Trinity Steel Fabricators Implements FabTrol MRP Advanced Production
to Help Deliver on a 22,000 Ton Industrial Structural Project
Trinity Steel Fa b ricators
205 E. Pine Valley Drive
Trinity, TX 75862 U.S.A
(936) 594-3513
www.trinitysteel.com
FabTrol MRP software
Drawing Management
Material Management
Production Management
Shipping Management
FabTrol customer since
July 2005
Primary type of work
Industrial Structural
Project industry
Petrochemical
Project owner
TOTAL Petrochemicals USA
Project managment
Fluor Enterprises
Project detailer
Innovative Steel Detailing
Project
Port Arthur Refinery Deep Conversion Project
Owner: TOTAL Petrochemicals USA, Inc.
Case study foc us
FabTrol MRP Advanced Production modules: An analysis of how production hatch-
ing, automated distribution of CNC data, and production progress tracking were
used to prioritize and manage fabrication and timely, consistent delivery of 13,000
tons of sophisticated industrial steel structures to the job site.
"Now, with Advanced Production, we break sequences into production
batches to get detail into the shop as we need it. It's made a huge difference
in how steel flows through the shop."
- Mickey Swor, Project Manager, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
"Here at the job site, I can tell our construction companies with confidence
that Trinity's delivery dates are the dates they will see their steel."
- Chris Supan, Director Material Management, Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
Project participants
TOTAL Petrochemicals USA, Inc.
The Port Arthur Refinery owned by TOTAL Petrochemicals USA, Inc., dates back
to the early 1900s when it was first built as an oil terminal. The refinery has under-
gone several expansions and updates in its century of service. The current $2.2 bil-
lion deep conversion project will allow annual production of three million tons of
ultra-low sulfur automotive diesel, bringing overall refinery capacity to 12 million
tons. Hand-in-hand with increased capacity will come a reduced environmental
footprint and compliance with new federal fuel standards.

