Tracking materials used/on hand?

Industry Talk
1

Are there any software apps or magic spreadsheets out there to keep track of raw materials? I’ve been making some kiteboards which use smaller pieces of fiberglass and my manual system is all out of whack since I can cut pieces that use 1/2 or 1/3 the width of the roll. I used to just keep track of how many feet of glass I cut off the roll on a sheet of paper, now I cut odd size chunks and it makes it really difficult to know how much is left

Thanks

Mike S

2

I might be missng somethng, but why not figure your average or max width you do and get the best width roll of cloth that can be halved or cut into three separate rolls…then run them off accordingly? It isn’t that hard to do this and you can get a lot more bang for the buck.

3

Great topic!

My company is very new and I have been having a heck of a time keeping track of things.

I know a lot of it comes with time, butI would be very interested to know how you guys do it.

Hey DS! Got an easy way?

Mahalo

4

Keep it simple.

With containers of things like gallons of catalyst, surfacing agent, styrene, etc. I write the date I begin using it with a Sharpie right on the container. That makes me aware of when it came in and how long it lasts. Or when it goes bad if I ws doing very little volume.

My yardage of cloth is just noted on my receipts and I have a simple rack for dressing boards with a dowel thru a vertical 2x6 that holds 4, 6, 6Warp, 7.5 oz rolls of cloths…although I could easily put a piece of 2" masking tape with the day it came in right next to each weave & the total yardage. Same deal for say, a carton of razor blades, waxpaper or stir sticks. Or tubs or Q cell & milled fibers…Sharpie the date on and become aware of your rate of use.

5

Thanks DS

I will try some of that.

I wouldn’t mind hearing suggestions from others as well.

Anybody else want to chime in?

Mahalo

6

Mike,

I don’t know what type of cloth you’re using but I found that by going to 50" cloth you can do a board up to 128 cm using the full width of the roll. For longer boards you go lenghtwise and as long as the board isn’t too wide the other half of the piece can be used either on the deck or as another layer. Either way you will end up with less waste.

I also got away from normal surfboard cloth and switched to 12 oz. double bias biax without the mat. It is cheaper and stronger than using double 6 E or S layers.

If I order a full sheet of Corecell I only only order enough biax, peel ply, baging material, etc. to use the full sheet. It may be cheaper to buy a larger roll of cloth but as long as I keep my kiteboard materials seperate from the surfboard materials I keep waste to a minimum.

7

Thanks for the replies. Good ideas, buying and keeping seperate materials will certainly help

Mike S