RAISING THE BAR ON PROCESS EFFICIENCY: GERDAU RELEASES NEW WEB APPLICATION FOR SCALE HOUSE WORKERS

Gerdau, a leading steel producer, has once again partnered with Haneke Design to develop a new web-based appointment management and record-keeping system. 

The web-based software enhances a mobile application developed by Haneke Design in 2019, and has been created for scale house attendants who play an integral role in the coordination of steel order pickups. The continued collaboration between Haneke Design and Gerdau has resulted in yet another innovative technology to streamline steel yard efficiency.

Background 

Founded over 120 years ago, Gerdau has a long-standing history of delivering solutions in the steel industry. Gerdau is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, but has plants throughout North, Central, and South America. With 30,000 employees across 10 countries, Gerdau serves the agricultural, automotive, construction, distribution, energy, industrial, and mining markets with its array of long and special steel products.

Gerdau Truck Driver Check-In Mobile App

Haneke Design’s first project with Gerdau was Gerdau Truck Driver Check-In, a mobile application released in 2019 to correct process issues surrounding driver pickups at the Cartersville, GA steel mill. To check in for their pickup upon arrival, drivers were previously required to leave their trucks and walk a half-mile to the scale house, then return to their vehicle while they awaited their turn. 

The process extended drivers’ time on-site and exposed them to a high-traffic area. The driver mobile application, however, enables drivers to check-in immediately upon arrival, from the comfort of their trucks.

Gerdau Scale House Software

The mobile application addressed several issues for drivers, but its integration with the existing scale house software was limited. The web version of the driver check-in application did not offer scale house attendants access to critical appointment data; as a result, they were required to transfer data back-and-forth between the mobile app and their existing CRM software. 

In response, Haneke Design was tasked with creating a new web application, to serve as a platform for full integration with the Gerdau Truck Driver Check-In mobile suite. The primary objective of the web application was to allow scale house workers to track and manage drivers while on-site.

With the new web application, attendants will be notified as soon as a driver checks in and will be able to track the driver’s entire on-site journey. Access to key appointment details will be available, including the driver’s identity, appointment time, material list, and loading bay location.

The result of integrating the web-based software and the mobile application is an optimization of two things central to Gerdau’s success: quality assurance and time management. 

Quality control is improved by allowing scale house workers to easily identify order discrepancies. Notifications alert them to any variances between a driver’s projected order weight and the actual weight of their truck once loaded. From there, attendants can initiate a piece count, if necessary, to confirm order accuracy. 

Gerdau is committed to speed and efficiency. Fixed appointment windows ensure drivers stay on schedule and, as such, time management is a critical component to the Gerdau process. The new web application allows scale house workers to easily visualize what’s going on with drivers onsite, with color coded notifications for early, on-time, and behind schedule appointments.

Looking Forward

The Cartersville, GA plant has been the inaugural recipient of these new software developments, but it is expected that usage will spread to other locations as well.

“We look forward to deploying this technology to our other mills,” says Fernando Nogueira, CI Manager for Gerdau’s Cartersville Mill. “I think it will make our communication between plants even better. We’ve really been surprised by how quickly employees have taken to using these programs and we feel they will continue to enhance our processes, especially as more plants jump on board.”

Haneke Design looks forward to continued collaboration with Gerdau on the maintenance and ongoing improvements of these software. 

About Gerdau

Gerdau is a leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the world’s largest suppliers of special steel. Each year, they transform millions of tons of scrap into new steel products, reinforcing their commitment to sustainable development.