"This project had 22,000
tons of structural steel on
it and when we developed
our fabricators, we knew
weit need more than one
shop. So when we went
out for bid, it was with
the full intent of having
two fabricators. Trinity,
of course, was one of those
fabricators, and because
of their performance,
they became the primary
fabricator."
- Chris Supan
Director of Material Management
Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
Four coke drums manufactured in Spain- each one 12 stories high, 32 feet wide,
and weighing 404 tons-are the centerpieces of this project that will include a
50,000 barrel-a-day coker, and additional units for desulfurization, vacuum dis-
tillation, and other related processes. To support and provide access to the drums
and related units , twenty-two thousand tons of structural steel platforms, vessel
towers, control buildings and miscellaneous iron were required .
Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
Fluor Enterprises, Inc., a Fortune 500, full-service Engineering, Procurement, Con-
struction and Management (EPCM) company involved in challenging projects
worldwide, won the contract for the refinery conversion in late 2006. Engineering
and procurement phases began in 2006, with construction starting up in 2008.
Based on a competitive bidding process, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc. was awarded
a contract for structural and miscellaneous steel fabrication. The fabrication phase
of the project started in March of 2008, with heavy production kicking in by June of
that year.
Trinity Steel's role on the project was fabrication of the main structures to hold the
vessels, the platforms around the tower vessels, stairs, ladders, control buildings and
pipe racks.
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc., an AISC Certified industrial steel fabrication com-
pany established in 1976, specializes in fabrication of the complex steel structures
required in the mining, petrochemical, marine and other industrial sectors. A pro-
gressive company committed to using the best technology in its effort to deliver
a quality product to its customers, Trinity Steel, whose president, Roy Karnes, Jr.,
is a former IBM product development manager, has been a consistent innovator
in its use of hardware and software in structural steel fabrication. In the early 90s,
the company automated part processing by replacing many of their machines with
modern CNC-driven machines. Now, with three shops, each dedicated to a spe-
cific part of the fabrication process from part processing to fit-up and welding,
the company provides up-to-date information to all shops simultaneously by pro-
viding access to a single FabTrol MRP installation. To support customer commu-
nications, Trinity provides customer access to a website where they can get current
project status 24/7 by logging in and querying the system, which then pulls up and
displays the most current FabTrol MRP data for the customer's online review.
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"Trinity did an excellent
job of working with us, of
moving our orders around,
and assessing what they
could do as far as fabrication
went."
- Tim Hil lis
Material Managment Buyer
Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
"Advanced Production gave
us the ability to schedule our
shops better and get the right
steel at the right time. We can
divide sequences up into
batches. Instead ofpicking
through 200 tons ofplate all
at once, the machine operator
only has to pick through 20
tons he's going to need to
work on that week."
- Richard Neal
Vice President of Projects
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
The challenge
Goal: Prioritize 13,000 tons of steel with 225,000 detail parts involving routing of
150,000 CNC files to produce and deliver over 81,000 ship marks in the right order
at the right time.
Added challenge: Fabrication started when only 15 to 20 percent of the project was
engineered.
Schedule: One and a half years
"You always have a chance of errors, but Iwould say we produced 13,000 tons
of steel and had no significant back charges or errors from the job site. Because
of FabTrol's Advanced Production, its batching and routing, SICAM sorting some
of those files for us, we're putting out a better product. And that comes from
using the latest tools and technology.We're tying all this technology together
to help us ensure that we do put out a good, quality product."
- Richard Neal, Vice President of Projects, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Desired changes and changes delivered with Advanced Production
In anticipation of the Port Arthur Refinery conversion project, Trinity Steel was
interested in streamlining its production planning and routing, and in eliminat-
ing delays in production progress tracking.
To meet this challenge, Trinity Steel added the FabTrol MRP Advanced Production
modules in early 2008. Working closely with FabTrol Systems training and imple-
mentation staff, Trinity Steel set up FabTrol MRP's Advance Production modules'
preferences, workshops and work areas, including CNC work areas. Then routing
rules were configured to route parts to the appropriate work area and equipment
across Trinity's three production plants.
Trinity Steel and Controlled Automation staff also worked together closely to in-
tegrate the Advanced Production modules with Trinity Steel's CNC controllers.
Controlled Automation's Structural Information for Controlled Automation Ma-
ch inery (SICAM) software was successfully configured to import FabTrol MRP's
production batch data, including the CNC files for each batch , and send produc-
tion status updates back to FabTrol MRP in real time as parts were completed.
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"Importing a job is night
