How it works
From job card to a scan that returns everything
A unit is born against a job card, collects a record at every operation, and carries an identity that returns the whole thing when it is scanned. Here is each stage and exactly what it adds.
The six stages
- 10
Job card issued
A job card names the product, the revision and the quantity.
The unit is born against the job card and gets its identity — a 26-character code that sorts by time and is never reused, even if the unit is later scrapped.
Captured here
- Job card number
- Product and revision
- Quantity and due date
- 20
Components issued against the BOM
Sub-components are drawn from store and scanned against the bill of materials.
A component that is not on the BOM for that revision is refused, not warned about. A wrong part at this station is a hard stop.
Captured here
- Component lot codes
- Serialised sub-assembly identities
- BOM line satisfied
- Operator
- 30
Assembly stations capture process data
Each operation captures what it is configured to capture.
Values are checked against the limits configured for that point at that moment. A value outside the window blocks the unit and routes it down the failure path the operation defines.
Captured here
- Torque per fastener
- Grease applied
- Instrument that read it
- Both timestamps
- 40
Test, sub-assembly and final
Tests record their readings, not just a verdict.
The test gate holds the unit until the named test passes. A pass with no readings behind it is a stamp, and a stamp is not evidence.
Captured here
- Test name and verdict
- Underlying readings
- Raw device payload
- Station and operator
- 50
Mark and label
Identity is applied to the part and read back.
Your own label template, loaded as-is and versioned with an effective date. A direct part mark for parts that go through wash, paint or heat. Both from one binding, so the part and the record cannot disagree.
Captured here
- Template version used
- Read-back and grade
- Reprints with reason and authoriser
- 60
Scan anywhere, get everything
The code on the product returns that unit's complete history.
The page works on a phone, on the plant LAN, with no internet. It is a self-contained document with nothing loaded from outside, because the first shop floor it ran on had no route to the internet.
Captured here
- Full genealogy tree
- Every measurement with its limits
- Event history with hash chain
What the operator sees
A station terminal shows one unit, one operation and one list of what must be true before that unit can advance. The gates are named, so a blocked unit tells the operator which condition failed rather than showing an error code.
IDENTITY
A valid unit identity has been scanned, or read back from the mark on the part.
OPERATOR_AUTH
An operator is logged in and holds the skill certification this operation requires.
PRECONDITION
Every required predecessor operation is complete for this unit.
COMPONENT_VERIFY
Scanned components match the expected BOM lines. A wrong part is a hard stop.
DATA_CAPTURE
All mandatory capture points are recorded and within their configured limits.
TEST_PASS
The named test's verdict is a pass, with its readings behind it.
MARK_VERIFIED
The applied mark was read back and matches the intended identity.
INTERLOCK_OUT
Release signal to the PLC or fixture, emitted only after every other gate is green.
The interlock is released only after every other gate on that operation is green. That ordering is what makes it a poka-yoke rather than a suggestion — more in route configuration.
When something fails
RETRY
The operator tries again, up to a bounded number of attempts at this operation.
REWORK
The unit goes back to a named operation, and the operations it invalidates must be redone.
QUARANTINE
The unit is held for a supervisor decision rather than being allowed forward.
SCRAP
Terminal. The identity is retired forever and can never be reissued to another unit.
A rework loop names the operations it invalidates, and those must be performed again before the unit can advance. Both attempts stay in the record. An audit that cannot see the loop has not seen the truth, so the software will not hide it for you.
What it runs on
Machine and instrument data
- RS232 and RS485 serial, including multidrop instrument segments
- Ethernet, TCP line protocols and Modbus TCP
- PLC and HMI capture, with an interlock released back to the fixture
- Manual stations capturing the same points against the same limits
Marking and identity
- Zebra printers driven as raw ZPL II over TCP 9100 — no OS print driver
- USB and file sinks for sites with no network printer
- Laser direct part marking with Data Matrix and mark read-back
- Handheld and fixed imagers; DPM-capable imagers where parts are directly marked
Platform
- PostgreSQL 16 on an edge box you own, one per plant
- Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22.04+ on the edge; Windows or Linux on stations
- Signed over-the-air updates, with an identical offline USB path
- Multi-plant ready: tenant isolation is in the schema from the first migration
Book a 20-minute line walkthrough
We walk one line, list what each operation should capture, and tell you plainly which of your machines can be read. You get that list whether or not you buy anything.