Shop-floor data capture
Shop-floor data capture for SAP Business One, recorded where the work happens
Times, good quantities and scrap are captured where they occur: at the workstation, in the moment it happens. And go straight to SAP Business One from there.
Shop-floor data capture decides whether the numbers in the ERP are worth anything. If times and quantities are written on a slip from memory at the end of a shift and typed in the office the next day, every costing review is an estimate with decimal places.
Caesar moves capture to the workstation. An order is started, stopped and confirmed without leaving the machine. The posting lands directly in SAP Business One through the official SAP Service Layer, with no intermediate step and no second data store.
Where data capture fails in practice
Paper slips and re-entry
Writing happens in the hall, typing happens in the office. Between them lie hours, transcription errors and times nobody remembers precisely.
Capture that takes too long
If a confirmation costs three forms and a minute, it gets postponed. And what gets postponed gets estimated.
No device at the workstation
The SAP client needs an office computer. There is none at the machine, so there is no capture there either.
Numbers nobody trusts
When costing reviews are regularly off, people stop using them. That removes the basis for every pricing and capacity decision.
How Caesar captures shop-floor data
A few seconds per confirmation, operable with gloves, on any device in the browser.
Start and stop on the order
The operation is started and finished right at the workstation. Time is measured, not remembered.
Good quantity and scrap
Produced and defective quantities are captured separately, making scrap rates visible per order and operation.
Batch postings
Recurring confirmations can be posted in bulk instead of clicking through each line on its own.
Batches and serial numbers
Assignment happens during the operation, not afterwards. That keeps traceability free of gaps.
Straight to SAP B1
Every confirmation runs through the SAP Service Layer and passes the same business logic as an entry in the SAP client.
Capture by voice
With Cleo, confirmations can be spoken instead of typed, for workstations where both hands are needed.
Why real time makes the difference
Once shop-floor data is created in the moment the work happens, more than data quality changes. Production management sees mid-shift which order is stuck instead of learning it the next morning. Sales can commit to a delivery date without calling someone first.
And the costing review matches what actually happened. That is the prerequisite for basing prices on experience rather than on gut feeling.
Capture that works at the pace of the shop floor
A data-capture interface is not judged at a desk but at a machine, where someone wears gloves, looks into the hall lighting and has ten seconds between two clamping operations. Large targets, clear states, no hunting through menus.
That is why Caesar is built in shift operation at Efinger-Instruments. Anything that slows a confirmation down shows up there before it reaches a customer installation.
Rugged devices where they are needed
Caesar runs in the browser on existing PCs and tablets. Where that is not enough there is Lorica: an IP 65 industrial tablet with MIL-STD drop resistance, around twelve hours of battery, a stylus holder, a calliper mount and a tool-less bayonet lock.
The point is the same as with the software: capture should happen at the machine. A device that does not survive there moves it back to the office.
FAQ
What does shop-floor data capture mean?
It means recording order and machine data in manufacturing: start and end times of operations, good quantities produced, scrap, batches and inspection results. This data is the basis for costing reviews, capacity planning and traceability.
Can SAP Business One do this out of the box?
SAP Business One can confirm production orders, but through the SAP client on an office computer. It is not built for capture at the workstation, in seconds and with gloves on. That is exactly the layer Caesar adds.
Do we need dedicated terminals?
Not necessarily. Caesar runs in the browser on existing devices. Where a more rugged device is needed at the machine, we offer Lorica as an industrial tablet.
Is the data held twice?
No. Caesar writes every confirmation to SAP Business One via the SAP Service Layer. No second source of truth emerges that would have to be reconciled with the ERP.
How fast is a confirmation?
The target is a few seconds, without leaving the machine. What that looks like at your workstation is best shown live on a real order.
See data capture on your own operation
30 minutes, live from the reference plant. Bring a typical operation and we will confirm it.
