Employee Tracking & Status
A typical MES function is tracking which operator handles each activity. Logon screens
that validate employee names and passwords are used to ensure security. Why isn’t
this enough?
Current Issues with Other MES systems
Factory systems generally use two types of employee tracking: logon security and
transaction logging. Logon security is good for determining who has access to what,
but does not help in tracking activity since a workstation is often used by more
than one operator. In fact, most factories do not use individual logins, but a general
login for the role or the area that they serve. Transaction logging does identify
each operator, however, unless the transactions being logged are done at the same
time the operation is being performed. Again, this will not accurately represent
the operator’s time and utilization.
How InSite | Semiconductor TAP Edition Tracks Employee Time
In the InSite system, an employee’s time begins when they track a lot into a tool
and it ends when they track out of the tool. Tool setup time is also tracked. To
effectively track an employee’s time, it is necessary to make sure that the logging
of events accurately reflects the actual time that they are working. This is why
the track-in and track-out events in the InSite | Semiconductor solution are vital
in the accurate tracking of employee activity. General employee tracking by operation
does not account for time when more than one run of a tool is required to do the
work. It is also possible that more than one operator could have worked on the operation
at the same time, using different tools. Again, the InSite solution will properly
track this while other MES solutions will not.
Employee Status & reporting
If the factory is having employees track in and out of the tools, InSite will maintain
the name and identifier of that employee as being active on the tool for the duration
of that time. An employee activity report can show which employees are active and
which are not. A dashboard could be created using this information to show the current
status of employees on equipment at any given time. Cycle time reports can be generated
for each employee, allowing management to identify employee effectiveness and training
opportunities.
Employee Certification
The Operator Certification module can be used to ensure that an employee is qualified
to perform certain operations or activities. In this way, security can be placed
on an operation or a task requiring that an employee be certified to perform that
action. Certification terms are defined by the factory, and can include training
or even periodic re-certification as desired. Another way of evaluating certified
behavior is to examine employee performance including cycle times and yields. Should
these evaluations fall too far below standards over a period of time, the system
could recommend de-certification.