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Manufacturers realize that efficient and
accurate production reporting is crucial to their business. Controlling
how a production reporting system interacts with the human element is a
key factor in how well it satisfies this need. In the window shown,
when someone types in an Account No. (activity) that indicates the start of
production, it recalls the previous ending counter reading from the
previous production entry for use as the beginning count.
Counter resets during a run can also be accommodated. To further
remove the human element, the program can interface to machine counters.
Reading this small section will enable you to experience the
depth of vision required of an IT Architect to implement a single well
thought out element. Since counters record cycles, when
multiple parts are made per cycle, it automatically converts machine cycles to the number of parts produced
for inventory, scheduling, and costing purposes, while using machine
cycles to calculate tooling life and equipment maintenance. Breaks are automatically removed from the hours
based on the shift and the department that the employee is assigned to.
Supervisors can edit these. Time is displayed in the familiar AM/PM
format. The time for real time production reporting is taken from
the network time source which is synchronized with the Naval Atomic clock
every 12 hours. When reporting an operation such as a production
start, it asks for at most two pieces of information; the Account No.
(activity) and the counter reading if
an interface to a machine counter is not available. At the end of the run, it requires simply
that the current counter reading be entered if a counter interface is not available.
Operations that do not require counter readings are setup, cleanup,
tooling repair in the press, etc. This information is later leveraged for costing and to calculate the time required to run the parts
for production scheduling. The calculations are ongoing and
automatic. Intelligent logic is filters out the non-typical entries
from the calculations.
Entries which result in non-typical rates alert the operator when they
make the entry, and supervisors when reports are later run. The Die History
button, or more accurately Tooling History, allows quick access by
repairmen to see what maintenance has been performed on the tooling
beginning with most recent first. This is an excellent communication
tool to convey information about tooling adjustments made by previous
shifts, and the reasons for making them.
This is also a convenient area to report scrap. The scrap reporting "walks" the operations and Bill of Material so that partial assemblies can be scrapped.
Scrapping incorrect part numbers for the run is not possible. Tooling repair while in the work center is also
another activity that is entered here.
We know how everybody looks forward to OSHA inspections. People often exercise
a great deal of creativity prior to and during inspections. Leading Edge IT Architects
consider this aspect as well while designing information systems to match
your business processes. On
the right-hand side of this window you see an OSHA required safety inspection
being enforced prior to production start. By leveraging technology, you can implement a real safety system in place of human hit or miss methods, automatically maintain a record of the checks, and
remove some of the terror and creativity associated with OSHA inspections.
However as you can see there is something missing when the
information system matches your business processes....the need for paper. |
