Control your shop floor online

The shop floor management system cooperates in three phases: order release, order scheduling, and order progress.

The first phase – order release – relates mainly to shop floor planning and resource management. First, managers check which resources are available at a given time, including raw materials, machinery, and labour. Then, each time a new order is released into the queue, this information is automatically updated to give a more relevant picture of what is happening on the floor. 

Phase two – order scheduling – is connected with the ability to track orders in real-time and rearrange production to suit present conditions. Improving production agility in a small company maximises efficiency and gives you an edge over your competitors.

The longest of the three phases, the order progress phase, benefits from real-time shop floor tracking capabilities. Life is easier when you can check order and resource status. Shop floor management in a manufacturing company is never as straightforward in real life as on paper. Raw materials management, machine breakdowns, staff shortages, and countless variables make the work environment dynamic and influence the overall efficiency of business operations.

The main objectives of the shop floor management system are:

• To streamline the operations and reduce production time, the shop floor operators see clearly what to do.
• To provide real-time data related to activities, work orders, inventory planning and resources.
• To provide accurate updates on machine usage, man-hours for each staff member, payroll calculations and timely alerts to potential problems.

Shop floor control software fosters regular, timely, and seamless communication between shop floor managers and workers. Thanks to that, shop floor activities can run smoothly.

Modern shop floor management software strives to boost the productivity and morale of employees across the organisation. Operations can be standardised according to industry best practices to increase production efficiency. Loopholes or weak points in the production process can be quickly identified, mistakes avoided, and problems solved immediately. Manufacturing costs can be reduced instantly.

These are the essential benefits of shop floor control software:

• It is paperless, so the company can stop running on pen and paper and get rid of tons of notebooks;
• It provides total real-time visibility of what happens on the shop floor;
• The supervisors and managers find themselves empowered as the control software facilitates monitoring of a complete range of operations and activities on the shop floor.
• It alerts the staff member of any upcoming problems beforehand to limit or eliminate property loss or time.
• It provides data which is quantifiable and actionable.
• It supports the planning and scheduling of shop floor operations, thereby increasing the efficiency of workers.
• It eliminates the errors in calculations of machine time, man-hours, worker payrolls and much more.
• It reveals operational vulnerabilities and staff and resource-related problems and helps to address them in time.
• It makes decision making easy for the management by providing reports. In addition, it accesses data and processes it for quantifiable readings and calculations.

Other vital key features include:

• Flexibility − you can accommodate changes in the volume of the product or the product itself.
• Software such as Prodio can work on various hardware as long as you have Internet access.

There are different shop floor solutions, as manufacturing control is vital to any successful business. It helps ensure that all aspects of the production process run smoothly and efficiently. The best shop floor solutions will help enterprises maximize their production outputs while minimizing waste and errors.

Many software solutions focus on production monitoring, and even some ERP software modules offer such features.

Effective shop floor control systems involve careful planning, implementation, and maintenance to ensure that all processes operate as planned. High-quality solutions can provide flexible scheduling, quality assurance, real-time tracking capabilities, inventory management and other features designed to optimize production performance. Such solutions should also be scalable to grow alongside any business’s increasing demands.

Shop floor control is integral to any manufacturing process, enabling factories to monitor and manage their production better. For a shop floor to be successful, however, it must be implemented correctly.

The time it takes for an effective shop floor control system to be put in place can vary depending on the complexity of the factory. A small business with a single production line might take as little as one or two days, while more extensive operations with multiple lines could take weeks or months to implement.

In all cases, setting up shop floor control requires careful planning ahead of time. This includes identifying which areas need monitoring and ensuring data is captured accurately from each part of the process. The choice of technology used also plays an essential role in ensuring the system is set up smoothly and quickly for maximum efficiency and productivity once operational.