Work Order Management
A custom process requires a custom solution. I helped to turn a scattered paper trail into an easy to understand application.
See case study
My role
I led design on PRESTO and shipped the production front end in HTML with ERB and HBS and Sass, working alongside the build team on the Ruby on Rails and Ember stack.
Services
The problem
E-Beam Services ran work orders on paper across 3 facilities in 3 states. Products in a single job split across multiple work orders and paper workbooks, so managers had no reliable way to track progress, calibrate machines, or troubleshoot bottlenecks across plants.
Solution
jobs list
The jobs list helps users keep track of everything that's going on. Finding any job or group of jobs quickly by easily filtering or sorting the list helps plant managers save time and keep everything organized.
new job form
What was a complicated process with lots of paperwork became one easy-to-use form. Capturing this data early was crucial for a smooth workflow down that line. We only ask for a few essential details up front and even make suggestions to make the process quick and easy. Suggesting recently used data to the user helps reduce cognitive load and saves time on looking up contact details already in the system.
job products
Every job has a lot of moving parts. Here we can track all of the products that this job is for during the lifecycle of the job. Workers across several departments all see the same information at the same time, allowing them to work simultaneously. Users can add and update information as it comes in so that no one ever misses a beat.
job progress
Products in a job could be split up across several work orders. This was especially difficult for managers to keep track of and optimize for. Visualizing how each product is distributed made it much easier to keep jobs organized and troubleshoot any potential bottlenecks.
job history
Access to accurate metrics is essential to ensuring everything is running smoothly. The status history visually represents when a job has progressed past each checkpoint. Seeing the timeline helps to evaluate the job process and identify opportunities to optimize.
production queue
What was spread out across numerous paper workbooks is now consolidated into one queue that's easy to access. The new production queue provides accuracy and reliability for all machines running in multiple plants.
work order products
Technicians used to flip through manuals to calibrate machines properly for different processes throughout the day. By digitizing the specifications, we can deliver real-time product-specific data to the techs.
work order production summary
Each work order's results are recorded and easily accessible for review. Every report can be easily printed and is formatted to look great so that it can be sent to clients.
Outcome
PRESTO replaced paper across all 3 facilities with no parallel run and minimal training. The COO called it functional software the team could test.
About the client
Making products that improve our world, our lives, our businesses, and our everyday wellbeing by modifying polymers and other materials using electron beam technology
