Jones Metal Products, a precision metal manufacturer in Mankato, Minnesota wanted to take the final step in going completely paperless on their shop floor.
A Global Shop Solutions technical consultant helped them get there by creating a custom Global Application Builder (GAB) material dispatch handling script.
When an operator needs materials for an upcoming job, they use Shop Floor Data Collection to go into the labor sequence and request material for that job. This allows for a dispatch of those materials to be moved from a bin to the workcenter.
When that labor sequence is completed and a move ticket is created, this GAB material dispatch handling script populates the dispatch screen with the materials that need to move from that workcenter to a bin. It also displays a dynamic dispatch list (formatted for a tablet display) that material handlers use for picking and delivering product.
The material handler can then simply click on the screen notifying the system that they are picking up and delivering the material. Once the move is complete, the material handler can then update the system again that the material has been picked up and delivered. This prevents others from delivering something that is being picked up by someone else.
Through this process, others on the shop floor are aware of the status of the material as it moves around the shop floor in real time. They can know whether the material is in the pick-up stage, the delivery stage or completed. The team can easily see who is working on that material. And once the process is complete, it is removed from the list.
And best of all – paper has been removed from the shop floor.
In keeping with our commitment to disseminate great ideas throughout the Global Shop Solutions community, this time-saving script will soon be available to all customers on the ARC store. It doesn’t cost anything to download and implement an app from the ARC Store. So if you’re looking to move materials through your shop floor faster and more efficiently, this tool could be just what you need.