Job travelers through a machine shop

[Samson555]

We are a small machining company going for our AS9100 accreditation and we receive jobs that vary greatly in size and diameter. Usually these can be quite specialized and we may never make the parts again. The issue I have is when we need to split the parts on the shop floor with job travelers. We have tried many different ways of attaching labels etc. with wire, sticking them on etc. and nothing works. We then thought of putting parts into boxes and then the job traveler can sit in with each part, but because we have some large, some small etc. this could become a very expensive process and we are also pushed for space to store all these different containers. We then thought what if at each machine we put a plastic document holder and the job travelers sit in there until the parts move to the next machine (and in the meantime if the person wants to start the second machine process he can take e.g. 2 parts and 2 job travelers back to his machine and document holder). I am wondering if the job travelers have to be actually on the parts or if this will be acceptable?

Sounds basic I know but struggling with this one.

 

[sonflowerinwales]

An age old problem....
There is a requirement for everything to be traceable. How it's done is up to the individual company.

Your idea is good for putting the travelers at the machines, but how do you identify the actual components? Label? Barcode? Sticky thing? Box?

We used to keep the traveler in the container with the items at all times (or the components in the bag with the traveler if they were small enough). If this was not possible, then they would be clearly marked with tags, labels or whatever was suitable. Raw material was engraved or stamped.

I think the phrase we used in our procedure was "All items will be marked with the works order number at all times". No more descriptive than that, the actual method used relied on common sense.

When visiting suppliers, as long as they can demonstrate a clear link between the metal and paper, I'm happy.

How to make the link between which parts go with which traveler, is up to you. (But beware of similar parts..........)

Cheers
Paul

 

[Samson555]

Thanks Paul, I really appreciate your help.

 

[JTM]

Just wanted to say thank you for this information! It was very helpful and much appreciated! We are re-vamping and making some serious upgrades to our small company, and this ASO ISO stuff can be a bit confusing although it seems as if it should be quite simple!

Have a great evening and thanks again for this templates!
-Amanda

 

[Kronos147]

Sometimes we use a dedicated cart for jobs in our shop.

Food for thought.

 

[SDavenport]

@Samson555,

I, too, work for a small manufacturing company - one that specializes in manufacturing and distributing precision hole-making tools (punches, drills, etc.) - and we maintain traceability by labeling our raw material and zip-tying our Job Travelers (which are inserted into sleeve protectors) to our bundle or stick of raw material. The raw material lot number is also written on the Job Traveler. Once the material is machined, the parts are put onto fixtures and the sleeved Job Travelers are transferred from work station to work station with the product.

Also, we, too, split Job Travelers for a number of reasons (expediting partial orders, changing operators, changing machines, etc.) and we maintain traceability the same way. The differences: we photocopy the original JT and assign "A" and "B" to the end of the original lot number as an indicator to our operators, inspectors, and shippers that there are two partials. We also apply labels to both JTs to indicate the status of the job (remain open or complete/close).

I hope this helps or you find a solution to your problem.