All calculations in production management are based on data from the field. If data collection is weak, every layer above it becomes a guess. Therefore, field execution is the most critical but also the most neglected link in the system.
Scope
Operator terminal: Viewing the work order list, initiating work, and making notifications via the touchscreen or handheld terminal in the field.
Notification content: Quantity produced, amount of waste and its cause, time spent, materials used, personnel employed, and equipment used.
Barcodes and QR codes: Identification of materials, batches, work orders, and personnel through scanning; minimizing manual data entry.
Machine connection: Counter, cycle signal, stop signal, and process parameters are received directly from the machine. Automatically collected data is both more accurate and more detailed than manually entered data.
Stoppage recording: Automatic detection of the stop and selection of the reason from a coded list by the operator.
Quality record: Entering in-operation controls from the terminal, stopping the process in case of non-conformity.
Material movement: The conversion of line-side consumption and finished product deliveries into inventory movement.
Instruction display: Opening the work instruction, technical drawing, and adjustment card associated with the work order at the terminal.
Offline operation: Data is kept on the device during connection interruptions and transferred when the connection is restored.
Field feedback: The operator sees their own shift performance, status relative to the target, and quality indicator on the screen.
The golden rule of data collection
Any additional data input requested from the operator is time stolen from production. Therefore, the rule is: no data that can be collected automatically should be requested manually . The number of cycles that can be obtained from the machine should not be counted by the operator.
Data that needs to be entered manually should be as selective as possible: the reason for the posture should not be written, but selected from a list. Free text is both slow and not easily analyzable.
The third rule is reciprocity: a system requesting data must provide information to the field in return. A team that cannot see its own performance will eventually view data entry as a chore, and quality will decline.
The meaning of being real-time
Data entered in bulk at the end of a shift has limited value for production management. If a problem is only noticed the next day, it means all the products produced in that shift are at risk.
When real-time data is collected, the system signals a problem as soon as it occurs: speed reduction, consecutive failures, approaching specification limits, or unexpected shutdowns. This is the only intervention that affects both quality and efficiency simultaneously.