Business Analysis

Wool Processing Paths

How wool moves through scouring, tops making, cutting, and treatment. The home scour process at Chadwicks is documented in detail below, with the other processing paths summarised at the end. Based on Martin's walkthrough and Paul's email (24 Mar).

Primary processing path

Home Scour Process

The scouring process at Thomas Chadwicks, from blend instruction through to dispatch and invoicing. Based on Martin's end-to-end walkthrough of order SS15713 / works order C35134.

!
Chadwicks systems are out of scope for the trading platform build. This process is documented because the trading system's outputs (blend instructions, scour advice, condition certificates) are direct dependencies for the home scour process. Steps marked with a D gold marker are dependency handoff points between the two systems.
D
Blend Instruction
Trader builds the blend in WTS and sends the instruction to Chadwicks
2 substeps — dependency handoff from trading system
  • 1Trader builds the blend in WTS (creates SS lot number, e.g. SS15713)
  • 2Trader sends blend instruction to Matt Andrews and warehouse at TC
Trading system dependency
The blend instruction originates in WTS. It specifies the wool types, proportions, and target weight. This is the primary input that triggers the entire home scour process.
Actors Trader Matt Andrews Systems WTS
2
Scheduling & Works Order
Matt schedules production and creates all the paperwork for the scour run
4 substeps — all manual entry across Excel and PackingAdmin
  • 1Matt enters blend in the Chad Scour Orderbook workbook (Excel)
  • 2Matt schedules the scour for production and allocates a works order (e.g. C35134)
  • 3Matt creates workbooks for feeding and packing operatives (FEEDING card and PACKING card)
  • 4Matt enters works order details and bale marks into the PackingAdmin app
Out of scope — Chadwicks internal systems
The Chad Scour Orderbook (Excel), FEEDING/PACKING cards, and PackingAdmin app are all internal Chadwicks systems. These are documented for context but are not part of the trading platform build.
Actors Matt Andrews Systems Excel (Scour Orderbook) PackingAdmin
3
Warehouse Preparation
Warehouse sources and prepares the greasy wool bales for the blend
5 substeps — physical bale selection and preparation
  • 1Warehouse is advised of planned production and checks where required wool is located
  • 2Warehouse organises collection from British Wool warehouses if needed
  • 3Warehouse organises collection from Bower Green warehouses if needed
  • 4Warehouse prints stock lists for wool on-site, selects bales from stacks, marks bales taken
  • 5Warehouse prepares the blend and writes component letter on each bale
Actors Warehouse Systems Printed stock lists Manual bale marking
4
Feeding & Scouring
Bales are fed into the scouring line in rounds, with interval testing throughout
3 substeps — production with 30-minute and 60-minute testing cycles
  • 1Feeding operatives select bales in the ROUNDS described on the FEEDING card
  • 2Production records 30-minute interval tests in an Excel workbook
  • 3Production records bin sample tests every 60 minutes in an Excel workbook
Out of scope — production monitoring
The 30-minute and 60-minute testing is recorded in Excel at Chadwicks. This data feeds into the batch report but is not connected to any Standard Wool system. Paul flagged energy usage, consumables, chemicals, overtime, and effluent discharge as metrics he wants to track here — none are currently reported.
Actors Feeding operatives Production Systems FEEDING card Excel (interval tests)
5
Batch Reporting & Packing
Finished wool is weighed, labelled, and packed into bales with batch statistics generated
3 substeps — automated weighing via CORER system
  • 1A batch report is generated after every lot showing production statistics
  • 2Finished bale numbers and weights are added via the automatic weigh and label system (CORER)
  • 3Matt/Stuart receives finished goods into stock (TC Stock) from PACKING database
Actors Matt / Stuart Packing operatives Systems CORER (weigh & label) PACKING database TC Stock
D
Documentation
Office produces scour advice and condition certificates — these feed back into the trading system
3 substeps — dependency handoff back to trading system
  • 1Office enters actual bales that were 'despatched' to the production run
  • 2Office produces a Scour Advice showing bales in / bales out and test results
  • 3Office produces a Wool Condition Certificate showing tested wool weights and Gain/Regain value
Trading system dependency — output documents
The Scour Advice and Wool Condition Certificate are key outputs that feed back to the trader. The Scour Advice confirms what was processed; the Condition Certificate provides the actual weights and yield data that the trader needs to "result" the blend in WTS (replacing estimates with actuals, consuming greasy stock, creating scoured SS lot).
Actors Office Systems Manual document creation
D
Processing Invoice
Chadwicks invoices Standard Wool for the scouring work based on contracted tariffs
1 substep — cost feeds into trading COGS
  • 1Office invoices Standard Wool based on tariffs for the client — cost per kg processed
Trading system dependency — processing cost
The processing invoice is a direct input to the trading system's cost of goods sold. The scouring cost per kg feeds into the margin calculation for each blend/sale. This is the "Processing Cost" branch in the metrics drilldown.
Actors Office Trader Systems Dynamics GP
D
Customer Call-off & Dispatch
Trader instructs warehouse to prepare a weight for customer delivery
4 substeps — dispatch triggered by trading system call-off
  • 1Trader advises of a customer call-off and instructs warehouse to prepare a weight
  • 2Warehouse selects the most accessible bales that best make up the requested weight
  • 3Warehouse produces a delivery note
  • 4Shipping department prepares Sale Invoice to client
Trading system dependency — dispatch instruction
The call-off instruction comes from the trader via WTS. The delivery note and sale invoice close the loop — the trader generates the sales invoice in WTS, stock is removed, and the margin is calculated by the MARGIN_REPORT procedure.
Actors Trader Warehouse Shipping Systems WTS Delivery note (manual)
Systems & Tools

