Guess what’s hot in manufacturing project tracking?
Barcode scanning. (scroll down for the video)
Turns out you can scan a few simple barcodes to track manufacturing time. Scan your employee badge to let the system know who you are. Scan a task name to let it know which job or product you’re on. A timer records the exact starting time for the work. Scan the word “STOP” and the timer stops.
In those few scans, you have just collected the following information:
- How much time each employee takes to do their work
- How much time each product takes
- The total time for each product or package
- Average time for each kind of job
Manufacturing is all about efficiency and cost. A few barcodes may surprise you. You may be spending more time than you thought. Or certain jobs are costing you a lot more than you ever imagined. Or secondary jobs may be crowding out your core competencies. Without the exact time measurements, you may never know.