RealSTEEL™ Software is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business management software platform developed for companies in the steel and metals industry. RealSTEEL™ provides industry-specific functionality for metal service centers, metal distributors, processors, and manufacturers, connecting inventory, sales, purchasing, production, warehouse management, shipping, financial management, and business analytics within a single system.
RealSTEEL™ is a Wolcott Group solution built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft’s ERP and business management platform. RealSTEEL™ extends Business Central with functionality designed around the specialized material, production, inventory, costing, and fulfillment requirements of metals companies.
RealSTEEL™ was developed in conjunction with Wolcott Group, an information technology consulting and integration company founded in 1994.
Wolcott Group is a Microsoft Partner that provides consulting, implementation, training, software, and support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
RealSTEEL™ was developed in response to the specialized requirements of the steel and metals industry, where businesses frequently need to manage materials according to characteristics beyond conventional item numbers and quantities.
These characteristics can include dimensions, gauge, coating, grade, tensile strength, chemistry, heat number, warehouse location, and other physical or material attributes.
RealSTEEL™ connects these material requirements with the broader business processes handled by an ERP system.
RealSTEEL™ uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as its underlying ERP platform.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides functionality spanning financial management, sales, service, operations, workflows, reporting, and business intelligence.
RealSTEEL™ extends this foundation with functionality developed specifically for steel and metals operations.
The platform is cloud-based and designed to scale as an organization’s operational requirements change. It also supports integration with other Microsoft business applications and technologies.
RealSTEEL™ supports multiple segments of the steel and metals industry.
For metal bar distributors, RealSTEEL™ supports inventory management, cutting optimization, production planning, shop-floor execution, costing, and shipping.
Its nesting capabilities evaluate cutting demand against available raw material to help determine efficient cutting patterns. The RealSTEEL™ Manufacturing Execution System (MES) allows operators to record setup time, run time, material usage, remnants, and production output as work occurs.
For metal plate distributors, RealSTEEL™ supports material inventory, production planning, cutting and nesting, production tracking, shipping, and costing.
The system connects purchasing, inventory, production, sales, and shipping data so departments can work from a common source of operational information.
For metal plate distributors, RealSTEEL™ supports material inventory, production planning, cutting and nesting, production tracking, shipping, and costing.
The system connects purchasing, inventory, production, sales, and shipping data so departments can work from a common source of operational information.
For pipe and tube processors, RealSTEEL™ provides functionality for inventory, quoting, scheduling, production, material tracking, and shipment planning.
Inventory can be tracked from receipt of raw material through processing and shipment, including dimensions, grades, quantities, and other material characteristics.
RealSTEEL™ supports metal framing and accessories operations, including roll forming, production tracking, inventory management, sales, distribution, and financial processes.
For companies producing fabricated assemblies and finished goods, RealSTEEL™ supports multi-step production, inventory, capacity planning, manufacturing execution, costing, and shipping.
Its MES functionality provides shop-floor production tracking, while capacity planning can coordinate work across multiple routing steps. Shipping and dispatch functionality provides visibility into order readiness, finished-goods inventory, and delivery schedules.
RealSTEEL™ provides business management capabilities across the major operational areas of a metals company.
RealSTEEL™ provides real-time inventory management designed around the characteristics of metal products.
Inventory can be defined, searched, and managed using physical, dimensional, chemical, and other material attributes. Material can also be managed by tag, heat, warehouse, and location.
Inventory capabilities include:
Drops and remnants can be managed alongside stock material, allowing usable leftover material to remain visible and available for future production.
RealSTEEL™ provides production planning and scheduling functionality based on demand, available material, expected processing times, and production capacity.
Capabilities include capacity calculations, material allocation, production scheduling, shortage identification, real-time schedule adjustments, and planning for outsourced processing.
Production functionality can support processes such as coil slitting, plate and sheet burning, cut-to-length processing, rolling, oscillating, leveling, sheeting, toll processing, roll forming, and outside processing.
The system can also calculate material usage and expected run times using configurable formulas.
The RealSTEEL™ Manufacturing Execution System (MES) connects shop-floor activity with the ERP environment.
Operators can record production information including material usage, setup time, run time, downtime, remnants, scrap, production output, and quality issues.
