
Frequently asked questions
Which languages are supported? How long is the set up process?…
Benefits of using the material tracking system
- Shared materials database for the entire project network
- Locate any component with a single search in the system
- Automatically generated packing lists and labels
- Manage materials based on set milestone dates
- Unload goods at site with a mobile app
- Ensure timely delivery of goods and avoid missing deadlines due to missing materials
- Transparency of information with shipments, containers, packages and items
- Electronic shipment bookings
- Accurate info on laydown area placements at siteÂ
- No more time spent on Excels, emails and phone calls
- Complete your project on time and on budget
Customer stories
UPM made an investment decision to construct a 2,1 million tonne greenfield eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in Uruguay. The total investment of the project exceeded USD 3,5 billion. The operation of the new pulp mill generates 10,000 permanent jobs and involves more than 600 small and medium size local companies in the production chain. More information on the investment can be found via UPM Paso De Los Toros website.
UPM used the Material Tracking System (MHS) to track equipment in the project. UPM’s target for using the Material Tracking System was to introduce material and technology delivery suppliers directly to the contractors through a common system and database where the deliveries and their contents could be easily traced.
“It’s an insanely good system. The benefits of using the software have been huge, running a big project without such a system would have been really difficult. The system is easy to use. Using the system reduces the risk of errors compared to doing the same things with excel.”
Foster Wheeler Energy supplies power plant and industrial boilers all over the world. The company has more than 600 suppliers worldwide.
The challenge for the company was the timely coordination of goods delivery from hundreds of different suppliers to sites all over the world. The delivery communication was done by fax, phone or e-mail. The stock inventory at different sites was handled manually.
The solution was for Foster Wheeler Energy to implement the use of the Material Handling System (former RPM Manager system) in 2004. The cloud-based software is a communication platform for the supplier and the customer. The software covers communication exchange from the order’s reception till the delivery and instillation at the site.
The benefits are real-time management of the delivery of the goods, quality delivery documents that meet customer standards and ability for both parties to see and be part of the communication and delivery process.
“Even though it is the first time I have used your system, it was easy to handle and to create the packages, containers and shipments. I have only been in contact with your support one time and did then receive an answer the same day, that solved my problem. Excellent!”
MHS users over the years
A word from our CEO
A huge amount of work has been done to solve the major issues with material deliveries to construction sites. The Material Handling System is a result of over 20 years of work, including on-site interviews with hundreds of project management professionals, brainstorming sessions, piloting of new work practices and incorporating wireless technologies in every-day work at construction sites. We want to thank our partners in leading Finnish heavy industry companies for their cooperation in developing the system over the years including ABB Oyj, Andritz Oy, Metso Paper Oyj, Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy, Wärtsilä Oy, Sumitomo SHI FW and many others. The system has been in use in capital projects since 2004.
Why choose MHS
20 Years of Experience
MHS has been developed over 20 years together with leading industry companies. Over the years it has been in use in capital projects of all sizes, including the recent 3,5 billion dollar eucalyptus pulp mill investment project by UPM.
Customized Solution
Our service is always offered as a customized solution for your organisation’s needs. It is scalable for any size industrial projects, from projects where materials are delivered in 30 containers, up to projects which receive thousands of containers. It is also compatible with all material types (piping, bulks, steel structure, tagged equipment etc.)
Seamless Integration
The material tracking system has existing integrations with process planning systems, procurement software and forwarding systems. Our software is built using modern API’s, which allows for building seamless integrations.Â
Continuous Development
MHS is constantly evolving based on the needs and feedback of our customers. We develop the service together with our customers daily to remain a pioneer in the field.
Deployment in 5 days
You can have the software in use as fast as 5 days and all our customers receive a dedicated server. We help make the entire onboarding process easy from implementation to training and support with data transfer from any old systems.
Fast Customer Support
Each of our customers gets a dedicated project manager to ensure smooth deployment and use of the system. We have been praised for our fast response times and personal support. Although MHS is highly intuitive and visual and many users do not even require training, all our contracts also include PDF guides, video guides and FAQ documents. Onboarding sessions are also arranged as necessary.
Material Tracking System packages
- Agile tool for tracking materials during plant maintenance or other small projects
- BoM management
- Tools for reporting packages, containers and deliveries for the material suppliers
- Shipping documents
- Materials master search
- Technical support for 10 key project personnel
- PDF and video user guides
- Mobile app for unloading goods at site
- Same features as the maintenance package and
- Technical support for the project network via email
- Tools for site warehouse management (inventory and pick-lists)
- Contractor views and dashboards
- Automatic email notifications of incoming deliveries
- Shipment bookings to freight forwarder via automatic emails
- Mobile app for unloading goods at site using QR-codes on shipping documents. Tools for tracking goods at project site on the go with a mobile app
- A comprehensive materials tracking system tailored to your projects needs! Build innovative solutions for materials tracking with our project logistics expert and product development team. For example:
- Integration with freight forwarder systems
- Integration with procurement systems
- Weekly data integrity checks
- Build automatic notifications for product deficits
- Onboarding sessions hosted via online meetings bi-weekly for the first 4 months of the project
- And much more
Are you looking for a material tracking system for your next project?
Your organization will be assigned to a project consultant, who will work with you to identify which modules of MHS would best fit your project’s material logistics.Â
You will work with the same project consultant from your first contact until your capital project construction is complete. Now we can begin tracking materials in your project efficiently!