and day from what it used
to be. ISD can now go in
and check every file before
they send it to us. We gave
them our unit price file
tables and they've got that
and it runs smoothly,
really smoothly."
- Mickey Swor
Project Manager
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Trouble-free importing
With the prospect of managing over 300 drawing releases, the need for file accuracy
and quick turnaround was a high priority.
Desired change: Put a system in place that would alert Trinity Steel to missing CNC
files during drawing imports and eliminate importing errors due to inconsistent
material callouts.
Changes delivered after implementation: When an imported file was missing CNC
data, FabTrol MRP alerted Trinity Steel staff immediately. This notification allowed
them to request the file from the detailer right away to ensure that complete data was
routed to each machine.
In addition to improving their process for automated CNC file monitoring during
import, Trinity Steel decreased incoming errors from the detailer by providing him
with their FabTrol MRP material definitions and translation tables. This allowed the
detailer to check each file against the FabTrol MRP setup before sending it to Trinity
Steel.
"Now we generate our own reports and we fix any errors before we send a
file to Trinity. Before, they would tell us,"Okay, this part's no good. Please
regenerate it." We'd have to reopen the job, look for that part. Now it's something
we pick up on before the file is sent."
- Troy Gibbins, Detailer, Innovative Steel Detailing, Inc.
Prioritizing by production batch
On the TOTAL Port Arthur Refinery project, releases averaged 100 to 300 tons,
with several releases over 500 tons. To manage larger releases, Trinity Steel typi-
cally broke the release into sequences. However, too many sequences often made
it difficult to keep detail flowing through the shop.
Desired change: The ability to easily break sequences into production batches to
get detail as needed.
Change delivered after implementation: With the batch planner in FabTrol MRP,
Trinity Steel was able to easily create production batches to fabricate similar items
together based on drawing releases. The original hatching priorities could be modi-
fied to accommodate shifting project priorities.
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"That was exactly the main
reason we went to Advanced
Production: The ability to
plan our work better for
each piece of machinery
by routing parts,"
- Richard Neal
Vice President of Projects
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
"Now when we have our weekly production meeting, we pull up FabTrol MRP
and in the batch planner we pick the priority of each batch that has been
assigned to a shop. We go through each shop and we move our priorities
around so that every week the shops know exactly the priorities . . .. move
this one ahead of this one .. . It gives the shops the information they need to
run their work. We can have 20, 30 batches in the shop a week. How do they
know which ones to run first? Now we can plan that out and show them
exactly which order to work them in. That was something we were lacking
before we got Advanced Production."
- Richard Neal, Vice President of Projects, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Routing parts
Trinity has three plants, each of which specializes in a part of the fabrication pro-
cess. The Tomball plant does all part processing and ships its cut, coped, drilled
and angle parts to the Trinity and Lufkin sites for an assembly-line approach to
fit-up and welding. Work between the shops was coordinated at weekly project
meetings.
Desired change: Automatic routing of parts to appropriate equipment/work areas
across plants.
Change delivered after implementation: Based on routing rules and production
batching information, FabTrol MRP automatically routed parts and associated
CNC files to the right work areas and machines in each of the three shops. Parts
with CNC data that weren't going to be processed at a CNC-capable machine,
were routed to the appropriate machine based on the CNC data and the routing
rules set up in Advanced Production.
"We did all of our routing rules before we started heavy into production in
2008. We're probably a little bit different than a lot of fabricators in having
multiple shops and having all our CNC equipment located in one shop that
supplies material and parts to all of our shops, so it was a little bit different
setting up all the shop locations and routing rules. But it worked out great
for us."
- Richard Neal, Vice President of Projects, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
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"We've really been able to
meet their [Fluor's] needs.
And Advanced Production
really helped with that. The
old way of doing it-putting
all the CNC files in folders
and having our shops pick
through the folders to find
the right parts and so forth .. .
When we went to Advanced
Production, we were able to
route the material to the
right location, and export
those CNC files automatically
to the right locations."
- Richard Neal
Vice President of Projects
Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Managing CNC files
Trinity Steel managed its CNC files by checking manually for missing files and
placing each file in a folder on the server where the CNC operator could look for
the right ones.
With over 150,000 CNC files on the refinery conversion project, Trinity Steel
wanted to quickly and accurately match the right CNC file to the right machine
and to the assemblies that needed to be produced.
Desired change: The ability to route files automatically at the right time to the ap-
propriate controller and quickly update existing files after a revision.
