ERP software solution for steel service centres & the metal trade

Large steel coils are lined up in a production hall with crane system and storage areas.

unitop – the holistic solution for your industry.

Are you in the metal trade or operating a steel service centre? Are you looking for a way of controlling your business processes digitally and efficiently? From procuring materials, storage and batch management to slitting, cross-cutting, contract manufacturing and despatch – with unitop on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform, you can manage all your processes and procedures centrally within a single system. Our solution helps you manage and process steel coils, slit strips, thin sheets, round steel, flat steel and other commercially available semi-finished products. You can also seamlessly integrate residual quantities management and scrap management, price calculation by weight or dimension, optimised coil slitting to minimise scrap, certificate management and connected weighing scales and machinery. This means that you can keep a close eye on stocks, material flows and commercial processes at all times.

Developed using sector-specific competence & Microsoft expertise

With over 25 years of project experience in the metal trade and in steel service centres, we have a precise knowledge of the specific challenges and procedures in your sector. unitop was developed in close collaboration with our customers and with experts from the sector and is continually being developed in line with current practices to reflect the latest market requirements as effectively as possible.

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for business applications, we champion technological ingenuity, scalability and long-term security of investment. With unitop, you can experience the advantage of an ERP solution that seamlessly integrates all of your processes on a single, future-proof platform – from procuring materials and warehousing, batch management, certificate management, slitting, cross-cutting, contract manufacturing and managing residual quantities to logistics, calculating prices and digital communication with customers.

Stacked aluminium profiles in various shapes such as round tubes, square tubes and angle profiles

In the metal trade, efficient materials management, transparent inventory management and flexible pricing models are crucial for your business success. Using a single ERP solution that displays all of the common processes in the sector, from goods inward through to despatch, ensures transparency, speed of processing and the highest degree of compliance:

Aluminium and hollow chamber profiles are sorted into stacks in a bright, modern warehouse.

Efficient materials management, inventory management & batch management
Manage round steel, flat steel, sheets, pipes & other semi-finished goods commercially available in the sector
Flexible pricing, discount models & dynamic calculation
Certificate management & connectivity via EDI to enable digital business processes
Clearly laid-out warehouse logistics, despatch processes & commissioning processes

As a steel service centre, you specialise in slitting coils and strips in line with the customer’s requirements and in processing cross-cutting and cutting to size in the most effective possible way. For that reason, your choice of ERP system not only should provide the best possible support for your material flows and production processes, but should also allow machinery and optimisation to be connected and generate comprehensive quality documentation:

Manage coils & slit strips across all stages of the process
Slitting (longitudinal cutting), cross-cutting & cutting to size of steel coils & sheets
Manage offcuts, coil slitting & material utilisation to keep scrap to a minimum
Connect optimisation software & machinery integration (sawing, cutting, laser tables)
Batch tracking, certificate management & quality management

Large steel coils stand side by side in a factory hall with green pipes in the background

Sector-specific functions in unitop

Manage coils, sheet steel & slit strips in flexible units of quantity

With unitop, you can manage coils, sheet steel, slit strips and semi-finished products across all stages of the process. Flexible units of quantity (number of units, length, area or weight) and profile control are specially tailored to the processes and requirements in the metal trade or in steel service centres.

Weight management & billing

Coil weights and ordered weights are calculated and documented automatically. Our software solution supports billing by weight, by the number of units or based on a price per kilo and ensures transparent invoicing, inventory management and materials management in the metal trade.

Scrap management & residual value management

The values of residual materials and scrap are calculated automatically.
Optimised coil slitting to minimise scrap, residual quantities management and scrap accounts are integrated in a sector-specific way.

Transportation & warehouse logistics (WMS/High-rack)

Plan and control consignments, despatches and stock movements digitally.
Our solution immediately links to high-rack and WMS warehouses securely integrates weighing scales, measurement devices and warehouse technology via the unitop HUB to provide end-to-end logistical processes in the metal trade.

