Shop-floor tracking on a phone: how a small factory sees output, downtime and dispatch without a big ERP 

A small factory can see output, rejections, downtime and dispatch on the same day. Operators enter them on a phone at the machine, and order status comes from Tally or the ERP already in use. The owner gets one view per open order and a daily summary, and none of the existing systems is replaced.

Shop-floor tracking means recording what each machine and each order is doing as it happens, instead of writing it on paper and adding it up later.

Why do production figures arrive the next morning from paper job cards?

On many shop floors, the job card is a sheet of paper that travels with the work. The operator writes the quantity, the supervisor signs it, and at the end of the shift someone collects the sheets. The next morning, a clerk types them into a register or a spreadsheet.

This works, and it has worked for years. It also means the owner sees yesterday's numbers today, with errors added along the way by handwriting and typing. A machine that stood idle for three hours becomes a note on a card. By the time anyone reads it, the delivery date is closer and the chance to react has passed.

The questions an owner asks are simple. Which orders are on track? Which machine is losing time, and why? What can we dispatch today? Paper cards answer them slowly and with gaps, so the owner ends up walking the floor and asking around, which pulls them away from everything else.

What does entry at the machine on a phone or tablet look like?

The operator or line supervisor opens a simple screen on a phone or a tablet fixed near the machine. They choose the order, enter the quantity made and the number rejected, and pick a reason from a short list. Nobody types paragraphs.

• Order and item: chosen from the open orders, not typed.
• Quantity made and quantity rejected: numbers only.
• Rejection reason: a short fixed list agreed with the quality team.
• Downtime: a start and an end, with a reason such as no material, tool change, breakdown or power.
• Dispatch: quantity loaded, vehicle and date.

Keep it small. Every extra field slows entry down and makes it less likely to be filled in. Start with the three or four facts the owner really needs, and add more once the habit has settled.

Think about the floor itself. Dust, gloves, noise and a weak network are normal. Large buttons, the local language and the ability to save an entry and send it when the signal returns matter far more than a clever design. Where a phone is not practical, one shared tablet per section does the same job.

How do Tally or your ERP and shop-floor updates fit together?

Your accounts software or ERP already holds the order, the customer, the item and the promised date. The shop floor knows how much has been made and what went wrong. Neither side has the full picture on its own. Joined together, they give one line per open order: promised, made, rejected, dispatched and balance.

How the two are joined depends on the system. Some versions of Tally can share data through their supported methods, some ERPs offer an API, and some only produce reports that can be exported on a schedule. The tool has to work with whatever you have. Test it with a week of real orders before you trust it.

Agree the definitions early. Does produced mean the count at the machine or the count after inspection? Does dispatched mean loaded or invoiced? When this is unclear, two people read the same screen and reach different answers. Write the definitions down and keep them short.

How are delays flagged before the customer asks?

With a promised date and a running count, the system can see an order slipping. If an order needs a certain number of pieces a day to finish on time and the actual number is lower, it raises a flag for the production head. That flag arrives a few days before the customer's call would.

The rule can be simple. For example, flag any open order where, at the current rate, the quantity made will not reach the promised quantity by the promised date. You choose the rule, and you choose who is told and how, such as a message to the plant head and a line on the daily summary.

An early flag gives you room to act. You can move the job to another machine, add a shift, or call the customer yourself with an honest date. A customer who hears from you first nearly always takes it better than one who has to chase.

Can GST and e-way bill reconciliation avoid re-keying?

Dispatch is where factory records meet tax paperwork. A load leaves with an invoice and, where it applies, an e-way bill. Later, someone has to match the dispatch register, the invoices and the e-way bill records. When each one is typed separately, mismatches creep in.

If the dispatch entry on the floor carries the invoice number and the vehicle, a reconciliation report can match the three sources and list the differences for your accounts team, who then fix the cause. Whether an entry is right under the tax rules is a question for your Chartered Accountant. Rules, rates and dates change. Check the current position with your Chartered Accountant before you act.

What is in a daily summary for the owner and plant head?

It is a short message at the end of the shift or the start of the next day. It fits on one phone screen and takes a minute to read.

• Output against plan for each line or machine.
• Rejections and the top reasons.
• Downtime hours and the top reasons.
• Orders at risk of missing the promised date.
• Dispatches made today and planned for tomorrow.

Resist adding every chart. A summary people read every day is worth more than a dashboard they open once a month. Add a line only when someone will act on it.

Who sees what, and who is responsible for the data?

Name one person per shift who owns the entries. That person does not type everything. They make sure the entries are made, correct obvious mistakes and report problems with the screen. Without an owner, the habit fades within a few weeks.

Decide who sees which screens. Operators need their own entry screen, supervisors need the line view, and the owner and plant head need the order view and the summary. Customer prices and margins have no reason to appear on the shop floor at all. Keep access as narrow as the work allows.

Keep a simple record of changes. If a quantity is corrected after entry, the system shows who changed it and when. That protects the operator as much as the owner, and it keeps people trusting the numbers.

Finally, plan for the days the system is down. A sheet of paper in a drawer is a sensible fallback. Once the system is back, the supervisor enters the paper figures and marks them as late entries.

What is this not?

It is not a new ERP. It does not run your purchasing, payroll, inventory valuation or accounts, and it does not replace Tally or whatever else you use. It adds a thin layer on the floor and joins it to data you already hold.

Nor is it a way to watch people. Downtime reasons exist to fix causes, such as missing material or a worn tool. If operators believe the data will be used against them, they will enter what is safe rather than what is true. Explain this to the team early, and show them what got fixed because of their entries.

And it will not repair a broken process. If materials arrive late, recording the delay faster tells you the cause sooner. Someone still has to fix it.

How should a small factory start?

1. Pick one line or one shift, and one question, such as why output falls short of plan.
2. Agree the short lists: rejection reasons, downtime reasons and what counts as a finished piece.
3. Run phone entry alongside paper for two weeks and compare the two.
4. Connect order data from Tally or your ERP once the entries are reliable.
5. Add dispatch and the daily summary, then extend to the next line.

Take the parallel period seriously. If the phone figures and the paper figures disagree, find out why before you drop the paper. The cause is usually a definition problem, not a data problem.