Effective Shop Floor Data Collection

Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC), defined as the capture of data from the shop floor of a manufacturing machine shop, is crucial regardless of whatever system is in use. The data recorded can be used to improve shop floor performance and efficiency as well as support more accurate requoting of parts. The data captured includes staff attendance, quantity of components produced, quantity of components scrapped and time taken. This is recorded in the form of setting, waiting or production transactions.

The PSL Datatrack SFDC module collects Works Order operation information from the shop floor with the ability to update the Sequential Scheduler/Work In Progress (WIP) and Job Costing modules without the need to manually retype any information.

It is crucial to record accurate times to provide up-to-date status of works orders. This may be a given but what may be less obvious is the need to provide accurate costs for post-production job costing reviews. Accurate costing and review is vital to the profitability of any company and with PSL Datatrack’s Job Costing module profitable jobs can be identified efficiently without using up valuable production time.

The production control software system accepts updates from SFDC, including any process deviations which can then be analysed and the reasons for the variations determined. This information can then be used as the basis to update the quotation and/or process layout, ensuring the job is made more efficiently if/when it repeats.

More accurate quoting should result in a business becoming more profitable. Not only will order intake increase but quality control and on-time deliveries will be seamless. A more profitable business will also be able to pay its staff well! Well paid staff are typically happy, hard-working employees who reflect well on the business as a whole, including its customers.

A happy company is the aim for all business owners and effective SFDC is the ideal place to start. PSL Datatrack can be configured to work to the user’s preference and supports both touch screens and bar code scanning depending on the style of production.

The module is regularly enhanced and since the last upgrade users can now record the quantity of components produced and/or scrapped during setting, which is particularly useful for smaller batch runs where the cycle time is significant. This ensures an accurate comparison to scheduled time and alongside numerous reports within the module allows management to stay in total control of the business.

As one PSL Datatrack customer concludes: “Our business is run on KPIs and achieving those as well as controlling our business in general is now much easier."

To find out more about the modules mentioned above, please visit:

https://www.psldatatrack.com/features/shop-floor/shop-floor-data-collection/

https://www.psldatatrack.com/features/financial/job-costing/