Shop floor control arose out of the need for factories to improve processes and systems used to track, measure, schedule, and report on work in progress on the factory floor.
Many factories today, especially since the pandemic, need access, insight, and all the details on what is happening to the work in progress on the factory floor.
Getting answers to the most basic questions on “which machine is down and why?”, “which operator is most profitable and why?” or in some cases just finding ways to be more efficient – moving on from paper tickets and manual time clocks – have become the drivers for factories to look for ways to optimize the shop floor.
The problem many factory managers face is having insight into specific points along the manufacturing process. It’s like a black hole - you really don’t know which of your sewing operators is the most efficient and why. You don’t know that there is a bottleneck happening between the end of sewing and before packing.
And so, you are left day by day winging it and hoping that this manufacturing run will be better than the last.
To answer the questions, worries, and fear about the work in progress and to gain the insight needed about the manufacturing processes in the factory, businesses are turning to shop floor control solutions.
What you’ll learn in this article:
What is shop floor control?
History of ‘batch’ vs ‘real-time’ insight.
Why shop floor control matters?
Who should be involved in your project?
How your investment in SFC is a win for everyone!
What Is Shop Floor Control?
Shop Floor Control is a collection of software tools comprising of processes and systems used to track, measure, schedule, and report on the progress of work in a manufacturing organization whether it is a single location or an enterprise with multiple locations. Simply put, shop floor control helps you measure so you can improve.
True shop floor control will have the power, skill, means, and opportunity to manage labor, machine activities, and workflow for a more complete picture. Assessing weaknesses, vulnerabilities, risks related to labor, machines, and processes are key to a high-quality shop floor control solution.
A Little History on Batch vs Real-Time Shop Floor Control
Traditional shop floor controls are also known as “Batch” systems. While Batch systems are still used widely, they are typically paper-based systems using manual data collection during the day and summarizing the information for interpretation later. The collected data is usually manually entered into spreadsheets or other systems for statistical analysis and or payroll processing if used in an incentive environment.
Real-Time shop floor control systems have been around for decades but are not as widely adopted as batch systems. Real-Time SFC systems use a combination of hardware and software systems to track labor, machines, and work in process as it occurs on the factory floor, providing immediate visibility and actionable insights supporting improvement. Newer systems offer cloud solutions allowing access to real-time data from anywhere at any time.
Real-time shop floor control solutions empower supervisors, managers, and executive members with actionable insights that they rely on every day to support the company’s sales efforts and help drive profitability by increasing factory efficiency, reducing costs, improving quality all while keeping customers happy.
Why Real-Time Shop Floor Control Data Matters?
Real-time shop floor control data provides visibility and transparency to all production-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) removing opinion and bias.
Different levels of an organization benefit from Real-Time shop floor control data as they are focused on the KPIs of their respective areas. For example, a plant manager is usually interested to know if the plant is meeting deliveries on time. If the plant manager knows at 10 am that they are running behind schedule for a specific order that must be shipped that day, they can make the changes to catch up and have the order ready for a truck arriving at 5 pm. This flexibility is critical in today’s “just in time” environment, where excess inventory is not allowed and manufacturers can face fines for delayed deliveries.
Who is Involved in the Shop Floor Control Solution?
Senior executives are more likely to have a more macro view of organization performance – are we meeting revenue, cost, or profitability goals? Are there certain plants that are performing poorly compared to their peers? Are there certain products that have cost levels not consistent with estimates?
Back on the factory floor, supervisors are more focused on granular, operational data such as employee attendance and productivity, quality issues, and avoiding production bottlenecks.
Engineering is looking for data to support lean and continuous improvement efforts, such as non-value-added activities and ways to improve flow and standardize work.
Individual operators and teams benefit from real-time shop floor control data as well. Some systems allow employees to clock in/out at their workstation avoiding the line at the wall clock. Interacting with a computer or tablet, they receive immediate feedback on their performance and in some cases, their payroll.
Having immediate feedback, operators can better pace themselves, evaluate their efficiency and send alerts to their supervisor or mechanic if needed. Giving the operator and team feedback (data) empowers and motivates them to be a part of the achievements and goals of the department and company, encouraging them for maximum performance and productivity.
Some companies are now replacing manually, handwritten “whiteboards” with large screen TVs to digitally display production activity and performance to goals. These digital displays are helpful to keep everyone informed, which is especially effective if there is a bonus system in place for achieving production and delivery goals.
How your investment in Shop Floor Control is a win for everyone!
Reducing Costs by Assessing Risks in Real-Time
Real-time shop floor control gives management the data to assess risk in real-time. Fully interacting with the shop floor control system, management can monitor the factory floor and make quicker, better decisions on the spot versus a factory that has end-of-day processing of production data, which is after-the-fact, historical data - too late to make any changes.
Being able to identify, correct and fine-tune processes in real-time can truly transform the shop floor and avoid costly errors.
Protip: Real-time shop floor control should deliver the right information at the right time to the right place, any time the shop floor is running.
Real-Time Shop Floor Control Improves Quality
A real-time quality control module added to your existing shop floor solution creates another layer of visibility into your factory. It will enforce a controlled program that will improve employee confidence and therefore customer satisfaction.
Using a handheld computer or tablet, the quality control team can perform their audits throughout the plant, wirelessly. With access to the database via the tablet, they can access quality control data including documents, specs, images, and drawings needed to perform their duties.
The cost of quality is reduced because the data that is recorded in a repository and analyzed automatically speeds up reporting and allows supervisors and managers to identify and attack top problems and see trends so the organization can react quickly and support continuous improvement initiatives across the factory and enterprise as a whole.
Real-Time Shop Floor Control ROI
Like any investment, companies want a return on that investment within a specific time. A Real-Time shop floor control system pays for itself by improving processes leading to increased profitability, focusing on three key areas:
Improve company productivity to increase revenue.
Reduce costs.
Improve customer satisfaction.
Almost all benefits from shop floor controls drive to these three points.
So, how do you improve productivity through real-time shop floor control? You reduce non-value-added activity and improve efficiency. You reduce bottlenecks and empower employees to operate at their optimal performance.
How do you reduce costs?
By eliminating paper and other consumables, reducing rework due to quality issues, and minimizing administration costs and errors.
How do you improve customer satisfaction?
By reducing quality issues leading to reduced returns and by shortening delivery dates.
Considering the above improvements, implementing a real-time shop floor control system can lead to productivity improvement and reduced costs in the range of 10-30%+ depending on the current situation. In most cases, if implemented correctly, the return on investment of a real-time shop floor control system is well under a year.
Conclusion
While it’s easy to think of shop floor control as a technology issue to be implemented, focusing solely on the technology without looking at the whole picture of the factory will likely either not get your project even funded or worse produce unsatisfactory results.
This article covers what you need to know about shop floor control including what shop floor control is, who is involved in the project, the expected outputs, benefits, and even your return on investment.
At TexTempo, our mission is to help companies to achieve world-class efficiency through high-value digital solutions coupled with implementation and consulting to maximize the return on investment. Our solutions give sewn products manufacturing management immediate insight allowing them to shift strategies and processes rapidly while seizing opportunities and avoiding problems.
If you are ready to transform your factory floor today, then it is time to make a shift from reactionary, best-guess scenarios to progressive insights that empower the leadership in your organization…and we can help. Contact us