Structural Steel, Pressure Vessels & Heavy Boilers
Executive Takeaways & Quantified Metrics
- Full Heat Code Pedigree: Tracks steel plate, pipe, and beam chemistry (Carbon, Manganese, Sulphur) from primary mills (Tata/JSW) through to cut parts.
- Mill Test Certificate (MTC) Linking: 1-click generation of audited customer quality dossiers containing physical and chemical testing results.
- Remnant Plate Inventory Tracking: Cut plate leftovers larger than 500x500mm are automatically created as inventory items in Odoo for reuse in future nesting jobs.
- Massive Scrap Savings: Slashes expensive plate remnant wastage and eliminates raw material rejection during third-party inspection (TPI) audits.
1. The High Cost of Lost Traceability in Heavy Metal Fabrication
In heavy structural steel and pressure vessel fabrication across Hazira and Ahmedabad, steel is not generic. Engineers must prove that a flange welded onto a high-pressure reactor was cut from a specific steel plate with an audited Mill Test Certificate (MTC) proving ASTM A516 Grade 70 compliance.
When heat numbers are lost or mixed up during laser cutting, third-party inspection agencies (e.g. Lloyds, TUV, Bureau Veritas) reject the entire welded vessel. Furthermore, cut sheet metal skeletons are frequently dumped into scrap piles because legacy systems cannot track irregular remnant geometries, throwing away high-grade alloy steel worth ₹75,000/ton.
2. 2D Nesting Integration and Offcut Remnant Geometry
The Odoo fabrication engine interfaces directly with nesting software (e.g. SigmaNEST, Lantek):
- Nesting software generates cutting plans across parent plates (e.g. 2500mm x 6000mm x 20mm).
- Gross steel weight is allocated across nested part lines based on bounding perimeter geometry.
- Uncut remnant geometries larger than configured thresholds are registered in Odoo as
Steel Plate Remnant [Heat #] [L x W x T].
3. Production Odoo 19 Python ORM Steel Traceability Blueprint
Below is the Odoo ORM model managing heat code attributes and automated remnant creation:
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from odoo import models, fields, api, _
class StockLotSteel(models.Model):
_inherit = 'stock.lot'
heat_number = fields.Char(string="Steel Mill Heat Code", required=True, index=True)
carbon_percentage = fields.Float(string="Carbon (C %)", digits=(4, 3))
yield_strength_mpa = fields.Float(string="Yield Strength (MPa)")
tensile_strength_mpa = fields.Float(string="Tensile Strength (MPa)")
mtc_document_id = fields.Many2one('ir.attachment', string="Attached MTC Certificate")
is_remnant_plate = fields.Boolean(string="Is Cut Remnant", default=False)
remnant_length_mm = fields.Float(string="Remnant Length (mm)")
remnant_width_mm = fields.Float(string="Remnant Width (mm)")
class MrpProductionSteel(models.Model):
_inherit = 'mrp.production'
def action_register_nesting_remnant(self, parent_lot_id, remnant_l, remnant_w, remnant_weight_kg):
"""
Creates remnant stock quant in Odoo when sheet metal cutting finishes.
"""
self.ensure_one()
parent_lot = self.env['stock.lot'].browse(parent_lot_id)
remnant_lot = self.env['stock.lot'].create({
'name': f"{parent_lot.name}-REM",
'product_id': parent_lot.product_id.id,
'heat_number': parent_lot.heat_number,
'carbon_percentage': parent_lot.carbon_percentage,
'yield_strength_mpa': parent_lot.yield_strength_mpa,
'tensile_strength_mpa': parent_lot.tensile_strength_mpa,
'is_remnant_plate': True,
'remnant_length_mm': remnant_l,
'remnant_width_mm': remnant_w
})
# Put remnant into designated Remnant Rack location
remnant_loc = self.env['stock.location'].search([('name', '=', 'Remnant Plate Rack')], limit=1)
if remnant_loc:
self.env['stock.quant']._update_available_quantity(
product_id=parent_lot.product_id,
location_id=remnant_loc,
quantity=remnant_weight_kg,
lot_id=remnant_lot
)
return remnant_lot.id
4. Third-Party Inspection Dossier Generation
When preparing customer dispatches, Odoo automatically binds material test certificates, ultrasonic testing (UT) logs, and welder qualification records into a single consolidated PDF dossier in under 10 seconds.
5. Implementation & Steel Plant Value Realization
Recovering usable remnants and eliminating inspection delays provides heavy fabricators with an immediate, quantifiable competitive advantage when bidding for large public sector and EPC industrial projects.
Architect Your Manufacturing MRP with Arihant AI
Schedule an operational audit with Lead Architect Jay Shah. On-site engineering walk-throughs available across Gujarat manufacturing corridors and Dev Aurum, Prahlad Nagar, Ahmedabad.