ASTRA Group — Smart Factory Floor Execution Platform
ASTRA's production floor ran on paper while SAP sat at the centre — creating days of lag, double entry, and reconciliation errors. SkyElevate built a digital execution platform across the full pipeline, from raw material through delivery — all seven modules now running in production.
Paper on the floor, SAP in the office — and a multi-day gap between them
ASTRA Group's production floor spans raw material intake through final delivery — cutting, fabrication, welding, NDT, painting, and outbound packing. SAP was the central system of record, but the shop floor relied on manual paper forms. What happened on site took two to three days to show up in management reports. That gap meant double data entry, reconciliation errors, and no reliable live view of where every job actually stood.
What the manual process looked like
- 1Paper forms on the shop floor, filled in by hand at every production stage.
- 2Data re-entered into SAP days later — creating a 2–3 day lag between the floor and management.
- 3Double entry between what happened on site and what the central system showed.
- 4Reconciliation errors between what was ordered, received, processed, and delivered.
- 5No single live view of progress across the full production pipeline.
One platform for the full production pipeline — SAP stays in charge
SkyElevate designed a Smart Factory Floor Execution platform for ASTRA — replacing paper forms with real-time digital entry at each stage. The system validates data as it moves through the pipeline, flags mismatches before they become expensive errors, and gives management a live, single view of progress. SAP is not replaced or duplicated; it remains the system of record while the platform captures what actually happens on the floor.
- Digital capture at each stage instead of paper — data enters the system as work happens.
- Automatic validation as information moves through the pipeline.
- Mismatches flagged before they become costly rework or delivery disputes.
- Management dashboard with a live, single view across every stage.
- SAP remains the system of record — the platform feeds accurate floor data without replacing it.
Seven modules — all in production
Every stage along ASTRA's production flow runs on the same platform — not as separate tools or spreadsheet workarounds. Data carries forward from intake to delivery so nothing is retyped at each handoff.
Raw Material
Intake logged digitally at receipt — quantities validated against orders before work starts, with a clear audit trail from day one.
Cutting / Marking
Stage completion recorded on the floor in real time — material traceability without paper forms or end-of-shift catch-up.
Fabrication
Progress visible as work moves through the shop — handoffs between teams without retyping or lost paperwork.
Welding
Weld-stage data captured in the same execution flow — mismatches flagged before work advances to the next stage.
NDT
Inspection results logged digitally — rejections routed for rework with a permanent record of what passed and what did not.
Painting
Coating completion tied to upstream production records — full job history in one place, not scattered across clipboards.
Delivery Notes
Packing data matched to monitoring records — load references updated automatically, exceptions surfaced in minutes instead of hours.
What the platform delivers on the floor
Each module replaces paper at its stage with digital capture, automatic validation, and structured exception handling. Below is what ASTRA's team and management see in production every day.
- Raw Material: Intake logged digitally at receipt — quantities validated against orders before work starts, with a clear audit trail from day one.
- Cutting / Marking: Stage completion recorded on the floor in real time — material traceability without paper forms or end-of-shift catch-up.
- Fabrication: Progress visible as work moves through the shop — handoffs between teams without retyping or lost paperwork.
- Welding: Weld-stage data captured in the same execution flow — mismatches flagged before work advances to the next stage.
- NDT: Inspection results logged digitally — rejections routed for rework with a permanent record of what passed and what did not.
- Painting: Coating completion tied to upstream production records — full job history in one place, not scattered across clipboards.
- Delivery Notes: Packing data matched to monitoring records — load references updated automatically, exceptions surfaced in minutes instead of hours.
ASTRA's floor used to run on paper and delayed SAP entry. The full platform is now in production — real-time capture, validation, and visibility from raw material through delivery.
| Process | Manual document control | AI-automated (SkyElevate) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time taken | Error rate | Cost | Time taken | Error rate | Cost | |
| Floor data capture | Paper forms at every stage | Illegible, lost, or incomplete entries | 2–3 day lag before management sees reality | Digital entry as work happens | Structured, validated at source | Same-day visibility for decision-makers |
| Progress reporting | Manual roll-ups and chasing updates | Out-of-date numbers in meetings | Decisions made on stale data | Live dashboard across all stages | Single source of truth on the floor | Management acts on what is happening now |
| Delivery reconciliation | Hours per load — line by line | Piece-count and weight mismatches | Senior staff on data entry, not engineering | Minutes — automated matching with exception list | Only exceptions need human review | Weekend overtime eliminated on large loads |
| SAP alignment | Batch re-entry days after the fact | Transcription errors between floor and ERP | Firefighting when records do not reconcile | Accurate floor data ready for ERP when needed | SAP stays system of record — no duplication | Clean handoff without replacing existing ERP |
Before vs after
Paper floor, delayed SAP
- Paper forms at every production stage
- 2–3 day lag before management saw floor reality
- Double entry between shop floor and SAP
- Delivery loads reconciled by hand for hours
- Errors discovered days or weeks later
Digital execution platform
- Digital execution across the full production pipeline — all seven stages
- Live visibility for management — same day, not days later
- Floor data captured once, validated as it moves
- Delivery reconciliation in minutes — not hours per load
- Structured exceptions with clear reasons to follow up
Impact
- Full pipeline in production — seven modules from raw material through delivery, on one platform
- Reconciliation time: hours → minutes on delivery loads — team verifies exceptions only
- Real-time visibility for management, replacing a multi-day reporting lag between floor and office
- Elimination of double entry between shop floor activity and central records
- Structured exception handling — gaps flagged with reasons during the run, not chased down at month end
The document control team used to spend the best part of a working day reconciling one large delivery load. That now runs in minutes. Upstream stages — raw material through painting — run on the same platform, giving ASTRA full floor digitisation without replacing SAP.
“We stopped chasing missing items at month end. The system tells us on the day what didn't match, and why. That's the difference.”
Case study & methodology © SkyElevate 2026.