Spreadsheets get most small plants started, and there is nothing wrong with that. The trouble begins when the sheet becomes the process. Here are five signs it is time to move on.
1. People keep asking "where is that job?"
If supervisors walk the floor or phone the shop to find a job's status, your information is slower than your production. A live job board turns that question into a glance.
2. Two sheets disagree
Once the planning sheet, the stores sheet and the dispatch sheet each hold a slightly different truth, someone spends every morning reconciling them. That time is pure overhead.
3. Quality problems arrive late
When checks are written on paper and typed in later, a defect is found after the batch has moved on. Capturing readings at the station, with an automatic hold, catches the problem while it is cheap to fix.
4. You cannot trace a complaint
If a customer reports a faulty item and it takes hours to find the batch, the operator and the checks, you need traceability. A QR label on each batch ties all of that together.
5. Only one person understands the file
A sheet that works because one person built it is a risk. If that person is away, planning stops.
What to do first
Do not replace everything at once. Pick one product line, map every hand-off, and move that line to a single shared system. Learn what works, then widen it.
If you want help mapping a line, send us a message or try our production automation overview.