Track Production with Barcodes

“I can’t use a computer with a welder in my hands!” Does this sound familiar? Here’s a solution: Use barcodes to track time instead of asking your employees to enter time.

Scanning barcodes is a hundred times more accurate than typing hours into a computer or even entering them into paper timesheets.

Watch this short teaser, then scroll down and follow this line of reasoning.

Employees who attempt to enter hours on either paper or computer timesheets can make a lot of mistakes. First off, you can’t remember what you did earlier in the day, let alone earlier in the week. It sounds nice to collect hours on timesheets, but it just isn’t accurate. You’re getting fake data and you don’t even realize it.

Why not use barcode time tracking instead?

Scan barcodes when you start and stop jobs. The actual time will automatically be entered into employee timesheets. Every sliver of project time adds up. Employees don’t need to know how to use computers. There’s no mouse or keyboard. You simply scan to start, and scan to stop. What could be simpler than that? Now you’re getting real employee time, not fake time.

Download Standard Time® today!

Slot Mfg Jobs For Production

What tool do you use to schedule jobs for assembly lines? A spreadsheet? Verbal communication with line managers? Or just big arguments centering around first-come-first-served job scheduling?

Most companies use a combination of all these.

But there is a tool. Watch this video, then scroll down below for a brief discussion and download link.

The tool described above is named Standard Time®. It slots jobs on assembly lines, and then takes input using barcode scanners. Now you can compare project estimates with actuals.

Projects are displayed on a Gantt chart. Each one can have unlimited tasks and subtasks assigned to workgroups or users. This lets you see manpower charts for headcount and scheduling charts for assembly lines. Both human and non-human resources are handled by ST.

You can give ST a try at the link below. It’s free to try, plus we’ll set up a GoToMeeting to walk you through the process.

Download Standard Time

Chocolate for your mfg shop

Everyone needs comfort.. even machinists and welders. Why not give them barcode scanning software to eliminate the drudgery of reporting their daily time. That’s “comfort food” for the soul.

Here’s the deal… your machinist hates the stupid timesheet he’s forced to fill out every Friday afternoon. Plus, he doesn’t really remember what he did all that week. After all, he’s slept at least once since Monday. So you’re getting fake and false data anyway.

But what can barcodes do to help?

A lot. Scan jobs at the time you do them, and you are reporting your time as you go. When Friday afternoon arrives, you’ve already sent in fifty small time segments telling exactly what you did. That’s guaranteed to be fifty times more accurate than the paper timesheet everybody hates.

 

 

You’re in good hands with Standard Time® mfg software

Ahh, vacation! Get away, enjoy; let our mfg software help run your shop.

When you use Standard Time® your shop runs like a sewing machine. Projects are slotted for production, operators are assigned, and actual hours collected on the shop floor with barcodes. Come back from vacation to find new work orders filled up with actual time and materials from the shop floor.

What a nice feeling.   🙂

Manpower Requirements Chart

How many employees do you need for your projects in the next six months? Or even the next month? You probably have a good idea already. It’s about the same as last month, right… because you have the same number of jobs as you always did.

Or do you? Are you sure?

If not, you may need a manpower capacity chart. That’s the topic of the video below. It’s free to watch, and might inspire you to change the way you compute future manpower needs.

Every month, your manpower needs change based on the projects and tasks assigned to employees. Slot more jobs, and employee staffing increases accordingly. Experience a slowdown, and manpower requirements decrease. There is a direct relationship between jobs and people. That’s well understood.

But what’s not so understood is how to shift jobs around to even out the workflow. You don’t want to over-allocate employees one month and then leave them sitting on the next. Best to shift jobs and tasks around until the workload is level. Or, as level as you can make it.

That’s where a chart like this has value. You can perform what-if scenarios until things normalize.

Have you tried the Resource Requirements chart? If not, give it a try!

Download here: www.stdtime.com/download.htm