Modern Machine Shop Looks at How E2 Jobshop Solutions and IPads Keep Supervisors on the Shopfloor

Cincinnati, OH -- (SBWire) --06/06/2011 --Modern Machine Shop, Assistant Editor, Emily Tudor recently profile Shoptech E2 software, specifically examining how iPads Keep Supervisors on the Shop Floor. Tudor considers how having fully interactive access to shopfloor control software enables supervisors at metal finishing and repair job shop to monitor shop activities and make better decisions on the spot.

Hadronics supervisors Phil Robinson, Harry Taylor, John Seiwert and Ralph Demmel stand in the aisle that connects the separate bays of the shop floor. Before using iPads, supervisors relied on impromptu meetings like this to share critical data about production flow. Because supervisors had to spend time at their desks to enter and collect data from the shopfloor control system, they were spending less time on the shop floor than they needed to be.

Tina Lopreato, vice president of operations, could see that something needed to be done to increase communication and keep the supervisors on the shop floor. By September 2010, Phil Robinson and all the supervisors were using iPads.

Many factors contribute to keeping supervisors away from the shop floor. This was true for Hadronics, a 40-person shop that makes rollers and cylinders for the offset printing market. For example, because paperwork, such as the job travelers, was not moving with parts, machinery supervisor Harry Taylor was constantly leaving his shopfloor post to look for the missing parts or papers. Likewise, grinding and finishing department supervisor John Seiwert would take it upon himself to hunt down parts he was expecting but knew to be held up in another department. He says he did this to minimize the “heat” he caught when things didn’t ship on time. Moreover, plating supervisor Phil Robinson would have to go to the office at the other end of the building to add more process steps to the job traveler when a part was found to have a small defect. Going to the office was especially problematic because the shop floor is not visible behind the office’s wall and closed door. If there was an issue with either a part or machine, employees would have to leave the floor to find their supervisor.

Using E2 shop control software from Shoptech Industrial Software (Glastonbury, Connecticut) enables the shop to track where a part is at any given time, what machining processes need to be completed and where the part should go next, among other production data.

E2, by Shoptech Software (http://www.Shoptech.com) is the leading Shop Control Software. With a foundation in the contract manufacturing business, Shoptech Software has built an unmatched reputation by providing easy-to-use software for machine shops, job shops, and make-to-order (MTO) manufacturers. Setting the industry standard, E2 is the technology solution for managing shops regardless of industry sector or size.

Machine shops come in all sizes, from a one-person shop, to those with more than two hundred on staff. Some machine shops handle only small quantity orders, while others get into long-running production jobs. Regardless of size, the common reality of all machine shops is constant change from product quantities to delivery dates and countless other variables. E2, is specifically designed to easily handle these constant changes.

E2 is for machine shops, job shops, fabrication shops, mold/die shops, screw shops, repair shops, service shops, captive shops, spring manufacturers, stampers, machine builders, and plastic injection molding manufacturers, to name a few.

Shoptech Software
http://www.shoptech.com
Paul Ventura
pr@shoptech.com
800-525-2143