Background
PLEASE NOTE: Clear ReoQuote Items button is not available in Scheduler.
The Mesh Calculator is a system to calculate how much mesh is required to fill an area with a given type of mesh allowing for standard overlap of the sheets. It can also calculate the number of selected sundries required for the number of sheets provided.
Shorthand methods are supplied to allow groups of products to be saved so that they can be used over and over. Such groups are termed “Composites.”
Before you begin
- Ensure you are logged into the Elda(Chrome) Scheduler Application. See our article Getting Started with Scheduler for more.
Accessing the Mesh Calculator from Scheduler
1. With a schedule open, select the Mesh tab inside the Schedule Details section.
2. In Scheduler, click the Calculators button from the menu and select Mesh Calculator from the sub-categories to bring up the Mesh Calculator window 
Accessing the Mesh Calculator from ReoQuote
1. With a Reoquote, select Mesh. 
2. The Mesh Calculator Window will open.
Performing a Basic Calculation
In this example we will consider a customer who requires enough sheets of SL82 mesh to cover an area of 120m2.
1. Under the Simple Mesh Calculator tab (Default tab) in the Mesh Calculator window,
Enter the type of mesh required in the product drop down box or select the required type from the drop-down list:
Mesh dimensions are displayed in the window. Effective coverage is calculated by subtracting lap from the external measurements.
2. Enter the number of square metres required in the “Area Required” text box. As you type, the number of sheets required is calculated automatically: 
3. Press the “Add results to section” button to transfer the calculated number of sheets back to the Schedulers Mesh grid.
Performing a Simple Composite Calculation
In this example we will consider a customer who requires enough sheets of SL82 mesh to cover an area of 120m2 and enough COM5065 bar chairs are to be provided to allow 18 chairs per sheet of mesh.
1. Follow steps above on performing basic calculations.
2. In the “Include these sundries” grid, under the Code column, select the required sundries code from the drop-down list – In the example provided we have used COM5065.
If the selected sundry is supplied in bags, the minimum quantity will be set to the number of units per bag. When calculations are performed, the number required will be rounded to the next full bags quantity automatically.
3. In the Add Units column, enter the number of units to be applied against the multiplier (In this case 18)
4. In the Per column, select the multiplier to be used (In this case “Sheet”).
Available options are:
- Sheet – The number of sheets is multiplied by the number of items required.
- Square Metre – The number of square metres is multiplied by the number of items required.
- Tonne – The number of items required is multiplied against the number of tonnes of mesh required.
5. Additional sundry items may be added to a single calculation if required by repeating the above steps.
6. Press the “Calculate Sundry Items” button to calculate the amount of sundries required.
7. Press the “Add results to section” button to transfer the calculated number of sheets and the total number of sundries back to Schedulers Mesh grid. 
Performing an Advanced Calculation
In this example we will consider a customer who requires full sheets and cut mesh of SL82 to cover an area of 20m by 30m with at least a 12% overlap of sheets. They also require enough COM5065 bar chairs provided at a rate of 18 per sheet. Provide full sheets if possible.
1. In the Mesh Calculator window, open the Advanced Mesh Calculator tab by clicking on it
2. Enter or pick SL82 mesh from the product drop down box:
3. Enter 20 in the length input box and 30 in the width input box:
4. Select COM5065 from the Code columns drop down box in the “Include these sundries” grid.
5. Enter 18 in the box under the “Add units” column and select Sheet from the drop down under the “per” column.
6. Press the Calculate button to calculate the amount of product required: 
Cut mesh is more expensive and labour intensive than full sheets of mesh. Adjusting the maximum lap value allows some flexibility in how the sheets are placed. An increased maximum lap means that the sheet will overlap by at least the minimum lap amount and whatever value is entered in the maximum.
7. In our example, setting the maximum lap to 20% and pressing “Calculate” again will produce a result that contains only full sheets of mesh.
8. Pressing the “Add results to section” button inserts the items into the Schedulers Mesh grid.
9. Press the “Close” button to Scheduler.
Adding a New Composite
Groups of products can be grouped together to form composites. This way, a short-hand is created that allows you to store applicable products and application quantities together.
