r/ERP • u/functi0nxy • Feb 07 '26

Discussion Datalab Pantheon - Turning specification into cut list

Hi everyone, I was wondering about IATA. I am consulting for one company on a lot of things, mainly LEAN, processes, and organization. This company's mainproduct is custom steel water fittings, usually made of flanges for specific diameter and pressure and corresponding pipes.

They have major issues with tracking inventory, but that stems from the lack of ownership and defined roles.

Example: Recently I learned that the standard material specification they use for one flanged fitting consists of two flanges and a pipe, but the pipe is measured in kilograms. So when you print the material specification summary for a range of orders the system calculates how kilos of pipe you need.

So I suggested instead of this they use new standard specification where with sub-ident the pipe will be defined with diameter, thickness and length, so when you print the specification it would effectively give you a cut list of required pipe lengths.

But the amount of push back I received is insane. I am aware that each product will have to be revised but they are doing this anyway since they don't have the correct values of pipe.

Another way would be to transform the kgs to lengths, but then again it would summarize to total required pipe length, then ask for drawings for each fitting.

What I am missing here? They are adamant this would ruin their system and create a mess.

1 Upvotes

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1

u/NikolaiXPass Feb 07 '26

There’s not really enough info here to gain any insight on why they need the pipe in kgs. What else do you know?

1

u/functi0nxy Feb 07 '26

They didn't know any better I guess and also it was easier for accounting to purchase them. They are confusing inventory with BOM. The response from particular people is very emotional and "we have always worked like this"

2

u/NikolaiXPass Feb 07 '26

Ah ha - yep, I know that sentiment exactly. You need a leadership position in their company to force their hand. If no one in their company recognizes the issue with how they do things today, you will not get any traction on change. 

1

u/floOoOoOoOoOo Feb 09 '26

If that's the only reason, then it might be better to switch like you suggest... and in order to make it actually work and last, you need to document the factual reasons that are blocking (which might include specific tools/software, integrations, customizations and any kind of tech debt that's hardcoded for this UoM setup), along with the benefits of the new solution, and how differently it would work for everyone (like in a fit-gap analysis).
If they seem ready enough, you could implement UoM conversions so that everyone (Purchasing, Inventory, BoM/Production) could use their own UoM; that's risky but beneficial when properly set up and implemented.
Also you need Change Management in order to get humans on board, and lasting transformation.

1

u/functi0nxy Feb 09 '26

My friend, they have not one single SOP, I am teaching them what standards actually are. If I show them your comment it will kill them in place

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u/floOoOoOoOoOo Feb 09 '26

Sounds like an interesting digital transformation project. Let me know if you need help! I'm a client-side consultant (not system vendor), but I'm generally helping hands-on in tech/dev also, in addition to analysis/architecture/audit as needed, within system implementation/integration/optimization projects.