From quote to on-site assembly: a precast concrete manufacturer on a single management system
A precast concrete manufacturer uses EdilGest to unify quotes, contracts, production, warehouse and costs, from first opportunity to delivery on site.
The client
A medium-sized Italian company specialising in the design, production, sale and installation of structural precast reinforced concrete components, also active in steel structural work.
Its contracts involve sales, the technical office, production, procurement, warehouse, transport and on-site installation. Each project can include many different elements, each with its own dimensions, materials, processes, lead times and costs, and requires a continuous link between quote, technical design, production and financial control.
Key results
- Sales, technical and production data in one system
- Quote, contract and production directly linked
- Less reliance on Excel and separate applications
The starting point
Over time the company had adopted several applications: an ERP for purchasing, invoicing, accounting, banking and sales CRM, and other software for quoting, warehouse, production and costs. The steel structures division had no real management system, and much of its information was kept in Excel spreadsheets.
The goal was to gradually replace the separate systems with a single management platform, keeping established operational functions while introducing new tools for contracts, production and cost control.
Key challenges
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01
Information spread across applications
Accounting, CRM, quoting, warehouse, production and costs were handled by different systems, which meant keeping data and processes aligned across them.
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02
Quoting complex precast elements
Each offer covers elements, materials, processing, transport, installation and margin, and must start from parametric bills of materials that dynamically calculate requirements and costs.
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03
Contracts under constant revision
New construction drawings change element parameters and quantities, so several versions of the same contract are needed, always linked to the original quote.
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04
Production planned from the contract
Production orders are generated from the elements in each contract, checking material requirements, availability, production calendar, resources and production lines.
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05
Financial control of each contract
Estimated and actual costs from production, purchasing, inventory, transport, installation and subcontracted work must be compared, distinguishing ex-works cost from delivered-to-site cost.
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06
Unstructured steel structures division
A division without a dedicated system, where purchased components, in-house processing and subcontracted work require close control of materials, orders and activities.
The solution
Labinf Sistemi designed EdilGest, a management solution based on iDempiere and configured around the processes of contract-based companies in construction and precast concrete.
The project links the entire flow: a sales opportunity leads to a quote; once the quote is approved, the contract is generated, and from it come requirements, production orders, procurement, production planning and shipment to site.
The solution includes
- CRM and sales opportunities
- Quoting with versioning
- Contract management
- Element and product master data
- Fixed and parametric bills of materials
- Workflows and routing cycles
- Data import from CAD
- Production orders
- Weekly scheduling and production resources
- Requirements and procurement
- Warehouse and subcontracting
- Progress tracking and actuals
- Picking, shipping and billing plan
- Cost control, budgets and variances
- Steel structures management
Information gathered during the sales phase feeds the quote, which calculates component and processing costs, transport costs based on weight, dimensions and destination, and installation times. Once the quote is confirmed, the contract is generated while keeping the link to the earlier data.
Production orders are created from the contract lines, with component list, workflow, resources, times and quantities. The system allocates components in the warehouse, manages work done by subcontractors and generates purchase orders based on stock levels, minimum and maximum stock, quantities on order and reserved materials.
From element configuration to production
Unlike a traditional bill of materials, materials, quantities and waste are calculated with formulas based on the element’s characteristics, such as dimensions and other technical attributes. The same model therefore adapts to the actual product without manually creating a new bill for each variant.
Progress and cost control
Production reporting records quantities produced, components consumed and times; the system issues materials and receives finished elements into the warehouse. Management control compares estimated and actual contract costs, including production, purchasing, subcontracted work, transport, installation and other direct costs.
The project was organised in phases: system migration, CRM evolution, master data and parametric bills of materials, quoting, contracts, production, weekly scheduling, warehouse, CAD integration, cost control and steel structures.
The benefits
- Sales, technical and production data in one system
- Quote, contract and production directly linked
- Less reliance on Excel and separate applications
- Variants handled through parametric bills of materials
- Contracts updated with data from CAD
- Production orders generated from the contract
- In-house and subcontracted work managed together
- Comparison of estimated and actual costs
- Greater visibility of each contract’s margin
- Steel structures within the same management ecosystem
In short
With EdilGest the company has brought sales, design, contracts and production together in a single system, handling the complexity of a sector where every project has its own materials, costs and production cycles.