Chadwicks Internal Systems

These systems are internal to Thomas Chadwicks and are out of scope for the trading platform. They are documented here because the trading platform's outputs depend on them, and any future integration would need to connect at these points.

Chad Scour Orderbook
Excel workbook. Scheduling and works order allocation.
Excel
PackingAdmin
App for works order details and bale marks entry.
Custom App
FEEDING & PACKING Cards
Physical workbooks for feeding rounds and packing instructions.
Paper / Excel
CORER
Automatic weigh and label system for finished bales.
Hardware / Software
TC Stock / PACKING Database
Finished goods receipt and stock tracking at Chadwicks.
Database
Production Test Workbooks
30-min and 60-min interval testing during scouring runs.
Excel
Beyond scouring

Other Processing Paths

Paul's email (24 Mar) clarified that blend recipes aren't just for scouring. The trading platform handles instructions to several third-party processors, each with a different cost model and product transformation. These follow a similar pattern to home scouring (instruction → send to processor → receive back → result in WTS) but differ in outputs and cost allocation.

Punta Tops
Scoured wool is processed into a top and a noil (by-product). The noil enters stock as a new lot valued at a predetermined price. The top takes the balance of the apportioned cost.
Input: Scoured wool
Output: Top + Noil (two stock entries)
Cost: Split valuation — noil at predetermined price, top absorbs the balance
Data model implication
This is a product transformation with split output — one input lot becomes two stock entries with apportioned cost. The trading platform data model must support this 1-to-many transformation and the cost allocation logic.
Cutting
A top in open form is cut, repacked, and reweighed. The cutting cost is added to the stock value.
Input: Top (open form wool)
Output: Cut wool, repacked and reweighed
Cost: Cutting cost added to stock value (simple cost accumulation)
Superwash Treatment
A protection treatment is applied to the top, making it suitable for garment washing. Treatment cost is added to stock value.
Input: Top
Output: Superwash-treated top
Cost: Treatment cost added to stock value (simple cost accumulation)
Home Scouring (documented above)
Greasy wool is scoured into clean wool at Chadwicks. This is the primary processing path and the one documented in detail on this page.
Input: Greasy wool (H lots)
Output: Scoured wool (SS lots) + wool grease by-product
Cost: Per-kg scouring cost replaces greasy stock with scoured stock at rolled-up cost
Common pattern
All four processing types follow the same workflow pattern: trader creates a blend instruction in WTS → sends to third-party processor → receives back transformed product with documentation → results the blend in WTS (consuming input stock, creating output stock, recording costs). The trading platform needs to support all four paths through the same blend/recipe mechanism. Paul flagged this explicitly: "blend recipes not just for scouring but also third party processors."