Time clock suggestions?

[jTr]

Asking others to share their time tracking methods.

As a one person operation, I'm looking for a more streamlined method of tracking billable hours. Though I have no employees, this is still a critical point to help myself track productivity and properly bid future work. A key feature would be ability to add notes regarding precisely what process consumed a given time block, which I currently try to do by handwriting on a simple time card form. I "punch in" and "out" numerous times per day in order to sort time spent per process, per client. I rarely get to concentrate on a single project, and typically have several in the works at various production stages throughout the shop.

Considering:
-Old fashioned time clock (faster than current method but little space for notes, cost $175 +)
-Fingerprint reading clock with spreadsheet output for tracking in Excel (looks like $100 units are dicey, $400+ gets better reviews, while others require monthly service fee signups to function)
-PC based application (May be best suited to my circumstances?)
-Perhaps I should develop a number or letter code key that identifies the process ("A"= cnc ply processing, "B" = cnc dovetailing, etc.)

Would love to hear any creative ways / implements others are utilizing to track productivity.


Jeff

[jerry_stanek]

Why not a stop watch and sheet of paper to record what you did.

[MogulTx]

For another business, I ran an excel spread sheet with start and stop times. A "Machine Log" if you will... and would then have them (times) attributed to the customer's job. Set up and break down were done as partial time for warm up to as many customers as there were projects that day.... and actual set up times for the specific project... ( I do a few varied things and some times the set up can be kind of lengthy. I do not always charge for set up- but need to know so I know what my COST of a program is....)

It is not a sophisticated approach, but it is certainly valuable to me to learn more about the innerworkings of what I do.... Very cheap way to track a small operation.

[harryball]

It could range from highly complicated to a piece of paper.

I think I would make up a spreadsheet and get a tablet to have handy for entries. Store the spreadsheet on a network drive so you can access it from your workstation to clean it up, add more notes, calculate times etc... How complicated the spreadsheet and how it is organized would be the real challenge. You could have simple columns with data and sums or you could have drop downs with macros etc...

If I run a job for someone else, I use the pencil and paper method and just write it down and bring it back to a simple spreadsheet to do any math. Of course, I'm not production for something like that so it works for me. If I want to re-evaluate my current bat house production times, again I just use pencil in paper and I have a spreadsheet with times and materials that gives me a suggested cost per product I make regularly. From there I set my prices.

Now, if I were doing tons of different custom jobs that were not price bound by a quote and foresaw having employees in the future I think I'd go with a time clock solution. Issue each job a physical time ticket and punch it at the beginning / end of every process by each person. When the job was finished, bring the time card back to a spreadsheet, punch in the relevant numbers and reach the price.

[bobmoore]

Jeff; whether you use manual or pc is more a reflection of your skill with the pc, however in my opinion your time sheet should directly reflect your bid sheet so that you have a direct correlation to your bid process. Then you can see where your bid succeeded or fell short. Also it will help you develop a more complete bid form if you are lacking detail in it. Bob

[barrowj]

Jeff, a quick search on goggle for "time sheet app" brought up a number of readily available apps for just what you may be looking for and the costs range from free to approx $10. Use it on a tablet or smartphone. That's what I would be looking for myself in the near future. I'm not any where near being a production shop at this moment but after I retire from my day job in a few years, I will be doing more than I am today.

Joe

[scottp55]

Jeff, I quite frequently forget to write down the machine times in my log, and then have to go into the file and check my file log to get my actual cut times.
I asked TJ at class today and he said he runs the Shopbot "Odometer" on his machine at home, and at the end of the day he has a full list of all the machine times for cuts made.
Is anybody using it,
and did I understand him right that it is a chronologically ordered list of all cuts made and dates?
http://www.shopbottools.com/LabFiles/odometer.htm

[nat_wheatley]

Occasionally, I'll have an issue mid sheet (typically a COM error), and need to run the X/Y zero routine, then re-run the cutting for that sheet. I'm using Ecabinets and the SB Link, so it's necessary to run the sheet again start to finish (no picking up where the issue occurred).

Virtually every time I do this the X/Y position is off by enough from the original that I need to scrap the sheet and run a fresh one.

Is this typical, or is there something I could do to increase the re-zeroing accuracy of those 2 axis?

Thanks

[ssflyer]

Nat,

Are you zeroing using the proximity switches? I'm really, really close when I do this. I also changed the settings for C3 to zero to the 0,0 point on my corner jig for sheets.

[donek]

We use this for employees:
http://www.timeclockmts.com/free-time-clock-software/
You could use it with different job names instead of employee names. Just install on your SB machine.

[scottp55]

Thanks for that Sean:)
Nat, I agree with Ron that you should be much closer when C3'ing. I can run fairly small intricate cuts, and a few times had to C3, and got virtually Zero sawdust on a repeat cut until I got to uncut section.
Material movement?

[nat_wheatley]

I apologize, I had meant to post my question as a new thread, not quite sure how it ended up within this one.

[Roy Harding]

I use an old fashioned punch clock. I am not exclusively a CNC business - I'm a custom furniture maker, and the Shopbot is used as an ancillary machine, rather than the main focus of my shop.

I have similar problems as you outlined regarding never concentrating on one project at a time. I may do a glue-up, set it aside and start ripping wood for another project, etcetera, ad nauseum.

I have a clipboard for each project I have on the go - on the clipboard are various pieces of paper, cutlist, plans printout, etcetera. Each time I go to work on the project, I punch in on the back of the cutlist. When done, I punch out. After the project is complete, I add up all the time and make note of it.

I should point out that my time keeping is mostly for my own information - I don't usually charge by the hour. What I do with the information is calculate if I am charging enough for any particular job - although it won't help on the current project, over the years it has given me a good idea of how long it actually takes me to complete a given type of furniture - thus making my quotes more viable.