oliver811•10d agoProlific Poster

Watching the shop floor go from paper travelers to tablets in about three years

When I started at this place, every job came with a printed traveler sheet you had to initial and carry around. It was always getting lost or coffee stained. About three years back, management put tablets on rolling stands at each machine. Now the traveler is a digital form you fill out right there, and the program file loads straight from the server. The big change was getting reliable Wi-Fi across the whole building, which took a solid six months of tweaking. It cut down on a lot of walking back to the office computer. What's the next step you think shops will take to cut out more paper?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_lee10d ago

Honestly, that shift is huge. We went through the same thing at my old shop. Took forever to get the signal right in the back corner by the big presses. Ngl, the next step feels like those smart glasses or wrist units. Having the traveler and specs pop up right in your line of sight while your hands are busy. Seems like the natural move to cut out even more trips and keep your eyes on the work.

jamiekim10d ago

But you gotta wonder if all that tech is really the fix. @patricia_lee, those glasses sound cool, but I've seen shops waste a ton of cash on stuff that just breaks in a greasy environment. Sometimes a laminated paper checklist at the station is faster than a laggy touchscreen. The next step might be going simpler, not more complex, because when the network goes down, the whole floor stops.