The boss wants to know where the project is that was started last week.
What job? I don’t remember a job!
Ummm, look up, dude. It’s on the big screen! (watch the video below)
The big “airport” screen shows the status of all jobs on the manufacturing floor. Just scan a job with a barcode scanner, and it instantly shows up on the big screen. You’ll see the job name, the last time something happened on it, and who worked on it last. You’ll see project status, percent complete, and hours worked so far. You’ll even see how many hours are left before completion.
Turns out, the big airport-style screen can be helpful to a lot of people in the manufacturing organization. It’s really big for the guys on the shop floor, true. But also just as big for supervisors and managers. And, even sales folks who need job status they can communicate to their customers. They can just look up on the big screen, get the current status, and tell clients with the job is expected to finish.
Automatically reorder inventory using a barcode scanner. Watch the video below, and then try these steps on your shop floor:
Place a barcode label on your BOM (bill of materials)
Scan the BOM when you start work
Each item in the BOM will be deducted from inventory
Optionally scan a task to start tracking time to the job
Complete the work
Scan STOP to stop the timer
Step #2 and #3 (which are really the same step) may kick off automate scripts to reorder inventory that has fallen below a predefined threshold. Those inventory items may appear at your receiving dock as a result of that reorder. Scan them to add them back into inventory.
Update your manufacturing shop using barcodes. Track jobs, work orders, inventory, tasks, employees, etc. The list goes on. Take look at the video below for details.
A simple tablet can help track all the items you care about on the shop floor. Just tap and scan. Now you are collecting time for every product, every employee, and every kind of work. You’re also making sure inventory doesn’t fall below critical levels.
Even a simple $99 Walmart Nextbook can be used for barcoding. Just mount it securely so it cannot be handled and broken. Hook a wireless barcode scanner to it. Now employees can scan in when they start manufacturing tasks.
After watching this video, here is another link to a YouTube video for the Nextbook:
Follow the steps in the video below to deduct items from inventory when you scan them on the shop floor. When manufacturing products, you want more than just time tracking. Standard Time® is primarily a time tracking product. But if you’re working with inventory or bill of materials, you’ll also want to scan them.
The steps in this video will help deduct items from inventory when you scan inventory items or BOM’s.
Add or subtract from inventory
It turns out that you can add inventory items back into stock. Let’s say you receive items on your receiving dock, and want to put them into stock. Or, you pull too many items for a pick list and don’t use them, and want to put them back into stock. In any case, you can scan a special barcode that adds to the “Quantity in stock” for any inventory or BOM.
BOM’s don’t have Quantity in stock
True. BOM’s don’t have quantities. Instead, each item on the BOM list has a quantity used for the bill of materials. When you scan a BOM, you are adding or subtracting all the inventory items on the list. And, you the quantity in stock is adjusted by the quantity on the BOM for each item.
For example, if you use 35 screws on a BOM, and you scan the BOM name, you are subtracting all 35 screws from inventory.
Automate the shop floor by reordering inventory automatically using barcodes. Standard Time® is a time tracking app. Employees can start timers with barcode scans. But they can also add and subtract from inventory with barcodes too. Just scan an inventory item, and the quantity in stock is deducted. (scroll down for a video)
Wonderful! But what’s all this stuff about automatically reordering inventory?
It turns out that after the quantity in stock is deducted, the software can automatically reorder or replenish using special scripts. A script is kicked off when the quantity in stock drops below the reorder quantity. In other words, there a level at which an inventory item should be reordered. And when the quantity in stock drops below it, a script is run that can perform that reordering task.
How to reorder parts with scripts
There are a lot of ways a script could reorder parts. It could simply send an email to a buyer (which is still sort of a manual process). Or, it could automatically contact a website and perform the actual purchase without any human intervention. The script could be given access to an order website, complete with login credentials, and be authorized to make automated purchases. Other methods of automated purchases might include database scripts or inserting database records. All these are in the realm of possibility for automated scripts.
Scanning BOM’s reduces quantities for all inventory items on the list
Not only can you scan individual inventory items, you can also scan a Bill of Materials (BOM). And when you do, all the inventory items on the BOM list are deducted. A BOM may use large numbers of each inventory item. When the BOM is scanned, those large quantities are all subtracted from inventory. For instance, a BOM may use fifty screws. Scanning the BOM would reduce inventory for the screws by fifty, but by scanning once.
Reorder verses Replenish
Some inventory items are not reordered; they are built in your own manufacturing shop. You might refer to this as replenishing inventory rather than reordering. But the same principles hold true when running automated scripts for inventory. A script could create a new work order that requests a certain number of items be manufactured. The script is run when inventory falls below a certain level, the work order is automatically created and sent to the shop floor. Workers fulfill the work order quantity, and scan the new items back into stock.
