The Shop Floor Control app helps businesses manage production tasks and track inventory usage in real-time. The app provides tools for assigning tasks to operators, monitoring production progress, and maintaining accurate records of material usage.
After creating an operator account, the operator can start accessing their tasks on a mobile device (or laptop) by logging into their dedicated account.
The Shop Floor App displays all the operations on open manufacturing orders (MO) that have been assigned to a specific operator.
The tasks in the Shop Floor App appear in the order of MO priorities, by default, all the tasks assigned to an operator are shown in their Shop Floor App. However, you can opt to show the tasks in consecutive order to prevent operators from starting tasks that require previous tasks to be completed first.
You must assign operations to operators so that they can see tasks in the app. Read more about assigning tasks to operators.
The Shop Floor App enables an operator to search, see, start, stop, pause, quit, and complete all the tasks that have been assigned them. The status of the task is reflected on the Katana website automatically.
Tasks in the app are displayed in the same ranking order as MOs in the Make screen > Schedule tab in the Katana website.
The idea is to have higher priority orders further to the top, so an operator starts working on tasks at the top. However, an operator can start any task at any time, regardless of its position.
Tasks list
In the Tasks list in the app, you can see the main information for each task.
Note that the quantity is the number of products to be made with the MO. It doesn't reflect the number of ingredients to be used or product components to be made by this task.
Click on a task to access more detailed information about the task and the related MO. This information includes ingredients and their availability, list of all Operations with assigned operators for the related MO, and any notes added to the MO.
Task list actions
If several tasks are assigned to an operator, it may be challenging to find the correct task by simply glancing at the list. To solve this, you can search for tasks using a keyword to find matching results that are filtered and highlighted for you.
If you want to keep the smart device used for Shop Floor App near a dedicated Resource (workstation) so that different operators can use it, select that resource (or multiple resources) from the resource filter. The Shop Floor App on this device will only show tasks with the selected resources.
Task actions
Start - All tasks are initially created as not started. Click on Start to indicate that a task is being worked on. This will also start the timer.
Pause - Click on Pause if you want to take a break from a task, but still keep it in progress. This will pause the timer.
Resume - Resume a task after it has been paused. This will resume the timer.
Quit - Quit a task after first pausing. Quitting a task will revert the status so that the task is back to not started. The task remains visible in your task list with a Start button. The timer will stop, but the time that has already been recorded will remain and any time tracked for the task in the future will be added to the recorded time.
Finish - Complete a task by clicking Finish. The task will disappear from your list. The timer will stop, and the actual time for the task recorded for the MO.
Starting a task will also start the timer for the task, which will pause or stop when a task is paused or finished. This enables tracking the actual time for tasks, which affects the production cost for your products. It also enables you to analyze the planned time vs. actual time for better production planning decisions. Read more
Changing the task status in the Shop Floor App will automatically change it on the Katana MRP site. Read more about how statuses are related.
Limitations to managing app tasks
Tasks cannot be re-assigned to other operators in the app (only on the Katana website).
Tasks cannot be re-prioritized in the app (only on the Katana website).
Tasks cannot be deleted or edited in the app (only on the Katana website).
Tasks cannot be grouped.
Reporting the actual quantity of ingredients used and products made
Operators can report the actual quantities of ingredients used after completing a task. Read more
Operators can identify consumed ingredients by scanning barcodes. Read more
Operators can report the batch tracking info of batch trackable ingredients used after completing a task. Read more
After the last task for a MO is completed, an operator can report the actual quantity of products made with the MO. Read more
Operators can leave comments for used ingredients and products made to give further information if the quantities are different from the planned amount. The comments will appear on the MO on the Katana MRP main site.
Tasks with multiple operators
You can assign multiple operators to the same task. In this case, the task appears in the app for both operators.
A task on the operators list can be in progress by another operator. Task statuses on another Operator's account will update automatically if one of the Operators starts, pauses, resumes, quits, or finishes the task.
An operator can't access tasks that have been assigned to another operator (unless the task is assigned shared between operators). You can't switch operators inside the app account. An operator needs to log out of their current account and log in with a different account.
Task details
Click on a task to access more detailed information about the task and the related MO. This information includes:
- List of required ingredients and their availability status.
Green - The ingredient is available in stock.
Yellow - The ingredient is not available in stock but is expected from suppliers (or in case of a subassembly, it is expected from another MO).
Red - The ingredient is unavailable in stock and is not expected.
An operator can search for an ingredient using the search box or scan a barcode of the ingredient to find it.
If an operator needs to add ingredients, there is an option to + Add ingredient.
Ingredients can be added by:
Searching for an ingredient in the items list
Scanning a barcode of the ingredient.
When an operator adds an ingredient and its quantity, the ingredient is also displayed as a recipe row on the MO.
List of all operations for a MO:
The current task is indicated as This task. For all other tasks, the assigned operator is displayed.
Any Notes added to the MO (taken from the Additional info section on the MO in the Katana website). You can't edit notes directly in the app, but the operator can leave additional comments when finishing the last task of a MO. Read more
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