The Ultimate Guide to Implementing a Paperless Shop Floor
This blog post reveals 8 key steps to a paperless shop floor, leveraging digital tools like work instructions, barcode scanning, and integrated ERP systems to optimize your manufacturing processes.
The days of cluttered workstations, misplaced manuals, and illegible handwritten notes are fading into the past. The digital shift in manufacturing has ushered in a new era of efficiency, accuracy, and real-time data visibility on the shop floor, allowing manufacturers to digitize information flow, documentation and communication.
8 Ways Manufacturers Can Switch to a Paperless Shop Floor
1. Digital Work Instructions
On a paperless shop floor, electronic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and interactive instructions provide step-by-step guidance with multimedia elements like videos and images.
Solutions like the INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor module can display work instructions, notes, images, and videos, providing valuable information directly on the production floor, tailored to the specific machine and process being operated.
2. Electronic Data Capture
No need for paper forms, logs, handwritten codes, part numbers, or locations to record inventory pulls.
By using barcode and RFID scanners, alongside handheld devices like tablets and smartphones, teams can complete data entry and retrieval on the shop floor seamlessly. The INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor module and Mobile Transactions support the use of handheld scanners and barcodes for efficient material handling, including pulling, moving, and returning materials.
3. Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
Digital records, real-time data syncing, and electronic job orders are the backbone of a paperless shop floor.
The INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor module is a central part of the INDUSTRIOS ERP. It ensures that inventory and production status are easily available for immediate use. Activities, material usage, and completed production are captured directly on-screen, eliminating the need for paper-based logs and enabling real-time production progress tracking.
4. Human-machine interfaces (HMIs)
INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor offers dispatch screens, showing upcoming work and progress. PlantGauge dashboards and other status screens, provide visibility into production floor operations. The INDUSTRIOS Queries Hub enhances accessibility by providing a comprehensive view of job information anywhere from a browser.
5. Quality Management Systems (QMS)
Before the shift to digital inspection checklists and automated reporting, inspectors would write down readings, observations and pass/fail status for each item manually.
The INDUSTRIOS production order can be configured to include inspection points and instructions, with updated forms attached for easy retrieval, ensuring consistent quality checks and efficient reporting. Digital inspection checklists and automated reporting will streamline your quality management processes.
6. Digital Signatures and Approvals
Electronic sign-offs and workflow automation eliminate the need for physical signatures, simplifying and accelerating approval processes while improving operational efficiency.
7. Collaboration and Communication Tools
INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor supports recording notes and important information, with future integration planned for Microsoft collaboration tools. Digital communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, along with shared digital workspaces, facilitate instant communication and team collaboration.
8. Document Management Systems (DMS)
INDUSTRIOS supports version control for process plans, drawings, and tools, with the ability to attach digital documents to production orders for seamless access. Digital filing and version control ensure that the latest information is always available and easily retrievable.
Key Takeaways
- Eliminating paper processes through digital technologies enables high efficiency, accuracy, and real-time data visibility on the shop floor.
- Core elements include digital work instructions, barcode scanning, integrated ERP systems, digital dashboards/HMIs, digital inspection checklists, e-signatures, collaboration tool integration and document management systems.
- Benefits include reduced downtime, improved communication, less waste, faster product introductions, lower risk, real-time data access for agility and better data accuracy.
Go Paperless with the INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor Module
The INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor module enables a truly paperless shop floor by digitizing work instructions, data capture, ERP integration, HMIs, quality inspections and more. This enhances efficiency through real-time data visibility and provides centralized management of inventory, schedules, and production tracking integrated with the INDUSTRIOS ERP for optimized operations.
Don’t let inefficient paper-based processes hold you back. Go paperless with the INDUSTRIOS Shop Floor Module.
