A project management blog for manufacturing and engineering
Chasing the status of jobs and work orders on the shop floor? Well… you know… “there’s an app for that” as they used to say in the 2000’s. Or was that the 1990’s?
That app is Standard Time. It can chase jobs status for you.
ST has a “Work in Progress” WIP screen that shows the latest status of every job. Put a 60″ TV up on the wall, and everybody can see the latest job status.
This short video may act as inspiration to try it. 🙂
One of the best things you can do to save manufacturing admin time is barcodes.
Here’s why: Most shops report their employee time with handwritten timesheets. Workers fill in a sheet for their week and hand it to their supervisors. Have you considered replacing that step with scanning barcodes instead?
You save the minutes and hours that accumulate in filling them out, and you save the human error that results from attempts to remember work performed. You also save transcription mistakes when reentering the hours into other software. Just scan and go!
Barcodes are the best!
Metal workers do not sit down at workstations, and hunt and peck. I guarantee that!
So, how do you collect time and inventory usage for them? Uhhh… we don’t.
Try this: give them a barcode scanner and Standard Time®.
Have you considered using barcodes to track employee time? Watch the short video below, and contact us at www.stdtime.com. He’ll help you get started!
Have you considered using barcodes on your assembly lines? The little video below may inspire you to try it out. (scroll down below for details)
Standard Time® is the best tool for scanning barcodes on the assembly line. Thousands of employees use it every day. Companies gather work order data from those scans, and adjust production to match actuals on the shop floor.
For instance…
Download Standard Time today!
Alexa can be used on the manufacturing shop floor to control devices with barcodes. Want to see how? scroll down to the video below
First off, DO NOT use Alexa to turn on harmful devices like saws or presses. Bad idea!
Here’s how to control things on the shop floor with Alexa:
The genius behind this is method of shop floor automation is prerecorded messages. You can create as many as you like. Each one tells Alexa to do something. Record them with the Windows Voice Recorder app. Save the files to your hard drive. (Beware that you’ll likely need to convert these goofy Windows audio files to MP3. The Voice Recorder is too goofy and backwards to support that, so consider using another recording app instead.)
Now that you have sound files in MP3 format, you can play them with Standard Time® scripts.
What’s Standard Time?
Standard Time (Or, ST for short) is a manufacturing shop floor time tracker. Employees track their time and materials with it. Google it, and you’ll see.
ST plays MP3 files by use of scripts. Scripts have names, which you can scan as barcode labels. So, create a script that plays a sound, then create a barcode label with that script name. Scan the label to call the script. Magically, your Alexa commands will come out the speaker and she will do what you want.
Yeah, I know… it sounds a little sketchy. Contact the support folks at Scoutwest for some help. It’s really not hard, but there are some details you can mess up. The support folks will have you up and running quickly.
Yeah… but… why not just skip the barcode thing and yell commands at Alexa? Two reasons… 1. Your operators may not know the commands, and will need training and retraining. Computers don’t. They never forget. 2. Your Alexa commands may be so numerous that operators forget them all. See reason #1. So… it’s just better to let the computer handle all communication with Alexa.
Go ahead and download Standard Time if you haven’t already. Good luck!
Scanning barcodes on the shop floor can definitely make tracking manufacturing jobs easy, but placing your barcode scanner on a stand makes it even easier.
Watch the video below, then scroll down.
Yeah, a barcode scanner stand can really make scanning slick. Just pass the barcode label under the scanner and it is automatically scanned. You don’t even have to press the button.
You can try this in Standard Time® today. That is, if you have a scanner. If not, consider picking up an inexpensive scanner like the one shown in this video. Amazon has them for less than $40 USD.
Download from stdtime.com and give it a try.
Have you ever wondered (or needed to know) how many hours are spend running each machine in your manufacturing shop? Turns out, there’s a simple and inexpensive way to find out. It’s called Standard Time®.
Scroll down below the video for more…
How can know how many hours are logged to each machine in your manufacturing shop? Track the hours with barcodes. Scan barcodes taped to each machine and you’ll find out.
Actually, you’ll find out a whole lot more. Standard Time is an employee time tracking app that uses barcodes. Employees start and stop timers just by scanning. Part of that process could include machines. Those scans will come ripping into your ST dashboards in real-time. You can cut up the data any way you like.
Maybe you want to see just how much time each employee spends at a machine. Or, which jobs ran on which machines. Or, what the average usage per day is. Or month. Any of those scenarios are possible with barcode scanning in Standard Time. Give it a try today!
Don’t know where to get Standard Time? Try Googling us! Or, just go to stdtime.com. We’re always here. 🙂
Here’s a nice little video to help inspire you to track work orders on the assembly line with barcodes?
What… barcodes?
Yep, barcodes. Scroll down below the video for more…
Turns out, you can track orders on the assembly line with barcodes. Employees simply scan barcodes telling you who is working on what. Now you have timestamped records of the employee doing the work and the job they are doing.
The program we’re describing is Standard Time®.
Standard Time has the ability to collect time entries using barcodes. Just tack a few strategic codes to workbenches and you’re ready to start. Scan an employee name and job number. A timer will start. You’re now collecting the very basics. There are a lot more things to scan, but this is the start. Go ahead and download ST and try scanning. You’ll like it. 🙂
Even welders can run a barcode scanner! And even web developers can light a torch… or maybe not. Anyways, tracking time with barcodes is still the best way to track work orders on the shop floor.
Where is that last order? In welding yet? Or still in plasma? If you don’t know, consider scanning barcode labels for each stage of the process. It’s really easy and lets you know where every job is at.
The little inspiring video below might spark your interest.