Manage certificates & test reports in compliance with DIN EN 10204

Manage and archive factory certificates, acceptance test certificates (e. g. 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 or 3.2) and material certificates securely in the integrated DMS for auditing purposes. Test certificates are automatically assigned and are immediately available when goods leave the warehouse. All documentary evidence can be retrieved at any time for customers or for audits.

Integrate online stores

With unitop, you can connect online stores and digital ordering platforms in a targeted way. The solution also helps you to manage boxes and multi-use containers to ensure process transparency from ordering to despatch.

Batch management, traceability & quality management

All batch movements and quality data are captured without exception – from goods inward checking through to despatch. Quality characteristics, testing plans and measures taken are supervised and evaluated with help from the system. Consignment stocks can be centrally controlled and traced.

Dynamic rates & pricing

With unitop, you can be flexible when setting rates and prices – graduated prices, alloy surcharges, individual discounts and variable charging models can be calculated in line with the customary methods in the sector. The software ensures transparent, comprehensible and market-oriented pricing in every business process.

BI analyses, real-time final costing & AI-assisted incident management

unitop offers cross-process functions such as Contact Cockpit, real-time final costing, integrated business intelligence and margin monitoring.
Using the integrated AI basics add-on, business events such as enquiries, order confirmations or material orders are categorised automatically and assigned to the correct processes in the ERP system.

unitop interface with information on stock levels, dimensions and material data for an item

Laptop displays an opened software interface with test results, data fields and PDF upload function

Laptop displays tabular overview in unitop – with workplace groups and associated capacities

unitop interface with table view for calculation formulas for item and quantity weights

unitop in action

The typical requirements in the metal trade and in steel service centres can be controlled efficiently in unitop. Below, we will provide you with a brief explanation about how our end-to-end solution can help you, on a practical level, to configure your specific processes in the most efficient possible way:

From purchasing and warehousing semi-finished goods to despatch, with unitop, you can digitalise the entire process. Communication via EDI and digital certificate transfer ensure quality and traceability at all times. In addition, high-rack warehouses and mobile MDC devices support flexible warehouse logistics, whilst customer-specific packaging instructions can be stored on the system and issued automatically.

Whether you are slitting (longitudinal cutting) or cross-cutting steel coils and strips or cutting sheet metal to size: with unitop, you can control and document all processing steps – from reserving the material to reporting completion. Batch management and certificate management are fully integrated within that process. To make the most effective possible use of materials, you can connect your nesting software (for cutting to size) or optimisation software (for scrap-optimised coil slitting). You can also transmit all processing parameters to machines such as saws, cutters and laser tables digitally.

unitop makes managing profiles and individual dimensions easier: with the help of profile codes and pre-established input screens, you can capture not only customary lengths but also special variants particularly quickly and accurately. From the coil to the finished tube, the material used remains fully and transparently traceable at all times. That way, you are always in full control at every step of the production process.

Using our product configurator add-on, you can assign suitable raw materials correctly in unitop and initiate the necessary processing steps to produce bespoke final products for your customer from within the software solution itself. This not only saves you time and processing costs, but it also avoids sources of error within the work process. Order details are copied across directly for the product labels and weight information from connected weighing scales is automatically passed into the system.

What our customers say

Facade with STAHL KREBS lettering, blue window frames; trees in front, parked vehicle on the right.

Every company needs a central control centre to display and to optimise its in-company processes. For us, unitop is that control centre.

Daniel Krebs, managing director
Ernst Krebs KG

Worker with torch kneeling on steel plate; sparks; lorry with inscription NAUMANN STAHL IST QUALITÄT

Having introduced unitop, we have successfully configured our processes more efficiently. At the same time, unitop means that everyone in our workforce now has a more detailed view of our processes.

Jost Salzmann, managing director and co-owner
NAUMANN STAHL GmbH & Co. KG

Innovating. Transforming. Succeeding.

We provide comprehensive support — from process analysis and the appropriate unitop licensing to implementation and ongoing operation on the Microsoft platform.