Columbus Steel Castings Implementing New ERP

Oct. 12, 2007
B&L's Odyssey platform designed to match the way foundries operate
Columbus Steel Castings will institute the Odyssey enterprise-resource planning platform following a contract placement with B&L Information Systems, the product's developer. Columbus Steel, in Columbus, OH, is described as "the world’s largest single-site steel foundry." Odyssey is a wide-ranging information management program for both foundries and diecasters. It includes modules for EDI interface, order processing, cost estimating, production scheduling, shop-floor data collection, production control, product inventory, heat analysis, shipping and invoicing, maintenance management, job costing, purchasing/material inventory, sales analysis, and accounts receivable. The software developer states it designed the Odyssey program to match the way foundries operate, so that it would be easy to learn and use, and allow metalcasters to "maximize their resources, minimize costs, and improve profitability." Columbus Steel Castings produces components ranging from 10 to 4,500 lb for the rail car industry, transportation, and mining equipment, in carbon, low- and high-alloy, stainless, low-temperature steel, and heat-resistant steel grades. “We needed to replace our legacy system with an easy-to-use, state of the art, foundry-specific ERP system," explained Columbus Steel's Pat Nolan. "We also wanted a firm that could help us with the software implementation and that understands the foundry industry out of the box.” He added that the list of foundries using the Odyssey platform was particularly impressive to the selection committee.