Barcodes in Production

Barcodes can be used in production for five main purposes:

Controlling work flow on a route
Collecting work hour data for operators
Recording use of materials
Using the time clock to clock in and out
Miscellaneous data collection such as recording serial numbers

To use barcodes in production, the check box "Show Barcodes in Shopfloor" in the "Company" section must be selected. Then the appropriate barcode data entry fields will be displayed. These are on the "work queue for cell page" and on the "time clock" page. The "traveller (barcodes)" must be selected as the default traveller if work flow is to be controlled with barcodes.

Make sure that at least one work item has been created. If you wish to record overtime, create a work item for each of the different overtime rates.

For operators, specify a work time item for the standard rate and each of the overtime rates. If you do not wish to record higher costs for overtime, enter the same item for each overtime rate. The first overtime rate will be applied to work done after 8 hours and less than 10 hours in the day. The second overtime rate is for greater than 10 hours. There are also rates for Saturday and Sunday work. Specify the name of each operator and also a numerical ID. The numerical ID is used in the barcode for the operator.

Install the barcode font on all computers that will be printing out barcode information. It is not required on the machines that are reading the barcodes. The normal barcode font used is free3of9.ttf

The Barcode report includes lists of the operators, machines, cells and production cost codes.

Static barcode reports can be created yourself according to the codes specified in the Barcode Instructions document attached. Samples are attached that can be modified to your requirements.

Create barcode stickers or shelf labels for materials. These can be created for instance from the Inventory analysis report. The text of the item ID, as for all barcode commands, must be bracketed by the star mark. Note that later versions of Microsoft Word will "autocorrect" the text between the star marks as bold. Don’t let it do this.

e.g. *ITEMID*

Then format the text as font free3of9. Note that if you use a text editor, any following paragraph break will easily be formatted at the same time. Don’t do this, as the scanner will not be able to read it. We recommend using Excel to prepare scanner sheets. A sample is attached. Test the sheets by scanning into Excel. If there are problems with the print out, check that all text is formatted correctly. Some printers may not handle TrueType fonts correctly. In this case try adjusting the printer settings that it prints fonts as graphics rather than using printer fonts.

Use a common USB connected reader. If the computer is using a certain country keyboard, the barcode scanner must be programmed to emulate that country keyboard as well. The scanner should also be programmed to send an "Enter" code after a successful scan. Test the scanners by opening Notepad or Excel and scanning samples of all of the command sheets. Check that the correct text is being entered.

Decide which data is going to be used in barcoding and design the sheet layouts accordingly. Train your operators in the correct use of the system.

These barcodes emulate the start, pause, print and complete buttons on the Work phase status entry screen. The codes are printed on the work order traveller and are printed for each step on the work order route individually. Note that if an operator enters that he has started work for the purpose of collecting hours (see next paragraph), that step will be automatically marked as started.

If the property of the operation template "Backflush on route" is marked, then scanning the start code will automatically remove from inventory and to this work order any materials marked to this step.

If the property of the operation template "Close work order on last step" is marked, then scanning complete on the last step will close the work order. This feature is normally used together with the previous backflush feature. This feature is only for make to stock templates.

An operator can mark that he has started work on a work order at a certain step. Optionally the started quantity can be marked. When the operator starts another work order, or marks finishing this work order, or the work order step is marked as complete or the operator clocks out, then the elapsed time is recorded to this work order. The item recorded is taken from the operator list defined in the Company section for either normal time, overtime 1 (> 8 hours), overtime 2 (>10 hours), Saturday or Sunday.

One operator can only be on one work order, but one work order can have multiple operators.

Materials can be recorded to a work order by scanning the work order, item id and quantity.

The time clock records operators’ presence at the work place. Operators can clock in or out using a single barcode scan. This scan can either be made from the cell or from the time clock screen.

The barcode scanner will enter data just as a keyboard. So it can be used for miscellaneous data entry such as for item id’s and serial numbers wherever in the system.

The following are samples of barcode work sheets. Note that these sheets do not include all the possible options and need to be configured on a case by case basis. They are available in Excel format. (The codes in the samples are non-working, download the sample excel files to setup your own system.)

