Category: Barcode scanner

Manufacturers – let us familiarize you with barcodes. They have many advantages but let me mention three. Watch the video then scroll down for an overview.

The three biggest advantages of using barcodes on the shop floor are:

1. Employees without computers can still collect their hours. Sure, a little tablet is still considered a computer, but you can throw away the keyboard and mouse. The only input device you need is a barcode scanner. That means employees are not fat-finger faking their hours. They scan their jobs and time is collected for them.
2. You want accurate times for all your manufacturing tasks. How can you get them? It will never happen with a keyboard. There are too many ways to cheat and mess up.
3. With just a few scans you collect a huge amount of data. Try that with a typical timekeeping software product. It won’t happen. Barcodes are the only way to grab all that data with so little employee effort.

Give barcode scanning a try. It may completely change your thinking.

I’m a manufacturing project manager and I need to schedule jobs for production! Can I get them slotted quickly? How about tracking their time with barcodes on the shop floor.

Yep, there’s an app for that. (scroll down for a video)

It’s called Standard Time®. And it’s a registered trademark because it’s been around for nearly two decades. That’s a while. It means you have tools that have grown organically from many other customers. They have proven this app in so many settings you’re likely to find it slick as easy as they do.

Start by slotting jobs for production, and then take input from the shop floor with barcode scanners. You’ve got project management and time tracking seamlessly connected. Give it a try today!

 

This video shows how to set up barcode scanning for manufacturing on the shop floor. (scroll down for video)

It is so easy to begin tracking time for employees on the shop floor. Just slap a barcode scanner in their hands and ask them to scan their work orders and tasks. Now that is a hundred and ten percent easier than filling out paper timesheets and yelling job status across the floor. Just scan and go.

Wait… what do employees scan?

Try scanning in this order:

1. Scan your employee badge
2. Scan the work order
3. Scan the task you’re working on

That’s it! A timer will start, and you can begin your work. When you finish your task, scan these things:

1. Scan your employee badge again
2. Scan the word STOP

No the timer stops. You have just communicated the following things to your boss:

1. When you started work
2. How long you worked
3. What job you worked on
4. What task you worked on
5. What client the work was for
6. What department the work was done in
7. What phase of the job was worked on
8. How many times the job was touched
9. How many tasks it took for the job
10. The total hours accumulated on the job
11. The percentage of completion for the job
12. When the job is likely to be done
13. And about a dozen other things you don’t readily think of

See how valuable this is? Just a few scans communicate a huge amount of information. Watch the video and give it a try.

 

Standard Time® is not just for time tracking and project management. It’s also for tool control and accountability on the shop floor. Watch this video below for steps to scan barcodes to check tools out. Scroll way down…

Three scans will check a tool out, and assign it to an operator.

1. Scan username (to tell which user is checking the tool out)
2. Scan tool name (to tell which tool is being checked out)
3. Scan CHECKOUT (to perform the operation)

Those three scans assign a tool to an operator on the shop floor. Now the tool is under their care, and is assumed to be returned in the same state it was taken. This is the basics of tool accountability for manufacturing and factory floor use.

Here’s how to check a tool back in:

1. Scan username
2. Scan tool name (this shows the date/time you originally checked the tool out)
3. Scan CHECKIN

After checking a tool back in, the actual hours between CHECKOUT and CHECKIN are added to the total. Now you know the total number of hours the tool was in use (approx). You can use this for PM purposes.

 

Most bespoke and custom manufacturing shops start with work orders. Every job has one, or it has some unique title that designates and identifies it on the shop floor. This video describes how you can collect data for those work orders or unique identifiers.

scroll down for the video

A simple barcode scanner is all you need to collect interesting data.

But what can you collect? Here are some possibilities, but the list is endless, and depends upon what you want to collect. Just about anything is possible.

1. Time stamps for when jobs start and stop
2. Employees who work on jobs
3. The actual work order number for each time segment
4. The client the job is for
5. A department where the work was performed
6. A percentage of completion
7. Inventory and expense usage
8. Bill of material usage

Here is an infographic that shows 16 things you can collect with 4 barcodes:

http://www.stdtime.com/infographic-things-you-get-scanning-barcodes.htm

 

As it turns out, Standard Time® is not just for project and time tracking. You can scan expenses on the manufacturing floor, which deduct items from inventory. (see video below) Here’s how it works:

First, set up an expense template that represents something you use a lot. That template has all the predefined fields for cost categorization. It also has a link to an inventory item that is deducted when the expense template is scanned on the factory floor.

Now scan that expense template name. Two things happen:

1. A new expense item is added to the list in Standard Time
2. The inventory item (for that expense) is deducted

You now can easily track expenses incurred and inventory along with time.

 

Even the simplest manufacturing shops can be automated with a few simple additions. Those additions start with these items:

1. Barcode labels on everything
2. Barcode scanners
3. Tablets on the shop floor
4. Standard Time® time tracking software

If you slap barcode labels on everything, then you can scan them everywhere. Scan raw materials to subtract from inventory. Scan bill of materials when kitting parts. Scan products as they begin the build process. Scan them again as they pass each stage of improvement. And finally, scan them as they are boxed and shipped. Now you have just collected a huge amount of information without expending any extra human effort.

Congratulations! You have just automated your manufacturing shop!

Here’s what you can now expect:

1. Know when and where your work orders were started
2. Know who worked on them last
3. Know how much time has been spent so far
4. Know how long entire jobs take
5. Know where the bottlenecks occur
6. Know what waste to cut

Seriously? I get all that from a few barcodes? Yup!