Change delivered after implementation: As a part of the routing functions de-
scribed in the preceding section, FabTrol MRP put CNC files for the relevant pro-
duction batch in the correct folder for the controller that drove the NC equipment
doing the work. When drawing revisions were received, FabTrol MRP notified
staff which files were affected and where they were in production so they could be
replaced quickly.
Tracking production progress
Cutting lists were returned to the office at the end of the day for manual updating
of production status in FabTrol MRP. When a cutting list had cut and uncut items
on it, it could sit at the saw for several days. As a result, recording actual cuts was
delayed until all items were cut and the cutting list was turned in to the office. Or, if
a large quantity of steel was flowing through the shop, office staff were not always
able to keep up with manually updating verified cuts. With over 255,000 parts in
the TOTAL Port Arthur Refinery conversion project, Trinity was concerned about
backlogs and delays.
Desired change: Improved production progress tracking with more timely updates
on production status.
Change delivered after implementation: The angle line in Trinity Steel's Tomball
shop was the first CNC equipment to be successfully integrated with FabTrol MRP
using Controlled Automation's SICAM software. This integration allowed part
completion data to be fed back to FabTrol MRP automatically in real time, as parts
were cut at the angle line.
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"Trinity was very flexible
within the realm of 'Okay,
we can move this, we can
move that. We haven't gotten
to this yet, or we've got this
but we haven't started it yet.
We can set it aside."
- Tim Hillis
Material Management Buyer
Fluor Enterprises, Inc..
To update completion of parts that were produced in non-CNC work areas with-
out manually updating FabTrol MRP based on cutting lists, Trinity Steel used Fab-
Trol MRP's ADC (bar coding) module. When an assembly was scanned as com-
plete at the quality control work area, all parts not yet marked as complete in Fab-
Trol MRP were updated as completed. With over 81,000 ship marks to deliver to
the job site for the Port Arthur Refinery project, timely information on part and
assembly status was essential for planning production, and to meet shipping and
erection schedules.
"Now, as Project Manager, it's been pretty easy for me to see where I am as far
as status of pieces through the shop. Now I feel confident knowing that I can
look in FabTrol MRP and see where the detail is rather than wondering whether
the cut sheets have been updated manually. I can go into progress tracking and
see exactly where we are. Bottom line, everything we use now, whether it's the
barcoding or the batch planning, it just flows so much smoother. It's so much
easier to manage."
- Mickey Swor, Project Manager, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.
Results that count
The Port Arthur Refmery Deep Conversion Project required flexibility on a number
of fronts. First, fabrication started when only about 15 to 20 percent of the project
was engineered, compared to a typical business model of 30 to 40 percent complete.
As a result, priorities shifted frequently. Based on their access to accurate, up-to-
date information, Trinity Steel was able to quickly assess the effect of changes, and
make necessary adjustments. In addition, as a result of Trinity Steel's quality and
reliability, Fluor Enterprises shifted increased tonnage to them as the project pro -
gressed. In the end, Trinity Steel successfully absorbed an additional 5,000 tons of
steel work on the project while still delivering on the original schedule.
And deliveries are the acid test in steel fabrication: the right ship marks, properly
fabricated, delivered at the right time to the job site are what count. To ensure suc-
cess in this area, Trinity Steel combined its production progress tracking with bar
coding of assemblies at quality control. They placed a bar code sticker on each as-
sembly at the time of final inspection, with QC set up as a work area in advanced
production in FabTrol MRP. An assembly without an approved inspection status
in FabTrol MRP could not be scanned for loading. After passing through quality
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 control, and being loaded, the assembly bar code was scanned again. At each way-
point (e.g., galvanizer) each assembly was accounted for and scanned again. When
the load arrived at the construction site, each assembly was received into Fluor En-
terprises' system using a file generated from FabTrol MRP data.

"What stood out with Trinity was their ability to work with us and their ability to
provide information and keep us up-to-date. That information piece really makes
a difference. You know, everybody can fabricate. But I've chased some stuff where
I really didn't have the level of confidence. With Trinity, I'm confident that what
they say they shipped, they shipped-that what they say they've made, they've
made."
- Tim Hillis, Material Management Buyer, Fluor Enterprises, Inc.

FabTrol MRP- A better way to manage

To learn more about FabTrol MRP and how your fabrication operations can benefit
from Advanced Production, visit us at www.fabtrol.com or call us at 888-FABTROL.

"We strive to provide a quality product, an on-time product, a low-cost product.

FabTrol and the additional tools that work with it have definitely increased our
quality and decreased production time. We're getting steel out faster, and we're
able to manage that steel better. FabTrol MRP has helped make us more efficient.
It's definitely a win-win for us."
- Richard Neal, Vice President of Projects, Trinity Steel Fabricators, Inc.

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