Scopes & the Buddy System

In this article, we’re going to discuss one of my favorite topics - one that I bring up with almost every customer I talk to - Scopes.   Scopes can affect your company from start to finish.  What is a Scope?  A Scope, in its most general terms, is just a way for users to group fittings together.  In Vulcan, we break up Scopes into Drawings, Floor, System, Change Order, Pressure and two that are user defined.  Scopes are used across the QuickPen portfolio.  In many cases, Scopes are defined when a CAD drawing is developed, and those same Scopes are exported directly into Vulcan.  At this point, Scopes take on a different life, and it’s all about visual recognition or, in most cases, colors.  Why are colors so important?  Well, it’s simple. It eliminates the need to read. 

Throughout the manufacturing process, Scope colors allow users to keep like fittings together so that when fabrication is complete and fittings make their way to the staging area prior to shipment, multiple groups can be established instead of one big pile.  At this point, I’d like you to think of Scopes like the buddy system that we were taught back in school.   I know it sounds funny, but it really is a good analogy.   I think it’s pretty universal that most kids were taught if they ever went on a field trip that they had to have a buddy.  It didn’t always keep you from getting lost, but at least you were lost together!  Now let’s apply that to fittings, and yes, we’re taking a field trip.

To keep this analogy rolling (no pun intended), let’s say we have a job that we’re producing the same supply air run for the 1st floor, 2nd floor, and 3rd floor, and you have three groups of kids from three different classes taking a field trip.  When the bus was loaded, it was one class at a time.   I don’t ever remember hearing a group of teachers saying, “Sure sit wherever you want.”  If it’s good for kids, it should be good for fittings.  You have to admit it, those teachers were smart.  They knew it was a whole lot easier to keep those kids together when they got off the bus. 

Now back on our truck, we have loaded each individual pile that had been grouped by floor in our staging area onto our truck and shipped to the jobsite, unloaded and sorted by the floor scope color.  Easily allowing your truck driver or the person receiving the delivery to separate and regroup fittings as they are delivered greatly increases the likelihood of a fitting making it to the proper floor.  Scopes can truly save your company time and money in the shop and out in the field.  Now, if I could only find a way for Scopes to hold hands as you move them to the 2nd floor. I will keep you posted!  Now let’s all go out there and make a teacher proud and implement Scopes!
PS:  Yes, my wife is a teacher!

Trimble proudly announces the release of Vulcan 2012 v1.

This release provides each user with the following updates and enhancements:

• A change to our accessories data that converts existing accessories data items to a single list called components that can be shared by multiple connections (TDC,TDF, and Duct Mate all use the same gasket) This functionality will eliminate redundant line item reporting and reduce the likelihood of having multiple instances of the same item and reduce paper waste
  
• Components provide greater flexibility to Vulcan reporting for shop and field use
• Components have the additional capability of accumulating using spacing.  With spacing we can for the first time calculate the number of Center Clips needed per job
• Components can be marked as items to be reported on the Shipping Report.  Now items can be shipped to the field independently of the fittings they attach to, such as slip and drives, center clips, nuts and bolts      
• Components marked as items that get shipped to the field can then be tracked by the Vulcan Tracking program
• New Bulk Reporting can now calculate items by the number of units, boxes, and rolls etc.  Traditionally, Vulcan has given our customers the total footage used.  Let’s say the job needed 87’of gasket.  At this point, the end user would have to determine the number of rolls needed, and in this case, they would send out a total of 4 rolls needed to be shipped
  
• Consumption can be represented in normal units or in bulk units
• Bulk consumption will be user defined such as box, roll or case
• Bulk consumption can get rounded off to the next higher unit
• From the grid, the status of a Vulcan item can now be set to “back ordered” until the items are ready to ship
• Lead-in’s have been added to Flat Pattern Modify
• Automatic Breakup of offsets 180 & 183 may now be forced to use automatic breakup when it is not oversized
  
• In Sheet Review, a polyline can be used to produce a longitudinal Shear Cut to maximize the amount of usable scrap
• Saving blanks as DXF files from Flat Pattern Modify and Flat Pattern View
• Sheet Border Spacing can now be set independently for all four sides
• The additional option of adding “Kerf” to most fittings located on the Special Fitting Input page
• View 2 sheets at a time in Sheet Review, and be able to drag and drop a blank from one to another 
• Ability to add or delete a sheet when in sheet review
• For our Vulcan and Trimble Design Link customers, we have added the Trimble globe icon to indicate a TDL job in the tree view display
  

If you’re like me, after the holidays you don’t want to talk about dimensions.  I’m sure that if I had measured before and after dinner it would have shown an increase of exactly one notch out on the old belt.  In the parts program you can effectively use the dimensioning tools on a drawing in many different ways.

You can add dimensions to any object in the drawing. Dimensioning includes shapes, locations of objects, and measuring from point to point.

Shape
Shape dimensioning, provides dimensions for the selected objects. When dimensioning objects with radiuses, the radius value is displayed. When dimensioning lines, the line length is displayed.

1. From the Part window, click Dimension, and then click Shape.
2. From the drawing, click the desired object and then click the location to place the dimension.

Location
Location dimensioning, provides the location of the selected object, these values are displayed in absolute coordinates.

1. From the Part window, click Dimension, and then click Location.
2. From the drawing, click the desired object and then click the location to place the dimension.

We can’t help you with that annoying little critter behind the filing cabinet, but we’ve got you covered when you need one on your roof curb. Although this fitting looks like you need to enter a lot of information, you can enter as few as 4 dimensions by using as many defaults as you can.  See example A.  You can set 13 fields from the default tab (11 shown in blue) and then both cricket fields (2 shown in yellow). 

Example A

Here’s how the cricket works.

• The cricket width (D) must be less than the hypotenuse of the cricket. This value is less than the top flange (B) value.
• The cricket depth (C) must be less than or equal to the bottom straight (A).

The other things that you need to know about this fitting are on your Options tab. You have the option to make the cricket as a separate piece or by default; the cricket is incorporated into blanks 3 and 4.

If you are welding this fitting, you probably want to have Straight Wrappers checked (see example B) so you can make a much shorter weld then if it is cut with a mitered corner (see example C).

Example B

Example C

Do you get them on:

• Cardboard
• Sheetrock
• 2 X 4 or Plywood
• Scrap Paper

Well say goodbye, because it’s time to ditch the whole paper and pencil thing! Taking Vulcan to the field is easy with Field Fitting Input. This Vulcan productivity tool eliminates inter-operational issues between the field and the shop.

Climb a ladder to make a measurement with Vulcan Field Fitting Input attached to your belt in a handy holster, then enter a new fitting and send it back to the shop via e-mail. Vulcan is now as small and convenient as your cell phone.

We know you need reliable, accurate and easy tools to make you and your shop more productive. Field Fitting Input is all those things and more. Take a look at Field Fitting Input on our web site for more information, and then set up a demo to see how it works.