We are looking at installing bar coding on our inventory as well as capturing labor data.  Ideally, we would like to do this through terminals set up at random on the shop floor, swipe cards for employees and a hand-held reader for the inventory - having said that, we are very open to ideas.  DBA's website lists certain vendors - does anyone have any experience with them?  Any vendors anyone would suggest who have experience integrating their packages with DBA?  Thanks.
 
 

Though I would rather be able to give you information for a process / equipment that was "successful", I can't... but maybe I'll keep you from making the same mistake(s) we did.  In particular, concerning recording labor transactions.
 
We utilized 8 computers, 1 located in each major production "room".  Each room ranges from 20X20 to 20X80.  The bar-coded travelers were utilized and the employee could simply walk over to the computer, log in their employee number, scan the bar code and enter in the quantity, etc.  It seemed simple and straight forward.
 
We no longer do that and have gone back to a "paper" system, job "tickets" that are turned in and one person enters in the data.  Saves us time, money and a great deal of exhasperation.
 
The problems with the way we did things were:
 
Time.  
 
Each employee does approximately 30 work orders a day.  For each work order, they had to find the cart, pull the paperwork, go to the computer, log in, go back to their station, do the work, finish, go back to the computer, log in, enter in the data, go back, move their cart, pick up another and do the process over again another 29 times.  Each log in process (start and stop) took, on a good day, 1 minute to accomplish.  That ment, on average 60 minutes per day was spent by each employee doing nothing but loggin in and out of their work orders.  Not very productive.  Filling out work tickets takes 15 to 20 minutes per day, total.
 
Time
 
Corrections.  One person was dedicated to doing the majority of their work, going through all the entries to make corrections.  Approximately 5 hrs per day.  Our current data entry clerk spends 6 hrs per day putting in work order tickets, generally within an hour of their being completed.
 
Time - Equipment
 
8 computers for 50 production people was no where near enough.  With an average of 3,500 "transactions" ocurring every day (starting and stopping 30+ work orders, each).  Very often, it would be noticed that two or three people were waiting to log in.  Some would take the initiative to move to another station, in another room, but even with that, time was wasted.  Of course, if any of the computers should go down (in a production environment, quite common), it would only get worse.
 
Let's not get into all the casual "talking" that would take place as they walked back and forth between their work station and the computer...
 
All in all, one "dedicated", detail oriented employee enters in all the tickets.  The loss in not knowing just where the parts are located (at any given moment, what production area/process) is made up by fewer corrections and the fact that only 8 hrs a day is spent on entering in the information, not 40 (per day).
 
We have fewer production employees today... down to 30 or so.  That does help (in one sense).  BUT, we are looking at a system that is essentially a number pad with a card swipe.  By placing one of these at each work station, the employee will scan their card, scan the bar coded traveler, enter in their "numbers" and continue working.  If I can get the time down to 20 seconds per transaction (start - stop), it might be worth it.  With corrections, tracking down problems, equipment costs, etc., etc., I would still need a person to be available, but maybe they would be able to do some other office related items as well.
 
I wish you luck!  I know we need it!!
 

Lorne,
 
I agree completely...  BUT, and I'll be nice with this, in our case, the whole thing was put in by a "consultant".  One which was "experienced" with manufacturing, DBA and which, based on the letters and memos I've reviewed, was well informed about our plant's make-up, etc.  One which was paid a fee that was not based on the actual performance of the system they recommended and installed.
 
Now the argument can move to "not all consultants are created equal, or qualified"...
 
As this experience is the only, first hand, experience we have had, I simply wanted to let the original poster know that this sort of an implementation did not work (very well) in "our" situation.  It might in theirs, depending on their make-up, etc.
 
In the mean time, we're going to continue trying to "force" DBA and ourselves, into some process that will work... for us.

Lorne,
 
I hope you understand, and will not be offended by our experiences, but they have helped me/us to develop a "healthy" skeptisism towards consultants.  I won't go further and will only add that I do keep an open mind, even when the odds appear to be against me.  Call me foolish, but too many good things have come from a direction I would otherwise never look at, not too...
 
John