It’s been sometime now since the term Industry 4.0 appeared, and the strategies and technologies that now exist are relatively mature. But despite this, many companies still seem to be struggling with getting started digitizing manufacturing and quality, particularly in the regulated industries.
It’s always advisable to start simply with a couple of questions; 1) what fundamental data is needed to improve operations, and 2) do you have visibility of it now? This data set does not need to be large, and in fact, shouldn’t be, the trick is keeping the requirements simple and focused on answering the 2 questions in their simplest form to begin with. In manufacturing for example this often centers around the Work Order (WO) and time.
Digitizing WO’s can be a simple and affordable project to immediately bring to light cycle times, bottlenecks and their causes, and labour utilization and performance. This helps a company to improve planning/scheduling, cycle time reduction, training to improve overall operator performance, and labour cost calculation. These tangible benefits can be measured and used for continuous improvement and to plan further expansions with costed business cases to justify investment. Bringing more confidence and momentum to the overall initiative. The applications of WO tracking varies by each company’s objective. Still, information transparency is always one of the most favorable choices for its tangibility. It is also fundamental for a company to make a data-driven decision.
A work order tracking system is an excellent showcase of how we could embed information transparency into the production line. The system can keep track of an individual order in real-time, collecting data from multiple aspects, either from human input or constantly retrieving data from sensors and machines.
Why is a work order tracking system important?
The essence of a work order tracking system is keeping track of the backbone of the production process, work orders.
The system tracks the progress of every single work order, including the time spent, a person assigned, and machines in use, breaking it down to each step in real time. Once you get enough information, your production process becomes visible and gets one step closer to transparency. For instance, you can see immediately where your order is in the process at any time.
Visibility – benefits of a work order tracking system
As everyone knows in business, time equals money. The more time you spend on a task, the higher the cost of production and the less time spent on other tasks. That’s why it’s important to have a system in place that helps you track and manage your work orders.
A work order tracking system can help you stay organized and efficient.
In addition, a work order tracking system can help to create a history of work orders so that companies can track trends.
It can also help you improve visibility into your work orders. With better visibility, you can make better decisions about how to allocate your time and resources improving planning and scheduling.
In short, a work order tracking system can help you save time and money. If you’re not already using one, now is the time to start!
Productivity – benefits of a work order tracking system
Work order tracking systems are a valuable tool for any business, large or small. By keeping track of work orders, businesses can ensure that tasks are completed in a timely and efficient manner. This, in turn, leads to increased productivity and profitability by using the data to make changes in waves of continuous improvement.
There are many different types of work order tracking systems available on the market, so it is important to choose one that is right for your business. Some factors to consider include the size of your business, the type of work you do, and the budget you have for a work order tracking system.
If you are looking for a way to increase productivity and boost your bottom line, a work order tracking system is your answer!
To summarize,
a work order tracking system provides many benefits to a manufacturing business, including increased productivity, visibility, and Industry 4.0 compatibility. If you are interested in implementing a work order tracking system in your business, please contact us. We utilize different technologies to provide bespoke work order tracking via No-Code front-line systems such as Tulip and batch-based systems for life sciences such as BatchLine EBR.
