Lot and Serial Tracking MES Software
Traceability without headaches.
ShopVue MES software can trace lots or serial numbers through your manufacturing process back to vendors, processes, operations, operators, and times.
With ShopVue lot tracking and serial tracking, you can:
- Split orders into uniquely identified lots at any point along the route. In ShopVue, these are called Packaging Lots.
- Ensure each lot remains distinct in subsequent operations.
- Create ad hoc collections (such as parts of whole orders or groups of serial numbers) and process them together as a unique Process Lot.
- Simplify data collection; reporting the degrease operation complete could be as simple as scanning the Lot ID.
- Store and report on as-built data.
- Automatically print labels at the point of transaction with the optional labelNow add-on.
You'll benefit from ShopVue's lot tracking and serial tracking if:
- Your customers demand lot traceability and as-built data.
- You make expensive parts that can only be properly controlled as serial numbers.
- You have a key process like heat treat and need to record attributes of how it ran: materials used, special additives, and process data like temperature and pressure. Lot Tracking helps when you cannot identify parts by an order number alone, such as when you apply a process to a fraction of an order.
- Lot numbers can't be preassigned at the beginning of the route. You want your shop floor system to automatically generate lots numbers and labels as parts are created or changed.
- Your material handling is traditionally done with lots rather than ERP work orders.
- The output of your machine is a discrete entity such as a roll or coil that needs to be tracked along with its quantity.
- You want to track material variance by comparing the quantity input versus output. For example, you are applying a film to roll goods and you put X yards in but get Y yards out.
- You lose material because of breakage or splices. With ShopVue, the operator simply scans each roll ID (a.k.a. Lot) as he uses it. By knowing the quantity used at each operation, ShopVue can track the material variance.
- Lot tracking in your ERP is overly complicated and your traceability requirements don't span a multilevel bill of material.
The manufacturer assigns serial numbers to each expensive part when cast. A system is required that carries forward as-built data, such as heating temperatures and chemistry, by serial number at all subsequent operations.
Specialty Glass Manufacturer
The manufacturer needs to trace all shipments back to a coating run and know the process attributes, such as temperature and pressure, in case a customer has problems with the material.
Manufacturer of Metal Fasteners
The manufacturer's first operation bands several strands of wire and creates "pins" (spools) with unique quantities. At subsequent operations, the operator must report what pin was used, providing traceability and material variance reporting.
Click to see a visual explanation of ShopVue lot and serial tracking »
Optimal Data Capture
Configure the user interface to collect lot or serial data when the operator starts or finishes the activity transaction. Operators can scan lot or serial numbers. Alternatively, after the operator selects the work order, he can select one, several, or all lots available for that order from an onscreen list.
In many work centers, the same container that was used to deliver parts to the machine is used to collect them once processed. This is called a "pass-through" operation. ShopVue simplifies data collection by requiring that the operator only scan the Lot ID. ShopVue automatically derives other data like the work order, operation, and quantity.
Choose between two levels of precision: Precise or Close Approximation.
Precise Lot Tracking forces the creation of new lot whenever the operator changes to a new lot of raw material or has filled a container and starts filling another. If your customer has a complaint with a lot, you can quickly identify the one and only vendor lot that might be at the root of the problem.
Close Approximation offers a simpler operator experience. New lots of raw material can simply be added to the run without the need to start filling a new container just because the raw material lot changed. When addressing a complaint, you'll see a list of all the possible vendor lots and have to make an educated guess as to which one was used in the discrepant part. The consequence is you may have to recall a larger number of parts.