Tracking materials from receipt through production or assembly processes, and ultimately, to finished goods, requires a tremendous amount of labor and paperwork. Yet, knowing where in-process materials and orders are is critical to plant efficiency. This requires that companies know the source of materials, where goods are at any point along the supply chain, and that they can deploy those materials in real-time to keep the line rolling. Using mobile computers or advanced data collection devices, real-time data capture integrated into MES, WMS, ERP by online/Batch or other management systems, or fully automated, hands-free data collection, Plenum info Sys help reduce errors and significantly increase productivity in manufacturing operations. Manufacturers can more accurately track the flow of materials through the plant in real-time. Materials and orders are more easily located and your workers can focus on their assigned tasks rather than on searching for missing or misplaced orders.

In somewhat simple terms, a WIP system might record and responses to:

• What (what thing or job?)
• Where (where it is/was it located?)
• Task or operation (what work was done?)
• Who (who did the work?)
• Duration (how long did it take them?)
• Output (how many units were produced and/or scrapped?)