ShopVue Review

Labor Tracking

Shop activity or labor tracking is one of the core modules available in ShopVue. With this module, users can capture and collect data about the direct and indirect activities of their operators and workers. Direct labor or activities refer to jobs related to the production of machines or products; while indirect labor or activities involve those jobs that are not associated with production such as maintenance and meetings. Thus, the module records the time spent by workers on performing the work orders routed to them, and their worked hours for doing indirect labor or activity.

Monitor Work-In-Progress Status

ShopVue’s labor tracking module also provides users with the capability to track WIP or work-in-progress status, and they no longer need to walk across their factory just to monitor what their workers have accomplished so far with respect to the work orders assigned to them. This is because by scanning a barcode, workers can instantly report whenever they are done performing an operation or they start a new one.

Component Control Module

Another powerful module offered by ShopVue is its component control module which offers users the ability to track material usage on their shop floor at the point of use. With this module, users are ensured that operators or assemblers are using the correct parts and their quantities as they perform each operation. It also records in real time the actual materials consumed by a machine in every operation. In addition, the module helps users track scraps – materials that are discarded or rejected from an operation but can be reprocessed or recycled.

Factory Scheduling With The Graphical Sequencer

There is a very interesting add-on to ShopVue which makes it easy for factory supervisors and planners to schedule machines and staff, and fine-tune their work orders. This add-on is called Graphical Sequencer.  Through the  Graphical  Sequencer, the software automatically downloads new work orders from an ERP system and sequences them for each machine based on the criteria set by users (e.g. the operation due date).

Supervisors and planners can make adjustments to the proposed plan or work order when necessary such as rerouting an operation or work order to a different machine or grouping of work orders. Whenever they make a change, ShopVue automatically recalculates the schedule.  As orders are assigned to operators, they will be able to access instructions or drawings online so they can know how to go about performing the job assigned to them. When they’re finished with their assignment, ShopVue instantly queues the job routed to the next machine. Also, when a particular operation or work order is accomplished, users can visualize it in Gantt format.

Track Machines And Measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness

To monitor the utilization and efficiency of factory machines, ShopVue delivers machine tracking capabilities. The software offers two ways so users can collect data and information about the performance and utilization of their machines. One way is by generating key metrics related to the machines’ overall effectiveness or also known as OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness). Here, the software uses the data entered by operators as they run the machines and performs their activities. Using touchscreens and barcode scanners, operators input data that complements the machine data generated by the software. This is because their activities are highly related to the machine activities.

As an example, when operators run the machine to perform an operation, the software records both their labor time and the machine time. Thus, this generates a data with regards to the machine’s uptime. Another example is when operators enter the scrap quantities for an operation, ShopVue, consequently, generates data that shows the number of pieces or parts produced by the machine for that particular operation. Since scraps mean reduction in the number of parts that a machine produces, users will be able to collect data on a machine’s productivity or efficiency.

Automatically Track Machine Efficiency And Utilization

The other way to monitor the efficiency and utilization of factory machines is by using ShopVue’s Direct Machine Interface or DIM. This is an electronic interface to the machine’s controls that automatically captures data about the machine such as the actual quantity of parts it produces, its status (running or down), and temperature and speed. Such automatic machine monitoring capability aims to solve the problems associated with using manually entered data to track factory machines, like the tendency of employees to mix up quantities of parts produced between shifts or to forget exact details (.e.g., yield and scrap data).