By process
A Production Management System That Matches What the Line Actually Did
The value of a production system is not the plan. It is the distance between the plan and what happened, known early enough to act on. That requires the floor to record work in seconds — which is a design problem before it is a software problem.
Who this is for
- Plants planning in Excel and recording output on paper
- Factories that cannot state current WIP without asking each stage
- Operations with multi-stage processes, lot tracking or job work
- Companies where the daily production report is compiled the next morning
The problem
Why production data arrives late and slightly wrong
- 01
Recording production is somebody's extra work
If entering output takes five minutes and thirty fields, it happens at the end of the shift, from memory, in round numbers. The data is then approximately true, which is worse than it sounds because everything downstream treats it as exact.
- 02
WIP is an estimate
Material between stages is known by walking the floor. Ageing WIP — the job that has been sitting at a stage for nine days — is invisible until someone trips over it.
- 03
Plan versus actual is a monthly comparison
By the time variance appears in a report, the cause has been running for weeks and nobody remembers the conditions that produced it.
- 04
Rework is not counted
Material that goes back through a stage is often recorded as fresh production, which inflates output and hides the true cost of quality.
How the system works
What we build into a production system
Plan, work order and job card
A plan that can be re-sequenced, work orders derived from it, and job cards on the floor showing only what that machine and shift need to know.
Output capture in seconds
Large-target screens on a shared tablet or phone: quantity, reason code if short, downtime if stopped. Machine, job, shift and operator pre-filled.
Stage-wise WIP with ageing
Material tracked between stages, with how long it has been sitting, so ageing WIP becomes a list rather than a discovery.
Job-wise consumption and yield
Issues booked to the job, yield and loss computed per job, per machine and per operator as work is recorded.
Rejection, rework and scrap as distinct routes
Each with its own record and disposition, so output is not inflated by material passing through twice and the real cost of quality is visible.
Downtime and reason codes
A short, fixed list the floor will actually use, which turns 'the line was slow' into a ranked list of causes.
Genealogy by lot and batch
What went into a lot and where it went, recorded as it happens so traceability is a query rather than a reconstruction.
Automation
What stops being somebody's job
When this happens
The system does this
A production order is released
Job cards are generated for each stage and machine
Output is recorded at a stage
WIP moves, stock updates and order status advances
Output falls below plan by a set margin
The supervisor and plant head are alerted this shift
Downtime is recorded
It is attributed to a reason code and counted
Material is rejected
Rework or scrap is routed and the lot is held
A shift ends
The production report exists without anyone compiling it
None of these need a person to remember them. That is the whole point.
Management visibility
What management can see once this runs
- Output against plan by line, shift, machine and day
- WIP by stage with ageing, so stalled jobs are visible
- Actual versus standard consumption, per job
- Rejection, rework and scrap rates by process and machine
- Downtime ranked by cause
- Which orders are genuinely at risk, and at which stage they are stuck
In practice
Situations this is usually bought for
A daily production report that writes itself
Recorded on the line as it happens, so the report is available at shift end and the morning meeting starts from data rather than from recollection.
Ageing WIP surfaced as a list
Every job sitting longer than a threshold at any stage, ranked — which is usually the fastest available improvement in a plant's delivery performance.
Yield understood per machine and operator
Because consumption is booked per job, yield differences between machines and shifts become measurable instead of anecdotal.
Traceability for a customer query
Given a delivery, the system returns the lots, machines, shifts, operators and inspection records behind it.
Before / after
What changes
Before
After
Output entered next morning from memory
Output recorded on the line as it happens
WIP estimated by walking the floor
WIP by stage, with ageing
Variance found at month end
Variance flagged the same shift
Rework counted as production
Rework, scrap and fresh output counted separately
How it works
From operational chaos to a connected business system
- 01
Understand
We sit with each department and learn the process as it is actually run — including the workarounds, the informal exceptions and the things people do because the official way does not work. This is where most of the value of the project is decided.
You getA written map of your current processes, departments and bottlenecks
1–2 weeks
- 02
Map
We trace how information moves between people, departments and systems: where it is created, where it is re-entered, where it is lost, and where a decision waits on something nobody can see. The re-entry points are almost always the expensive ones.
You getAn information flow map, with every handoff and duplication marked
1–2 weeks
- 03
Design
We design the target workflow — owners, rules, gates, automations and the screens each role needs — and agree it with the people who will live in it. We also agree what we are deliberately not building yet, and say so plainly.
You getA workflow design, screen list and phased build plan with scope you have signed off
2–3 weeks
- 04
Build
We build in phases, so one department is genuinely using something early rather than waiting for a full system. Each phase is delivered, tested with real data and put into use before the next begins — which is also how the awkward details get found while they are still cheap.
You getWorking software in real use, phase by phase, with integrations and reports
Phased, typically 4–12 weeks per phase
- 05
Optimize
After go-live we look at what is actually being used, which alerts are being acted on and which are being ignored, where people are still keeping a parallel sheet, and what the data now reveals that nobody could see before. Then we improve it.
You getUsage review, workflow refinements, new reports and ongoing support
Ongoing
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Still unsure whether your processes are a fit? Walk us through one of them.
Book an Operations Automation ConsultationHow much will supervisors have to type?
As little as we can get away with — ideally a quantity and, if something went wrong, a reason code. Machine, job, shift and operator should already be known by the screen. If a supervisor has to type more than that, the design is wrong and the data will be late.
Do we need tablets or barcode scanners on the floor?
A shared tablet per line or area is usually enough to begin, and many plants start on phones. Barcode or QR scanning is worth adding where you already label lots, pallets or job cards, because it removes typing errors. It is an improvement, not a prerequisite.
Can it handle multi-stage processes and job work?
Yes — that is normally why a custom system is needed. Stage-wise movement, conversion with yield and loss, and material sent to outside processors and received back are modelled as part of the process rather than bolted on.
What if our plan changes several times a day?
Then the system has to make re-sequencing quick, and recalculate what depends on it. We build planning screens for the person who actually re-sequences, and keep the downstream effects — material, commitments, dispatch dates — in step automatically.
Does this work without internet on the shop floor?
The floor needs to reach the server, which is normally a local network rather than the internet. Where connectivity genuinely drops, we can queue entries locally and sync when the connection returns — worth doing when the risk is real, and worth not over-engineering when it is not.
Keep reading
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Manufacturing Workflow Automation
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Factory Management Software
Factory management software bringing production, material, manpower, maintenance, quality and dispatch into one plant-level view with alerts.
Inventory Management System
An inventory management system where stock updates because work happened — issues, consumption, transfers, reorder alerts and lot tracking.
Next step
Your business has a process. Let's turn it into a system.
From manual workflows and disconnected departments to connected operations, automated processes and real-time visibility.