When I ask owners of smaller plants how much downtime a machine had yesterday and why, the answer is usually “I’d have to ask the supervisor” or “it’s somewhere in the spreadsheet”. The data exists, but it’s late, scattered and not trusted. This guide describes how to get reliable production data without introducing a large ERP system.
Short answer
Start small: work orders, quantities, downtime and scrap, entered on a shop-floor tablet the moment they happen. A simple web app built on that gives you an overview by shift and machine plus automatic reports. It’s faster and cheaper than an ERP, and gives you the data you’ll need to choose the right ERP later.
Why Excel stops being enough
- Data is entered at the end of the shift from memory, not when things happen.
- Several versions of the same spreadsheet circulate by email.
- One wrongly copied formula changes the report, and nobody notices.
- The management report is assembled by hand and arrives days later.
If reporting is your main problem, the first step can be automating your existing spreadsheets — there’s an example in automating Excel reports with Python. If the problem is data entry itself, you need an app.
What to track first
| Data | How it’s entered | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Work order | Scanning the QR code on the order | The status of every order in real time |
| Quantity produced | Entering a number or automatically from a counter | Plan vs. actual per shift |
| Downtime | A “stop” button and a reason picked from a list | The most common causes of downtime per machine |
| Scrap | Quantity and reason | Losses by product and cause |
| Worker and shift | Login with a card or PIN | Shift overviews without manual adding up |
OEE: one number for efficiency
Once you have data on running time, quantity and scrap, you can calculate OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness): availability × performance × quality. Availability shows how long the machine ran out of the planned time, performance how fast it ran compared with the ideal cycle, and quality the share of good parts. OEE is most useful for tracking the trend on the same machine — it matters more that it rises month by month than how it compares with others.
What a simple app looks like
- A tablet or phone on the shop floor with a few large buttons: start order, stop, downtime reason, done, scrap.
- A supervisor overview — which machines are running, which are stopped and why, plan achievement.
- A management report — daily or weekly, sent automatically by email.
- Excel export for anyone who wants to analyse the data themselves.
Such an app runs in the browser, so nothing needs installing on each device, and the data is stored in a database you have access to.
Introducing it in four steps
- One line or machine — start where the problem is most visible.
- A list of downtime reasons — agree it with supervisors, short and clear.
- Two to four weeks of trial use — fix whatever bothers the workers.
- Roll out to the other machines once the data is reliable.
When you do need an ERP
An ERP makes sense when you need to connect purchasing, stock, production, sales and accounting in one system, and you have the people and budget to implement it. A small production-tracking app is not a replacement for an ERP — it’s a fast way to get data today and to know exactly what you’ll need from an ERP later.
Want reliable production data?
I build a simple app for work orders, downtime and scrap, tailored to your plant, with automatic reports. Tell me about your production and how you track it today.
Engimotive · Published October 28, 2026