When Shop Floor Data Collection is working properly it has some obvious benefits:

• Saving considerable time (from walking around to discover the status of your production orders).
• Improved tracking accuracy.
• Increased accountability from production teams.
• Feedback about your planning accuracy.

However, many businesses deploy Shop Floor Data Collection and fail to get the results they want and expect. The following five points can help you to roll out, and embed, this approach in your business.

1. Decide on the ‘one best way’ for Shop Floor Data Collection

Most ERP systems have a number of ways that you can operate them with regards to capturing shop floor data.

You and your team must determine what is the best way to perform this task within your system for you, and then document it. Yes, document it!

If you don’t write it down, you can’t make it into a training guide and a standard operating procedure. Standards drift over time, so capture them!

2. Train the team

Once you have your ‘one best way’ for Shop Floor Data Collection, you need to train your team.

The process for capturing data might seem really simple to your office staff, but it might to operatives that aren’t used to working on computers / tablets.

Don’t skimp on this and let them practice. If necessary, have a lead in period where you don’t expect the data to be reliable in your system. Let them get better over a period of weeks if you need to.

3. Persevere

As implied by the last point, you will most likely not get the results you need overnight.

Each day you need to speak to, and work with, your teams to understand any issues they might be having and help them to overcome them.

Sticking with Shop Floor Data Collection, until it is producing meaningful data, will put you ahead of many other ERP users!

This might take several months, but it will be worth it. The benefits certainly outweigh the costs.

4. Use the data

Once you have data that is useful, use it!

• If cycle times aren’t right, correct them.
• If your method of manufacturing isn’t giving you the right cycle times, re-engineer the job.
• If jobs are slipping, re-schedule / re-deploy labour and equipment to get back on track.
• If non-productive time is creeping up, carry out a root cause investigation and improve your wider processes.
• If data isn’t being captured, re-train and re-emphasise the system.

…just don’t capture data and then not use it!

5. Tie Shop Floor Data Collection to your KPIs

Assuming that you use your KPIs to drive behaviour and performance in your organisation, linking your shop floor data to them helps to sustain the habits.

The logic here is that if you need to use the data to fuel the KPIs, and the KPIs get reviewed by your top leadership team, then there is a good chance that motivation to continue doing this will be high.

This last step will help you make sure that good quality data flows, and you can use this to help manage your growing manufacturing business.

Fraction ERP has two approaches to Shop Floor Data Collection. We have a fast ‘high-level’ method through our shop floor tracking tools. We also have the full operation time tracking option.

You can see both in the following two videos.

If you want to find out more about Fraction ERP then get in touch using the form below to arrange a free demonstration. Alternatively, you can check out more of our walkthrough videos here.