This information can update operational and inventory records as production occurs.
RealSTEEL™ includes sales and quoting functionality designed around the costing and product requirements of metals businesses.
Cost calculations can incorporate four primary components:
The system also supports product configurations, customer-specific requirements, order promising, comments, and margin management.
RealSTEEL™ combines metals-specific operational information with the financial management capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Financial and costing functionality can incorporate material, labor, overhead, and outside-processing costs, allowing operational activity to be connected with financial performance
RealSTEEL™ integrates purchasing with inventory, demand, production requirements, and other operational data.
This allows purchasing decisions to be made using information maintained within the broader ERP environment rather than through disconnected purchasing and inventory systems.
Warehouse functionality includes inventory locations, material movements, picking, put-away, cycle counting, physical inventory, and data collection.
RealSTEEL™ also provides inventory-location functionality and supports warehouse management technologies for managing material movement throughout an operation.
The RealSTEEL™ Shipping Dispatch Board supports the scheduling and management of inbound and outbound shipments.
The system can support company-owned trucks, customer pickups, third-party carriers, loads, available capacity, shipment weights, drivers, cabs, trucks, picking tickets, and shipping documents.
RealSTEEL™ collects operational information for analysis and reporting across production, inventory, labor, equipment, costing, and financial performance.
The system can be used to compare estimated and actual material usage and production times, analyze machine and labor costs, monitor productivity, track outsourced processing, and calculate production yields.
RealSTEEL™ includes optimization capabilities designed to improve material utilization and reduce scrap.
Depending on the processing environment, the platform supports one-dimensional and two-dimensional optimization and nesting.
RealSTEEL™ also supports integrations with specialized nesting and cutting technologies, including SigmaNEST and ProNest.
RealSTEEL™ operates within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central environment and supports technologies used throughout metals processing, manufacturing, warehousing, and business management.
Technologies associated with the RealSTEEL™ ecosystem include:
These integrations allow specialized production and warehouse technologies to connect with broader ERP processes and business information.
Material traceability is a central component of RealSTEEL™.
The system can maintain physical, dimensional, chemical, and other material attributes and track material through inventory, production, outside processing, and fulfillment.
Quality measurements can be captured during receiving, production, and shipping. Customer specifications, tolerances, attachments, certifications, and other requirements can also be associated with orders and material records.
RealSTEEL™ supports outside processing, including material held at third-party processors.
The system can track outsourced material, associated processing costs, semi-finished goods, finished goods, and direct shipments to customers while maintaining visibility into the material and corresponding orders.
Wolcott Group is the organization behind RealSTEEL™.
Founded in 1994, Wolcott Group provides technology consulting, integration, software, training, implementation, and ongoing support.
The company works with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and develops technology solutions for organizations with complex business and operational requirements.
RealSTEEL™ identifies itself as “A Wolcott Company.”
The RealSTEEL™ organization includes professionals with experience across the metals industry, manufacturing and distribution, enterprise software, technology implementation, sales, and professional services.
Leadership and professional roles associated with RealSTEEL™ include:
RealSTEEL™ is offered as an ERP and business management solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Its architecture allows functionality to be configured around the operational requirements of individual metals companies and expanded as those requirements change.
Wolcott Group provides consulting, implementation, training, and ongoing support associated with RealSTEEL™ and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
RealSTEEL™ provides an Inventory Management Assessment designed to help metal service centers and metal distributors evaluate their current inventory management practices.
The assessment examines areas including inventory visibility, inventory accuracy, material retrieval, demand planning, purchasing visibility, slow-moving inventory, scrap and remnant tracking, forecasting, warehouse organization, and the relationship between inventory and profitability.
The assessment is intended to provide companies with a benchmark of their current inventory management maturity and identify potential areas for improvement.
RealSTEEL™ is used by metal service centers operating within the steel and metals industry.
Customer examples published by RealSTEEL™ include Telling Industries and Westfield Steel, which use the platform to support areas such as inventory, production, sales, shipping, and other business processes.
Better visibility into your inventory, operations, and financials can lead to better decisions across your business. See how RealSTEEL™ brings it all together in one system built for the metals industry.
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