Adding a composite will make it available to all users of Scheduler. This option should only be done following group consultation.
In this example we will create a composite of SL82 mesh together with COM5065 bar chairs at a rate of 18 per sheet, along with a roll of BPoly at a rate of 1 roll per 200m2.
1. In the Mesh Calculator window, open the Composite Calculator tab by clicking on it.
2. In our example there are no composites recorded, so we will need to create one.
3. Press the Edit button to display the composite editor.
4. In the Composite Description, type “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” and set the unit type to sheets. This composite will be calculated on a sheet basis although it could be done on a square metre basis (but you would need to do more calculating):
5. In the “Items to be added per unit” grid, select “Mesh” from the Item Type column drop down, then select SL82 from the Item Code column dropdown: 
6. The item rate for the mesh is 1 sheet per sheet, so enter 1 in the Item Rate column:
7. In the next row, in the “Items to be added per unit” grid, select “Sundries” from the Item Type column dropdown, then select “COM5065” from the Item Code column dropdown:
8. The item rate for COM5065 is 18 per sheet, so enter 18 in the Item Rate column:
9. In the next row, in the “Items to be added per unit” grid, select “Sundries” from the Item Type column dropdown, then select “BPOLY” from the Item Code column dropdown: 
10. The item rate for BPoly is that each roll will cover 200m2. One sheet of SL82 covers 12.82m, so for each sheet we need .0641 rolls (12.82 divided by 200). So, enter .0641 in the Item Rate column:
11. Press the “Save” button to save the newly created composite and return to the Mesh Calculator window:
Editing an Existing Composite
Composites that have incorrect application rates or are missing products can be altered.
Editing a composite will affect all users of Scheduler. This option should only be done following group consultation.
In this example, the existing SL82 composite incorrect applies 18 COM5065 bar chairs instead of 20 per sheet, so it needs to be corrected.
1. In the Mesh Calculator window, open the Composite Calculator tab by clicking on it.
2. Select the “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” composite from the dropdown list, then press the Edit button to bring up the composite editing window: 
3. In the “Items to be added per unit” grid, change the 18 in the Item Rate column to 20 for the COM5065 entry.
4. Press the Save button to save the altered composite and return to the Mesh Calculator window.
Using a Composite Shorthand
In this example we will use the “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” composite to calculate customer requirements for covering an area of 20 by 30 metres.
1. In the Mesh Calculator window, open the Composite Calculator tab by clicking on it.
2. Select the “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” composite from the dropdown list, then press the Calculate button to populate the Mesh Calculator window with details of the composite.
3. The Mesh Calculator window will automatically jump to the Simple Mesh Calculator tab, but we want to use the advanced calculator, so click the Advanced Mesh Calculator tab.
4. Enter 20m as the length and 30m as the width in the input boxes:
5. Press the Calculate button to calculate the required quantities
This particular calculation involves a lot of cut mesh.
6. Changing the maximum lap to 20% and recalculating will allow full sheets to be supplied instead
Changing the maximum lap to 40% and recalculating will still allow full sheets to be supplied but will cause an excessive number of sheets to be used (with a resultant increase in the amount of sundries as well). So, only use a smallest possible maximum lap that will achieve full sheets (trial and error)
7. Maximum lap of 17% is a good fit in this example: 
8. Press the “Add results to section” button to transfer the results to the Schedulers Mesh grid to observe the final costs.
9. Press the Close button to return to the Scheduler main window.
Deleting a composite
At times a composite will outlive its usefulness and will require deleting.
Deleting a composite will remove it from all users of Scheduler. This option should only be done following group consultation.
In this example we wish to delete the “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” composite.
1. In the Mesh Calculator window, open the Composite Calculator tab by clicking on it.
2. Select the “SL82 Mesh with COM5065 and BPoly” composite from the dropdown list, then press the Delete button to remove the composite. 
3. Following a confirmation prompt, and pressing Yes, the composite will be deleted:
Simon Gray
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