Significance of the term “real time” has been on the increase for manufacturers and buyers alike and when survival is all about productivity and quality in equal proportions, monitoring both of them in real time becomes necessary. Dwelling on this nuance, Eton Systems, the inventor and world’s leading provider of automated production systems for apparel and other sewn products, unveiled its new ETONnote Shop Floor Control (SFC) system at the recently held Texprocess Americas 2014 in Atlanta.
This productivity and information management solution utilizes wireless networking methods of standard Android-based devices (Near Field Communication Ports, QR Code Readers and Bar Code Scanners) to collect real-time production and process information that can be used to increase individual and team productivity, enhance order tracking, streamline the incentive payroll process and many more such needs. The wireless infrastructure reduces overall setup and training time to just one week by eliminating the time consuming and costly practice of manually running network cabling throughout the factory. “Beauty of the system is that it is wireless, a feature no other existing RFID provider can offer,” avers Magnus Sundgren, Software & Tablet Manager, Eton Systems.
Readily accessible Android-powered mobile phones or tablets purchased either directly from Eton or off-the-shelf by the manufacturer significantly reduce startup costs as compared to proprietary workplace terminals. A standard PC host is used to store and report on all production, process and quality data collected from the operation. Elaborating on the quality management utility, Sundgren said, “A supervisor could have a handheld device and walk up to the operator, inspect the bundle and then register it immediately. The arrow tags for the error caused will be visible for use, therefore the data is not only recorded real-time but also processed for a consolidated report.”
Information maintained on the PC can also be integrated with third-party reporting, payroll, or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. “All the information on the phone screen is customized, so each terminal can display different information depending on what is important to that operation. You can also show a video or a PDF file for instructions to the operator. Basically it is about standard products, off the shelf products, what level of security you want in them and how easy you want to make it,” explains Sundgren.
Though the product awaits a launch for the Indian market, the solution available in India will be equipped with local languages to make it more relevant and user-friendly. “We can address the need of any dialect in India, our solution will be adjusted to any language needed for optimum utilization,” added Saajith, India representative for Eton, who is very excited about the applications and result potential of the ETONnote.