Scanning new items back into stock
Inventory can also be added to stock, not just deducted from it. There are special barcodes, as shown in the video below that instruct the software to add items back into stock. Once your parts arrive at the receiving dock, or are manufactured on your own shop floor, they can be scanned back into stock using special “ADD” barcodes.
Barcode scanners start at $20. Get a copy of Standard Time® and a twenty dollar barcode scanner, and you’ll immediately see the status of your jobs on the shop floor.
Right now, you’re probably yelling status across the shop floor, writing instructions on post-it notes, retyping hours into payroll, and only guessing how long your jobs take.
This little video may inspire you to try a better way. Watch the video, and then go here to give this a try.
Ever wonder what you could get from scanning barcodes on the shop floor? What are the advantages? Would it help your business? Is it worthwhile?
The video below shows sixteen things you get by scanning four barcodes. Here are the four barcodes you would scan to get these things:
Employee name
Task name
Employee name again, after the task is finished
The word STOP
Can I use any of the sixteen results of barcode scanning?
Those four barcodes will give you at least sixteen results. Can you use all sixteen? Maybe. Can you use one or two of the sixteen? Quite likely. Which ones? Watch the video a few times, and write them down. Now you’re on the right track.
So you’ve decided you can use a few of these. Good. But how much time and money will they save? Well, the next question you’ve got to ask yourself is this:
How much of your process is manual?
In other words, can you replace some of your manual processes with automated ones? For instance, could you replace manual handwritten communication with scans? Could you replace verbal communication with a shop floor status window? Could you replace manual payroll entry with exported time logs? Could you replace verbal work order tasks with barcoded tasks?
The list goes on.
If you’re like most manufacturing or engineering shops, you can likely replace a dozen manual processes with automated ones. So… grab a notepad and start writing. Write down the manual things you do now. Then write down the automated results from this video. Now connect the dots. Watch the video ten times if you have to. But make sure you identify all your manual operations.
Here’s a tricky new idea: Collect barcode scans on the shop floor, and upload them into your time tracking software. (scroll down for a video)
You want to track time for factory production jobs, right?
But you don’t have line-of-sight to any computer, right?
And you don’t want to lug a tablet, right?
Well, you could use an offline scanner like the Opticon OPN-2001. The OPN-2001 scanner collects barcodes offline, and allows them to be uploaded at a later time. Each scan contains a timestamp so you know exactly when each one occurred. That’s important for time tracking because a timer is started and stopped for each scan. The software needs those timestamps to get accurate time segments representing the actual work performed by employees. You get that with the OPN-2001.
Do you need an Opticon scanner? Not really. Any scanner that collects timestamps with each scan will work. But we like the little OPN-2001. It fits in the palm of your hand and goes anywhere.
It all sounds dreamy, right? Well, consider these possible issues. Without a line of sight to a computer, operators can make mistakes. If you forget a critical scan (like a username) the timer will never start. You may think it started, but won’t find out until you upload the scans. That’s too late. You could miss multiple scans just because you didn’t have visual feedback from a computer. Sure… you can hear the bleeps when you scan, but the scanner doesn’t know when you have missed critical information.
Forget a username, and the timer won’t start.
Forget a project name, and the timer won’t start.
That’s a big deal. So make double-sure you scan everything exactly has it should be. And then this little scanner can work nicely for you.
Watch the video below to learn how Eversight Vision (an eye bank) uses Standard Time® to track the amount of time cornea tissue is being handled by lab technicians. Every second counts!
Essentially, lab techs scan a barcode when cornea tissue is removed from refrigeration, and scan again when returned. The codes record which procedure is performed. They now know how long tissues are out of refrigeration, how long each procedure takes, how long each employee worked on cornea tissues, and which employee “touched” them last. Ahhh! Somebody touched my eye! 🙂
All kidding aside, that’s a lot of great information, just by scanning a barcode label.
This is especially the same process any manufacturing or assembly operation uses. You must measure before you can improve. How long are employees spending on each product? How long are products in each stage? What state is a given product at any time? Where is it? Who handled it last? When will it be finished? Those questions can best be answered by scanning barcode labels and recording time spent on them.
Watch the video and determine if this type of process would benefit you. Then download.
Follow the steps in the video below to collect order status throughout the manufacturing process.Once you do that, you can find the location of any order on the shop floor, and the employee who touched it last. (scroll down for video)
Here’s how it works.
Employees scan order numbers (just once) at each workstation on the stop floor. Those scans go into the Standard Time software in real-time. Managers can then type in an order number and know exactly where it is.
This all happens because each barcode scanner has a unique prefix programmed into it. (Consult your user’s guide) The prefixes contain several user-defined values that indicate where that scanner is located in the organization. You set which building, department, assembly line, workstation, or stage the scan originates from. When employees scan order numbers, all that information is available to you. You now know exactly where any order is.
This order status feature is not related to time tracking. You could also track time if you wanted to, but that is optional. You could simply track order status, as a minimal effort, and then later begin tracking time for each scan.