Real-time job tracking ranks among the top 10 essential requirements for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), yet it remains an unresolved challenge for many. Currently, numerous companies rely on physical paper-travelers accompanying products throughout their processing stages. However, accessing real-time product location information via computers is difficult, if not impossible. Typically, data from paper-travelers is only inputted into databases or ERP systems at select points, often only at the conclusion of the process.
The absence of real-time insights presents a persistent frustration for managers, hindering their ability to accurately calculate internal production costs for individual products. Precise knowledge of production costs is paramount for businesses to formulate competitive quotes while ensuring sufficient margins for sustainability.
Although expensive solutions exist to address this issue, they are generally beyond the financial reach of SMEs. In our research domain of Digital Manufacturing Light (DM Light), we are collaboratively developing cost-effective solutions with the University of Cambridge (UK) to enhance SME productivity.
In this project, we aim to create a low-cost solution for tracking jobs and staff costs. Leveraging readily available, inexpensive hardware components such as a Raspberry Pi and barcode scanners, each product will be affixed with a barcode label and scanned upon entry and exit at each processing stage. Additionally, the system will track the duration and number of employees involved at each stage.
This system empowers managers to monitor individual product statuses, ascertain production time per processing station, assess labor utilization, and accurately compute production costs. Development and testing will be conducted in our laboratory. Basis for the development can be a system developed by the University of Cambridge.
Participation in this project offers significant value for your CV, as it addresses a universally relevant topic and presents an opportunity to showcase tangible skills to potential employers, who are likely to be eager to learn more about the system you have helped to develop.
Undergraduate
Outcomes
- Tracking of jobs / products though several production stages
- Tracking of the number of employees working at each production stage
- Online and offline visualisation of results
None
Manufacturing Systems (405.870, Lab)