ABS Technical Bulletin #2

“Average” Raw Material Feature

The ABS System allows you to retrieve a template or “average” raw material’s characteristics. This feature can be used when entering a new inventory or scrap receipt. It can also be used within the MIX program to retrieve an average chemistry to replace the current heel chemistry.

ABS supports creation and maintenance of two separate average files. A “Scrap Average File” is used in conjunction with scrap receipts, and a “Standard Average File” is used and available when entering regular material receipts.

The “Standard Average File” is also accessible by the Least Cost Charge (MIX) and Least Cost Alloy Additions (TAP) programs. These programs use the average chemistry information only. In these instances, it is used to replace or update the furnace heel or prelim chemistry information.

To utilize this feature, you must first set Master Directory Special Option #19 (Search for AVERAGE Material at Receipt time) to “YES.” Next, you must create an “average” (template) material record.

NOTE: Your ABS user number must be under 25 to access the “average” material file.

To create an average record, activate the Material Editor program and select the function “Make a Copy” to make a copy of a material. The program will ask which file you want to copy from (Average or Material), and which file you want to copy to (Average or Material):

The default in both cases is “Material File”. Click on “Average Material File” under the “Select File to Copy To” heading. The following dialog will then appear:

Enter the material name and lot number to be copied, or press <F2> (or click on “F2-View” on the menu bar at the top of the screen) for a list of existing materials. After a valid material has been selected, enter the “average” material name desired - the lot number will always be AVERAGE, which is automatically entered. Click on “Add Material” to add the material, and a confirmation message will appear:

Click on “OK” to return to the previous dialog. Repeat this procedure for each material you want to copy. A counter with the number of materials added will be updated accordingly. Click on “Cancel” when finished to return to the previous dialog.

To modify an average record, activate the Material Editor and select “Change” to change a material record. When asked which file to change, select “Average”.

To retrieve an “average” material’s data when entering receipts, enter the corresponding material name (in our example, 316) and the new lot/bin number (i.e., 100). The “average” information for that material will be retrieved and the message “Average Data Retrieved” will appear at the bottom of the dialog:

This feature was primarily developed to provide default cost and chemistry data when entering new inventory and/or scrap receipts.

“Average” (template) materials will always be excluded from least cost calculations.

“Average” materials can be changed, deleted, printed, and even copied via the Material Editor.

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