How to use Mandalay CS to manage the movement of stock at a quarry
The production and sales of stock at a quarry can be tracked through the Mandalay system, allowing an record of movement into lots on site. This guide explains how to use Mandalay CS to track all stages of operations from extraction from the quarry face, through processing at the crushers to the certification and eventual sale of products from lots.
This guide assumes a basic understanding of location management within Mandalay CS.
Transaction Source and Destination
Each transaction captured in Mandalay CS can have a source and or a destination locations. If a location is set a as the source of the transaction then it can be assumed that product is being deducted from the location. The location is the destination then this is considered an addition to the location.
On site Locations for a Quarry
Each site for a quarry should have some initial site locations configured. These locations are used as parent locations for grouping the lots and quarry face points. We recommend that the following locations be established for any quarry site.
- Quarry
- Crusher
- Sales
Quarry
The quarry location can be used as the source point for any raw material transfers to the crusher. If there are multiple faces in operations then it is possible to generate a child location for each of the faces. Any location setup as the quarry face should be configured as a source only by only having the Can Be Source option checked.
Crusher
The crusher location is used as the parent location for any stock lots that are currently being generated. If a site has more than one crusher then its possible to create multiple crusher locations to map this setup. Any new lots will be added under this location and moved to sales once complete.
If raw material is not being records in the system then the Crusher locations will only need to be configured as a source only location. However if the raw material from the face is being recorded then the crusher needs to be set as a destination also as any raw material transactions will be destined for the appropriate crusher.
Note: The above example is configured to receive Raw Material from the quarry face so the Can Be Destination has been activated.
Sales
The Sales location is used to identify which lots are currently available for sale. Because it may be possible for material to be returned or imported to a sales lot the sales location should be configured to be either a source or a destination to allow movement in both direction.
Lots
Lots are the representation of stock piles and will usually only provide one product for sale. The naming of the lot is important as it will eventually be used as the source for a sale and will then appear on the docket being printed for the driver. We recommend the following naming convention LOT - {lot number} - {Product Type} , this would be the initial name for a lot. Once a lot is sampled and certified then the certification number can be appended to the name.
A lot will first be created under the crusher and as material is crushed (or mixed) and the stock pile created the lot will be used as the destination for the transactions the represent the product being created. Once the lot is created the location should have both the Can Be Source and Can Be Destination options turned off to prevent any more transactions from using this location. When the certification has been done the number can be added to the name and the location dragged and dropped into the sales area ready to be setup to sell.
When the lot is placed into sales it should then be configured the same as the Sales location and allow it to be used as a source and a destination. At this point the lot should also be configured as a source for the product being sold out of the lot. See the next section for product setup and configuration.
Products
Two types of products are required to allow the best management of stock creation.
- Transfer Product - These are products used for moving material between the quarry face and the crusher plus the crusher and the lots, as they are being generated.
- Sale Products - These products are used for the eventual sale of the lot an only linked to the lot once its ready to sell.
Each of the locations will be configured to use these product as either being sourced or the destined for the location.
Transfer Products
These products are used for the movement of the material on site before it is prepared into the final product.
Raw Material
This product is used for managing the movements from the quarry face to the crusher (or sorting area). The quarry face location should have this product marked as being sourced from it and the crusher or any other sorting location should show it as destined to go to this location.
Crushing
After the raw material has been crushed a transaction should be captured in Mandalay CS to record how much was crushed and placed in a lot. The product used for this should be called Crushing and each type of product (e.g. Road Base, CBR, Fines ) should have its own transfer product to help report on the types of products being created at the crusher. It is possible to have just one product for crushing but it may be harder to report on the production of products.
The crusher location will have these Crushing products configured as being sourced from the crusher and the new lots will be setup so these products are destined for this location.
Sale Products
Each product that is produced and sold by the site should be setup in the products list. This should already be done as part of the implementation of the Mandalay system.
Once a lot is moved into the sales area all the transfer products should be removed form the setup of the lot location and the specific sale product setup as sourced from this location.
Transfer Transactions
Once all the locations and necessary products have been created, transactions to record the movement of material can being. These transactions can either be created for each load as it is generated and run over the weigh bridge or accumulated into one manual transaction using the manual Net weight option.
All transaction in Mandalay CS will need a vehicle, client and product and sometime a carrier. For these transfer transactions a simple vehicle called Loader could be created to record the transfer transactions. The client and carrier (if needed) can be set to a client record created to represent the business operating the site.
The product should then be one of the transfer products created and the destination and source should reflect the type of transfer occurring. If configured correctly the source and destination should automatically be populated based on the product selected.
Vehicle Defaults and Favorites
To assist in the capture process it is possible to configure a vehicle to default to the companies client and carrier record (see the first image above). The vehicle can also be setup with product favorites so that only the transfer products are available (see second image above).
Manual Net Weight Loads
To allow an accumulated load to be entered into Mandalay CS without capturing 2 weights a manual weight with the Net flag active can be used. This will write a transaction with a net weight of the value entered.
Sales
When a lot is ready to sell, all transactions that are coming from this lot will need to the lot set as the source for the load. If only one location is configured to be the source for a product then it will automatically be assigned to a transaction for that product once it is selected. If a product is linked to more than one location then the operator will need to select the correct location by navigating the destination location tree.
Process Summary
The process for managing stock movement at a quarry can be summarised as follows:
- After material extraction from face, the material is moved to the crusher
- A transaction is recorded indicating the amount of material moved to the crusher location from the face location. (use the manual net weight)
- A new lot is created in Mandalay against the crusher for the product to be produced.
- Crushing commences for the production of a product.
- After crushing complete a transaction is recorded for the movement of the crushed material from the crusher location to the new lot location created.
- Once the lot is completed the location is moved into the sales location.
- The lot is now configured to show it is the source of the product for sale.
- Any transactions for the sale of the product will have the lot set as the source of the transaction.
- Run reports to monitor stock levels.