Keeping track of Workorders in manufacturing plant

[txdub714]

Hello, I am looking to incorporate an order tracking system using barcodes and FileMaker to easily track where an order is in the plant.  Basically I want to know if what I want to do is even possible, and if so how to do it as inexpensive as possible.

 

Using FileMaker Pro 12, and FileMaker Go and a barcode scanner (I would use a smartphone or iPad as the scanner and FileMaker Go), I would like to enter an order into the database, assign a barcode to it, then when the order gets to the plant I want them to be able to scan the barcode and send it to the office so our database will update with a timestamp of when the department got the order.  I want there to be some sort of ID for each iPad/iPhone so that each step in the production process can be monitored and allow for us to see how far along the order is in the manufacturing process.  

 

I was wondering if this technology would be capable of doing something like that?  Would I be able to add more information than just a time stamp?  For example, can I add more fields that would also allow the scanners to send info to the database regarding items that are on the order?

 

Thank you for your help, I truly appreciate it

[Matthew F]

This should be very doable.  The tools you use may depend on the type of barcode that you want to use. 

 

I'm currently using the QRCode filemaker plugin to generate and print barcodes from within filemaker. 

 

I also use the CNS barcode app on iPhones to scan barcodes and pass the information to Filemaker. 

 

Both work very well for me.  

[txdub714]

Hey thanks for the input, I was looking at CNS Barcode as well and I think thats what I'm going to go with.  We have a system that generates barcodes, but I don't know what type and if it will even be useful.  

 

I'm going to look into QRcode.  Thanks!

[Matthew F]

You might want to check out Filemaker v.13 which includes barcode scanning functions.  

[txdub714]

Yeah I just got v13 for the bar code functions, having issues finding where it is in the program because I can't seem to find anything about it.  I have a ticket open for them to get back to me.  Excited and hoping this works! Thanks for your help

[Matthew F]

 

 

having issues finding where it is in the program because I can't seem to find anything about it.

 

Check out the script step called Insert from Device.  There is documentation within FM 13 application, or on p.83 of the FM13 Scripts Reference  manual. 

[txdub714]

Thanks! I did end up finding out how to set up an interface for the plant to scan a barcode, and it works!  Now I'm working on a script that would send the work order info back into a database on FM Pro, along with a timestamp and the user ID to identify where in the plant the order is.

 

Exporting that info from Go to a database in Pro is possible over a Wifi connection right?  I saw an old post that said Exporting isn't possible from Go, but I'm not sure what version they were talking about

[Matthew F]

 

 

Exporting that info from Go to a database in Pro is possible over a Wifi connection right?

 

I usually open a file over WiFi that is being hosted by Filemaker Server on our intranet.   But if you have a  WiFi peer-to-peer connection with a Filemaker Pro running on a desktop, or a WiFi connection to Filemaker running on Filemaker server then I think your script should be able to "transfer" the data from a local file on your iOS device to the remote device.  This is not the same thing as "Exporting Records..." command.