Original Date: 09/20/2004
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

The continuous upgrade and usage of the JobBOSS shop floor control system allows Forest City Gear complete visibility over all aspects of manufacturing and accounting activities at its facility.

One of the most important aspects of manufacturing is having a system in place to track a part through various stages of inventory, manufacturing, inspection, and delivery to the customer. In 1994, Forest City Gear (FCG) introduced an MS-DOS based software version of the shop control system, JobBOSS, to assist in this task. In 2002, the MS- DOS version was upgraded to incorporate a Windows Operating System Version 5.0. In September 2004, the company upgraded to the newest edition, Version 8.0.

Version 8.0 contains 11 modules. A module is a software component of the JobBOSS program that has specific functions. Four modules are reserved for accounting, including the company’s payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and ledger listing; seven modules are reserved for production areas. As there are numerous parts contained in one job, it would not be cost efficient for operators to enter information for each part; therefore, a Traveler accompanies each job from station to station. The Traveler contains detailed information for each operation of the job with a bar code that is completed by that station. When a job arrives at a particular station on the shop floor, operators enter information into one of FCG’s nine PC stations that are linked to the company’s network. Employees scan the bar code and enter the actual hours spent on their task at their station; the software automatically updates the information into the central database on the network. JobBOSS also allows FCG management to access real time updates on all open or closed jobs if customers contact them for status reports. Customers can call or use electronic mail to check the status of their jobs; management then provides the customers with detailed status reports of their orders and the percentages of completeness. FCG can download the amount of hours spent on each task, then use that as a logistics tool for planning future job scheduling tasks.

With the continuous updating and usage of JobBOSS, FCG optimizes the system as a shop floor control system to manage areas such as work in progress, scheduling, accounting, job history, purchasing, and reporting. With more than 900 customers currently in the database, the new Windows version saved FCG time and money and helped increase productivity.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.