Work Phase

1. Start Step		Or Complete step
2. Work order	→	Scan work order number
3. OK	or	Cancel

Work Time

1. Start Work	Preview
2. Work order		→	Scan work order and step
3. Operator		→	Scan operator code
4. OK	Preview	OR	Cancel	Preview

1. Stop Work	Preview
2. Operator		→	Scan operator code
3. Work order		→	Scan work order and step
4. Quantity		→	Scan quantity
5. OK	Preview	OR	Cancel	Preview

Clock Card

1. Clock In	Preview	or	Out	Preview
2. Personal ID		→	Scan Personal ID
3. Clock Code		→	Optionally Scan Clock code
4. Ok	Preview	or	Cancel	Preview

Item Use on Work Orders

1. Use item	Preview
2. Work Order		→	Scan work order and step
3. Item Id		→	Scan Item ID
4. Quantity		→	Scan quantity
5. Ok	Preview	or	Cancel	Preview

Work and Item Commands

Function	Command as barcode	Required data	Optional data	Comment
Show	(nothing)	Work order or cell or operator		Show current status of work order, cell or operator.
Use item	%CMD USE	Work order and cell or step and item id	Quantity (Default = 1)	Adds the use of the item to the specified step. If no quantity is specified the default is one. If the cell is more than once on the route, the step must be specified instead of the cell.
Start work	%WK S	Work order and cell or step and operator or machine	Cost code Planned quantity Product id	If the operator or machine is already specified on the screen (from a previous command) then they do not need to be specified again. If an operator has previously started a different work order, the elapsed time will be recorded to the previous work order and the operator’s time on this will be stopped. If the work order is not started at this phase, it will be started.
Complete work	%WK C	Operator or machine and/or completed product quantity	Cost code Product id	Marks an operator’s time to the work order and/or the completed product amount. Time is marked according to the elapsed time since the operator started the work order. The item used is specified in the Company section on the Operators page. Overtime work items will be booked when elapsed time exceeds 8 hours and then 10 hours per day, and also for Saturday or Sunday work. This command is not needed if the operator starts another work order, clocks-out or the step is paused or marked as complete.

Work Step Commands

Function	Command as barcode	Required data	Optional data	Comment
Start step	%PH S	Work order and cell or step	Quantity Product id	The specified work order will be marked as started at this step/cell. Its status will change to “under work”. If the same cell occurs several times on the route, the step must be specified. The quantity of product started can be marked. If there is more than one product then the product id must be recorded. The command is not needed if work time commands are used.
Pause step	%PH P	Work order and cell or step		The specified work order is marked as paused. All operators and machines that are currently booked to the work order are booked out and the elapsed time written to the work order. If the same cell occurs several times on the route, the step must be specified.
Complete step	%PH C	Work order and cell or step		The specified work order is marked as complete at the cell. The work order will be marked as queued to the next cell if there is one. All operators and machines that are currently booked to the work order are booked out and the elapsed time written to the work order. If the work order property “Close work order on last step” is used, then the work order will be closed.
Print	%R	Work order and cell or step		Prints the linked report from the work order. This print is designed for such as serial number or product stickers. The print layout has to be created in the Company section on the Direct printing page, and then specified on the route design.
Scrap	%SC	Work order Cell or step	Quantity Scrap code Product id	Marks product as scrapped. If quantity is not specified, quantity is one. If there is more than one product, then the product must be specified.

A work phase is referred to as a “step” which is on a route. Step is more specific than cell or phase because the latter may occur more than once on a route.

Time Clock Commands

Function

Command as barcode

Required data

Optional data

Comment

Clock-in

*%TC I*

Operator

Clockcode

Operator clocks in. An operator must be clocked in to book time to a work order.

Clock-out

*%TC O*

Operator

Clockcode

Operator clocks out. If the operator’s time is being recorded to a work order, the elapsed time is written to the work order time booking ceases.

General Commands

Function	Command as barcode	Comment
Accept	%CMD OK	Saves data recorded by the current sequence of barcode scans. Note this is always required at the end of the scanning sequence.
Cancel	%CMD CANCEL	Cancels the current sequence of barcode scans. Used as an alternative to the Accept command
Clear	%CMD CLEAR	Clears the screen
Quantity	%QTY 123**	Quantities code where 123 is the required quantity. If several sums are scanned the sum of the scans will be entered as data. The quantity can also be negative.
Sales order	%SO 123	Retrieves the work orders that are linked to sales order 123
Work order	%WN 123	Retrieves the work order with this number
Serial number	%WOSN 123	Retrieves the work order which has a product with this serial number. (Open work orders only)
Item	ABCD12	Records item ABCD12. Letters must be in capitals even if the item id is not. This command is the only without special command codes, so any misspelling in other command codes will be interpreted as an item.

Search

Setting up use of barcodes in production

Review use of work and machine items

Enter operator and machine lists in the Company settings section

Download and install the barcode font

Print out all required barcode sheets

Install the barcode scanners

Plan your own sequence and train the users

Controlling work flow on a route

Collecting work hour data for operators

Recording use of materials

Using the time clock to clock in and out

Miscellaneous data collection