DC-A  Enter Labor/Production

Purpose of Program

Direct labor employees will use this program to clock in and out of work order sequences.  With this program they will be recording both time (labor and setup) and parts produced and scrapped.  If you only want to record parts produced, use DC-B  Enter Production Only.  If you only want to record labor time, use DC-C  Enter Labor Only.

Normally this program is loaded and left on-screen the entire day.  The employee is given a series of questions to answer.  Entries can be made via numeric keypad or bar code scanner.

The employee will be asked for his employee number, the work order, the sequence, whether he is clocking in or reporting labor or setup (clocking out), how many parts were made, how many parts scrapped and, depending on defaults, a scrap code, how many are being sent to rework and a QC code for the rework.

Employees can clock in to work orders within buffer periods prior to and after the shift ends so as to avoid having everyone requiring access to the computer when the shift begins and ends.  Buffer periods are defined in SD-F  Data Collection Defaults.  Actual job costing will not begin until the shift starts, and will stop precisely when the shift ends.  You can also define lunch and breaks so that job costing automatically stops without employees having to clock out and back in.

If Employee Shift Start/Stop is enabled, then the first entry of the day will also clock in the shift for the day and at the end of the day when the employee clocks out the shift, all work orders will also be clocked out.

General Program Operation

Before using this program, you must have your shifts defined in SD-F  Data Collection Defaults.  In that program you can also specify whether you want full screen mode (recommended) and whether you allow employees to be clocked into multiple work orders at the same time.  You can also control whether an individual employee can clock into multiple work orders if they are different than the system setting by giving them an individual setting in SM-G Enter Employees.

Normally this program would be loaded by a supervisory person at the beginning of the day and left on screen all day.

Whenever an entry is to be made, you are first prompted for your employee number.  If the Shift Start/Stop is enabled in the defaults, the program will automatically start the shift when the first work order of the day is clocked into.  Alternatively, you can start the shift for payroll purposes by clicking the Shift Start/Stop button and entering the employee number if you have not yet been assigned a work order to clock into.

You can use the keypad to enter the number or scan your bar coded employee ticket (printed through DC-F  Print Employee Tickets).  It must be a valid employee number from the employee file (SM-G  Enter Employees).  Your name will be displayed and you are asked Is this correct? Press <Enter>or Y if yes.  If you press N, you are returned to the employee number prompt to enter the correct employee number.

Next you are asked to enter the work order number.  You may do so via keypad entry or you can wand a bar coded shop traveler (printed through WO-C  Print Travelers) or a bar coded labor ticket printed through DC-E  Print Labor Tickets).  The work order number must be for a valid, status R (Released) or I (Indirect) work order.  The item number of the item being manufactured is displayed and you are asked if this is correct.  Press <Enter> or Y if it is the correct work order.  If you press N, you are returned to the work order prompt where you can reenter the work order number.

Next you are asked to enter the sequence number (operation), which can be entered via keypad or wanding a bar coded shop traveler or labor ticket.  The sequence description is displayed and you are asked if it is correct.  Press <Enter> or Y if it is the correct sequence.  If you press N you are returned to the sequence number prompt so that you can re-enter the sequence number.

The program then checks to see if you are already clocked in to this work order sequence.  If not, you are asked Clock-in? If you press <Enter> or Y, the program records the start time and you may go and perform your labor operation.  If you enter N, you are returned to the Employee Number prompt to start the entry over again.

If the program detects that you already clocked into this work order sequence, you are asked Reporting Labor? If you press <Enter> or Y, you are prompted for Parts Made?  Enter the number of parts completed.  You are then asked for Parts Scrapped? Enter the scrapped quantity or press <Enter> if there were no scrapped parts.  You are asked if your entries are correct.  If you press <Enter> or Y, you are returned to the employee number prompt so that you can clock in to your next work order sequence.  If you press N, you are returned to the Parts Made?  prompt so that you can re-enter the parts counts.

If you had entered N to the Reporting Labor? prompt, you would be asked Reporting Setup?  If you press <Enter> or Y, the program posts the setup time to the work order and you are returned to the employee number prompt to clock in to your next work order sequence.  When reporting Setup no parts counts are entered.  If you enter N, you are returned to the employee number prompt, but no setup time gets posted.

NOTE:  If you receive the message "Someone is already entering labor for this employee" and you know this is not the case, then on the DC-A screen before entering the employee number press the F9 key and then enter the employee number.  This will clear the record.