Corporate Retail Store (CRS)
Automated Takeoff (ATO)
Client Background
Corporate Retail Store (CRS) operates a chain of superstores that sell
a variety of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. The Company's
stores offer brand name merchandise such as Laura Ashley, Cuisinart, Calphalon,
J.A. Henckels, and Krups. For privacy disclosure purposes "Corporate
Retail Store" is not the actual name for this large nationally known
retail chain.
At their corporate office in New Jersey, the store planning division
is responsible for complete store renovation and new store startups. This
includes the design, ordering and construction/installation phases.
*** Source: bloomberg.com
The Problem
CRS is a corporation that is expanding rapidly. This expansion is driving
the opening of new stores at an ever-increasing rate. The problem exists
with their design department being able to keep up with this pace. Designing
the stores and generating a Bill of Materials (BOM) for a store was taking
up too much time. One of their options to combat this problem is to increase
their Store Planning staff. This would involve hiring new employees, which
in turn means adding more salaries. In addition to salaries, other costs
associated with a new employee would be computer hardware, software, training
and other company benefits and expenses. This option was an expensive
investment and does not solve the underlying problem of inefficiency in
the design process.
The Solution
AMS consulted with CRS and looked at every part of the process that the
Store Planning division is responsible for. Together a decision was made
on a group of Phase I goals that would greatly improve their design process.
The solution consisted of the development of custom Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) software to be named Automated Takeoff (ATO) that runs directly
inside of AutoCAD. AMS also developed a custom Microsoft Access Database
that the ATO system connects to. All of the store fixtures are defined
in the database. The ATO system makes it easy for the designers to import
a fixture into a store layout. When dropping a defined fixture into a
store, all the data that is needed to order the part is imbedded directly
into the AutoCAD entity. In addition, all tagging required to show graphic
data is done automatically. This eliminates the need for the CADD operators
to add dozens (or hundreds) of attribute tags onto a floor plan. Also
automated is the Takeoff procedure which reports all fixture counts in
to a spreadsheet. Since the ATO system is being used to import and layout
all the fixtures, it is capable of doing full accounting of every item
required to do a full takeoff for their Purchasing department.
Certain conditions in the store would affect how different items were
to be calculated.
Examples of these conditions are:
- Seismic Requirements
- Fixture & Gable Forming Relationships
- Area Calculations
- Volume of Merchandise
Items that are being counted include divider wall fixtures, gables, masonite,
stock room fixtures, top shelves, and sway bars.
The Benefit
By developing this custom Design Automation solution, what was once a
two (2) day task of manually counting the items for purchasing has now
been reduced to a few minutes. Also, the chance for error is significantly
reduced. An incorrect manual count could result in thousands of dollars
lost..
Here are some additional custom features of CRS' ATO
software
- System developed to follow current CRS process, which significantly
reduces training
- Intuitive VBA forms developed so a manager can easily make changes
to the database
- Automatically update fixtures when the database changes
- Automatically detects and deletes fixtures incorrectly placed on top
of each other in AutoCAD
- Tool that easily finds fixtures in the drawing by highlighting them
for the user
For more information about Design Automation and how it can help your
company be much more productive, visit the Design Automation section of
our web site. Also, visit the Customization section of our web site for
more information on customizing the AutoCAD environment. Or simply call
us today at (973) 882-8008!
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